University of San Francisco Athletics

Athlete All-American

Francis Manko

Honors:
Baseball (1946)

Plans are underway, and will soon be in operation, to repair the University's field for baseball: the outfield will be filled with clay, and base lines will be placed on the infield. Among the signups are Jack McCarthy, who played for USF in '44; Frank Manko, who played four years in high school, and then at Michigan State; Manko, is a hard hitting outfielder who can field also.

It wasn't until the seventh inning that the Broncos were able to muster enough strength for a score. Conner walked, Tom Kelly, hard-hitting 1st baseman smashed a hard triple between center fielder Schrampka and left fielder Frank Manko. Manko made a nice recovery holding Kelly to three bases. Kelly scored on a fly to center from the bat of Mariani.

At the recent Santa Clara game, the whole show was stolen by third base coach, and left fielder, Frank Manko. "Windy," "Lips," "Hot-Air," or what have you, really puts on a show. It's worth the price of admission just to listen to him. That is something else baseball (professional, that is) has lost. At one time it was the coaches who made the sport the colorful game that it is. Old timers will remember Nick Altrock, and Al Schatt. Their antics, besides their coaching ability, use to send the fans into hysterics. And here at USF, we have the sequel of these two, Frank Manko. "Rolee-polee," as Willie Hughes says, is a fine spirited ball player, and a fine person. Keep up the good work, Frank.

Credit has ben given and will continue to be given to Coach Pete Newell, pitcher Garcia, catcher Dick Morris and the other boys who have been playing outstanding ball for the Dons, but there is one man, a little man at that, who deserves much credit which is about to be justly given to him. His name is Frank Manko. He played ball at Michigan State before going into the Army. In the service he continued to developed his talents by playing under the colors at Camp Turner. At the present time, on the Hilltop team, he holds down the position of right field and also third base coach. Frank isn't an ordinary player, but likes to make his work harder by providing a few laughs for the fans and especially for the team. At the recent Santa Clara game, Frank found it too easy to merely run and catch a hard drive out to left field, so gently does he somersault, lands on his feet, and nonchalantly corners the ball near the stands. As third base coach and heckler, he has a line of chatter that gets the opposing pitchers in such a frenzy that you can see him looking at Frank with dagger eyes. At the Santa Clara game, his chatter went something like this: "You're in a hole, pitch, deep, deep, in a hole!" He continues dramatically and with elegant fluctuations of the voice: "Your arm's sore, your shoulder's gone, there are three men on base, you're three runs behind, but you're not worried, nooo." The pitcher looks at Frank, his nerves on edge, and this is the cue for Frank to continue: "Look out, pitch, this man bats .500, but don't let that worry you, don't worry, pitch, you've only walked six men. That's ball-1, one pitch; but don't worry." At this point, the pitcher is nervously wiping his sweating brow. This goes on for nine innings without letup. Frank has a seemingly endless line to feed the pitcher, very seldom repeating what he has used before.

Since the season began the boys on the team have been calling Frank all kinds of nicknames, such as the "Heckler," "Lips," but none seem to quite fit in with his work or character. Whatever name is adopted, it will probably not do homage to his ability as an outfielder, batter, and general morale-builder he has been to the team TheFoghorn).

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Athlete All-American

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Upcoming Event: Men's Golf at El Macero Classic - Day One on Apr. 10, 2026

Upcoming Event: Beach Volleyball versus Concordia (Calif.) on Apr. 10, 2026 at 12:00 p.m.

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