All About May, Arch and Heid

Cooper Manning is the father of three athletic children: May, Arch and Heid.

The son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and the older brother of Super Bowl champions Peyton Manning and Eli Manning married his wife, Ellen, in 1999. Three years later, the couple welcomed their daughter, May. Cooper and Ellen then expanded their family with son Arch in 2004 and son Heid in 2006.

All of Cooper’s kids are involved in sports. Heid played center, snapping the football to Arch at quarterback, while they both played at Isidore Newman High School. May was a superstar volleyball player in high school at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, leading her team to State Championships, before going to the University of Virginia.

“I like them to compete. I like them to play sports. I like them to do their best … ‘Did you have fun? I love you. Hey, it wasn’t a great day, it was a good day. You played well, wasn’t too good,’ You call it like it is,” Cooper told former All-Pro tight end Greg Olsen on his podcast Youth Inc. in March 2022.

Arch has gained notoriety as a football prodigy. He broke Peyton’s high school touchdown record and Eli’s high school passing yards record, per ESPN, culminating with a breakout five-touchdown performance as a freshman with the University of Texas Longhorns.

During Arch’s 2023 signing day, he spoke about how much Cooper meant to him.

“He’s been there for me the whole time, taught me everything I know. He’s given me all the confidence in the world. He’s my biggest supporter,” he told WGNO-TV.

Here’s everything to know about Cooper Manning’s children: May, Arch and Heid.

May Manning, 23

Cooper and Ellen welcomed their daughter May in 2002. She is best known for her stellar volleyball career while at the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans.

During her time there, May led her team to the State Championships while also winning the 2020 Outstanding Player of Division IV Volleyball Tournament Award, per her school bio. She also played tennis and basketball.

On Youth Inc., Cooper shared that while he was a football star in high school, May got her talent from her mother, Ellen, who also played volleyball. Cooper said he loved accompanying May to volleyball tournaments where they would bond as he showed her some of his favorite music, like the Rolling Stones, and they ate his favorite barbecue food together.

“I’d never been around girls before, coming from three boys. All of a sudden you have a daughter and I don’t think I raised her any different,” Cooper said. “She’s competitive, she’s tough. She wants to win. She won a state championship in volleyball. It was the greatest day of my life. May and I would [go on these trips] ourselves.”

After Sacred Heart, May went on to attend the University of Virginia in 2021, where she took after her father by majoring in business with a minor in entrepreneurship. During her time there, she served as the vice president of standards for the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and interned at companies including Excel Sports Management and Bruin Capital, per her LinkedIn.

Arch Manning, 21

Cooper and Ellen welcomed their elder son, Arch, on April 27, 2004.

While at Isidore Newman High School, Arch became the No. 1 recruit in the country after surpassing Eli’s school passing yards record and Peyton’s school touchdown record.

“I’ve just been proud of Arch on how he’s handled this whole situation,” Eli told PEOPLE in 2022. “I know there’s been a lot of pressure on him, since he was a freshman in high school and was the starting quarterback … He’s broken all my records and Peyton [Manning]’s records.”

Because of this and his family name, Arch’s recruiting process was set to be a media circus, but with the help of his parents, Arch and his family shut that down to maintain his focus on making the best decision. He didn’t do any interviews with the media, didn’t accept premature college offers and had a then-private Instagram account only open to friends and parents, according to Sports Illustrated.

On June 22, 2023, Arch announced that he had decided to play for the University of Texas Longhorns, per The Athletic.

“I really kind of took the role of just being the concierge, like ‘Let’s go look at these schools. Let’s go take a look’ … We got to go see them,” Cooper said on The Dan Patrick Show of the recruiting process. “Otherwise you’re not going to be able to figure out what you like and don’t like.”

Like Eli and Peyton, Arch is known for his arm strength and pinpoint accuracy, but unlike his uncles, Arch can also run with the ball. During his first full game as a starter in college, Arch exemplified this by throwing for four touchdowns and running for a 67-yard touchdown.

“Definitely got his speed from his mom,” Cooper joked on Instagram alongside a picture of Arch with him and Ellen.

Cooper and his family are frequently spotted supporting Arch at Texas Longhorns games. The dad of three still gets nervous watching Arch, but after going through it with his brothers Peyton and Eli, he’s learned to relax while watching Arch.

“I’m enjoying [watching Arch] a little bit more. I kind of bit my finger nails and grinded it out with Peyton and Eli playing and I’m trying to enjoy it and I want him to enjoy it,” Cooper said on GOLF’s Subpar. “If he’s happy I’m happy and if he’s distraught I’m probably a little bit that way but you just want your children to be happy.”

Heid Manning, 19

Cooper and Ellen welcomed their younger son, Heid, in 2006, right around the time Cooper’s brother and Heid’s uncle, Peyton, was on his way to winning his first Super Bowl.

Like most of his family, Heid was involved in athletics from a young age, playing basketball — which Cooper coached him in — before eventually settling on football.

Heid is best known for playing the center position on the offensive line at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans as a teammate of his brother Arch.

Naturally, their brotherly relationship was important to make their on-field partnership a success, which Cooper elaborated on during an interview on Youth Inc.

“It’s so much fun for Heid. Heid worked his tail off to try to get big enough to where he could play and battle,” Cooper said. “It is so much fun and they get along. They are completely opposite. Arch can yell at Heid a lot and Heid can be critical of Arch … They get along well. We laugh a lot.”

Now, Heid is following in his brother’s footsteps at the University of Texas. According to his LinkedIn, he is in the Phi Delta Gamma fraternity and interned at a real estate firm in the summer of 2025.

Heid told Horns247 in February 2025 that he and Arch “are living completely different lives” at school. “We do have a lot of crossovers though. He is great friends with a bunch of my [fraternity] buddies across all grades, and I’ve become great friends with his teammates, and I think having that crossover is important for [Arch], especially [to have an outlet from football],” he continued. “We spend a lot of time together. We get lunch a lot and get dinners throughout the week.”