Peyton Manning goes above and beyond to track down Alaskan superfan

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning has a knack for finding the end zone, and apparently for finding distant Broncos fans as well.

Kristen Patterson of North Pole, Alaska had wrote a letter to Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning on September 21. In her letter below obtained by the Indianapolis Star, Patterson expressed how big a fan her husband was of the quarterback.

However, Patterson failed to provide her full contact information on the letter. But after three months, Manning was able to use the Broncos' public relations team to locate Patterson through the utility company in the North Pole. The company then contacted state troopers, who were able to get a hold of Patterson.

"When I got a call from (an Alaska) state trooper they asked if I wrote a letter to Peyton Manning," Patterson told the Indianapolis Star. "They said the Denver Broncos were trying to get a hold of me. When I sent it, you never know if someone is going to read it or if it is going to be tossed in a pile. So I thought they never read it, no big deal."

But Patterson was able to keep the meeting between Manning and her husband a surprise when they travelled to Cincinnati for when the Broncos came to town to play the Bengals. The couple arrived at the Broncos' team hotel, and were taken up an escalator to a private conference room, where Manning later showed.

"Peyton introduced himself, asked my daughter's name and played with her for a second and thanked me for my service," Ryan Patterson told the Indianapolis Star. ""He seemed genuinely tickled that we lived in North Pole, Alaska. He said, 'You guys are really hard to find.'"

"Before he left he shook my hand and thanked me for my service one more time and I thanked him for being my quarterback," Patterson told the Indianapolis Star.

Photo used with permission.