Johnny Manziel's Netflix documentary keeps revealing new details, and now we have come to know that the former NFL quarterback's family.
The documentary traces 'oil money' that came through his forefathers and dived into his family history. Here, we look at the former Cleveland Brown quarterback's lineage and examine the claims.
Who is Johnny Manziel's great grandfather?
Johnny Manziel's great grandfather Bobby Joe Manziel. His father, Joe Manziel, immigrated from Syria in 1907.
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Bobby discovered oil in Texas in 1930 and leveraged his connection with boxer Jack Dempsey to generate money to drill. He drilled his first well on a church location. As with what happens in the oilfield industry, some of them produced, and others did not.
He ran into some legal troubles, too, but emerged with enough money to build The Oil Palace, a music venue in Tyler Texas. It was completed in 1983, 27 years after his death, and holds a modest 7,000 goers compared to the 20,000 that Johnny Manziel's great grandfather had envisioned in his life time.
Bobby's son, Norman Paul Manziel, did not follow his father into the business. Rather he got into legal trouble, and at 16, he was involved in a street race that caused a single fatality.
His penchant for dangerous driving did not leave him throughout his life as he was charged with felony evasion after a DWI stop. He was given probation but was charged with bribing his way out of community service and went to prison.
It's , perhaps, because of that that Johnny Manziel's father, Paul Manziel, could not enjoy his life on inherited wealth as much as he would have wanted to.
How did Johnny Manziel's family make their money?
Paul Manziel made his money as the general manager of a Honda dealership. His work location was three hours away from the family home, and he would come only on the weekends. It showed a man who was not living off of inherited money. Rather, it was that of a person deeply invested in working hard to build his life.
That's not to say, though, that he did not run into trouble. He was arrested once for criminal mischief, but that remains the only blemish on his record that we could find.
Rather, it showed a father who was caring. When the former Ceveland Browns quarterback was going through his struggles, he told ESPN's Josina Anderson:
"Hopefully, he doesn’t die before he comes to his senses."
In fact, a better explanation of Manziel claiming that he had inherited 'oil money' could come from the way NCAA regulations were structured at the time. Before NIL contributions, student athletes could not monetize their names, image or likeness.
Growing up in Texas as an extremely popular football player, even before he had went to college with Texas A&M, he comanded a fair share of attention. His performance in college, which resulted in him winning the Heisman Trophy in 2012 only burnished that.
He, along with friend Nate Fitch, decided to sell his autographs, which was forbidden under then-NCAA rules. Therfore, it's likely that he came up with the story of 'oil money' to justify it just as another fun game, where his buddy could earn something on the side, rather than something he was doing to earn money for himself.
The quarterback would only miss half a game in the 2013 NFL season because of those old standards, which are currently fully legal now.
That, most likely, is the genesis of the 'oil money' story. Manziel's great grandfather certainly made some money in the oil business, but it did not seem to have filtered through to even his father, let alone him.
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