Jeff Manto
Degree: BGS, bachelor of general studies
College: University College
Hometown: Bristol, Pennsylvania
Why I chose Temple: I knew Coach Skip Wilson had built a strong baseball program at Temple. He was a Philadelphia guy who was brutally honest and told you the truth, so you knew where you stood with him. You wanted to play for him at Temple because he was going to toughen you up and teach you the right way to play. He also had a lot of connections in professional baseball and if I showed any kind of ability, I knew his contacts would trust his opinion. When I left Temple, I was mentally and physically prepared to take on challenges on and off the baseball field.
Why I returned to finish my degree: After my professional playing days, getting a degree from Temple was still unfinished business. In 2002, when I was manager of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Lakewood BlueClaws, I heard this woman yelling my name for eight innings, trying to get my attention. After the game, I called up to her (in the stands) and asked what she wanted. She tossed her business card at me and said that she was my guidance counselor and wanted me back in school. The woman was Arlene Dowd, a former administrator at Temple’s Fox School of Business. I recall her saying, “‘We want you to return to Temple and get your degree.”
She tracked me down again six years later when I was the Pittsburgh Pirates’ hitting coach and asked if I was interested in getting my degree in liberal arts, which I agreed to. I called the professor she recommended and told him I could start taking classes in the middle of October, at the end of baseball season. The professor told me there is no way you can expect to pass my class if you miss four to 10 classes. His message stuck with me and years later with still not having a degree, I told myself, just finish it. Once my contract with the Baltimore Orioles ended in 2019, I returned to Temple to take classes in 2020.
Transformative Temple moment: My transformational moment was when I finally sent in my final college paper. I wrote about the decline of African American players in Major League Baseball. As a former player and coach in the MLB, I already knew some inside information in addition to what was shared in the media. This paper pushed me to research scholarly articles to discover what was causing the decline. I learned that each decade there were several reasons for the decline. There were questions like why baseball is not in the inner city and where are the players coming from. I learned that a big challenge for inner city youth was not having opportunities to play baseball due to a variety of circumstances. My research showed that Major League Baseball and other private organizations have been encouraging workouts and providing resources like baseball equipment to inner cities in general. Writing the paper was a great accomplishment for me. I am glad to be much more educated about the topic.
What’s next: I am currently the head baseball coach at Conwell-Egan Catholic High School. I would like to use my college degree if the opportunity ever comes to be a head baseball coach in college. I’m proud that Temple didn't give up on me in getting my degree. As a student-athlete, I figured you won’t hear from Temple again once you leave school. Little did I know that was not the case. If I were not encouraged by Temple, this would have never happened. Arlene Dowd is the hero in all this. It’s nice to know that even many years later, Temple still cared about my education.