Soldier gets 1st Manning Broncos jersey in NM

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A long wait is over for a New Mexico soldier.

Six months after his mother-in-law thought she bought him an authentic Denver Broncos football jersey while he was fighting in Afghanistan, he received the real thing Thursday.

In February, Reina Brown spent $184 on what she thought was a real Tim Tebow jersey online, but it turned out to be a fake.

So Krystal’s NFL Shoppe stepped in and promised to get Brown's son-in-law, Phillip Lovato, a real Tebow jersey. However he was then traded to the New York Jets.

On Thursday, they shop gave Lovato an authentic Peyton Manning Broncos jersey.

Lovato is now the only person in New Mexico to own one.

"The first Peyton Manning jersey in New Mexico makes me very happy,” Sgt Phillip Lovato said. “I’m excited. There's a lot of controversy in it in getting rid of Tebow, but I think it's good and it makes me very excited."

Lovato's wife and their twins also got jerseys of their own Thursday.