Jim Manley

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Jim Manley was one of the most versatile athletes in St. John’s High School history—a three-sports standout who excelled in football, baseball, and basketball, and went on to play football and baseball at the University of Pennsylvania. “Big Jim,” as he was known as a youth because of his “manly” stature, played four positions in football at St. John’s starting as a guard, moving to tackle, then to fullback and ended up as a quarterback in the 1950 season finale against arch-rival Pittston High, and engineered a stunning 21-0 upset win over the Butler Hill squad which was riding the crest of 20 straight conference wins. Manley passed for two touchdowns and two extra points and pitched out for the other six-pointer. Continuing to display his versatility at Penn, Manley was first baseman and cleanup hitter on the baseball team, and for the first two years of his grid career was the “impersonator” of top quarterbacks of upcoming opponents, becoming skilled in all types of offenses and becoming the starting quarterback in his senior year. One of his most memorable games at Penn was against a Notre Dame squad which featured Ralph Guglielmi and Paul Hornung, as Penn held the highly-favored Irish to a 7-0 halftime margin. Manley was tabbed by the Philadelphia Bulletin as “Most Spirited Man” on the Penn squad. Upon graduation, he returned to his alma mater as a teacher and coached St. John’s to the Diocesan football title, and later was freshman football coach at King’s College. In 1952 Manley joined the Marine Corps. and played football with the famed Quantico Marine football team, and was an officer with the Marines who served in the Lebanon conflict in 1958. He remained in the Marine Corps. Reserves after discharge and rose to the rank of Colonel before retiring in 1985. Son of James and Mary Kilgallen Manley, Jim was born in Pittston, September 8, 1933. His dad was killed in a coal-mining accident in 1944, and his mother died in 1983. His brother, Jack, a Plymouth resident, was among the finest pitchers in Sunday baseball leagues throughout Wyoming Valley. Jack’s a year younger than Jim. Married to the former Catherine Brennan of West Pittston, the Manleys have three daughters: Mia Lindberg of Cranbury; Kate Sekely of Hopbottom, where Jim often does “gentleman farmng”; and Angie Cook of Kansas. Mia has three children. A son, Jimmy, an All-State quarterback at Peddie School in New Jersey was following in his dad’s footsteps as a quarterback at Penn when he died in a tragic boating accident while serving as a youth counselor at a camp in New Hampshire in 1985 following his junior year at Penn. Much the same as in athletics, Manley is a success in the business world, the Executive Director of Marketing, Unions/Public Funds for Miller, Anderson and Sherrerd, LLP, in West Conshohocken, Pa. Manley was named by Congressman Paul Kanjorski as a member of the Earth Conservancy Board of Trustees.