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Marietta College Athletics

Marietta College Athletics

MARIETTA PIONEERS

Hall of Fame

Joseph Manley

  • Class
  • Induction
    1985
  • Sport(s)
    Baseball Coach
Joseph Manley came to Marietta College as a coach, then went on to make important contributions as a teacher and administrator. His combined accomplishments led to his selection to the 1985 Classic of the MC Athletic Hall of Fame.

 After graduating from Harvard, Manley came to Marietta in 1983 as a  professor and the college's first intercollegiate play a year earlier, but without a coach. In his four-year tenure at the helm, his teams posted a combined record of 14-7-1. His only losing season was his first, when the Pioneers lost their only game. After that his squads  were 5-3-0, 4-1-1, and 5-2-0. In his final two years MC outscored its opponents by a combined 254-46, defeating such schools as Ohio State University, Ohio University, West Virginia University and the University of Cincinnati.

It is also known that Manley played quarterback on the 1893 and 1894 teams, which was permitted under rules in effect at that time. He also was pressed into service as a referee in the 1896 MC-Ohio Wesleyan College game- a contest that Pioneers lost 16-0.
After the 1896 season, Manley stepped down as coach to turn his full attention to the classroom, and the teaching of Greek, political science and history.

In 1910 while still teaching, Manley was named dean of the college and served in that capacity through 1916. During the 1912-13 school year he also assumed the additional responsibility of acting president of MC.

Manley remained on the college faculty until his retirement in 1937. Upon leaving the school, he was awarded an honorary degree. He died in 1964 at the age of 92, and an endowed scholarship now exists at MC on his memory.

 

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