March 16, 2011

Villanova University and the baseball program lost a legend back in December when former athletic director and baseball coach Art Mahan passed away at the age of 97. In addition to being a part of Villanova Athletics for more than 40 years as a student-athlete, coach and administrator, Mahan also played Major League Baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies and was the organization's oldest living player at the time of his death.

As the baseball coach for 23 years from 1950-72, Mahan registered 20 winning seasons and led the Wildcats to the NCAA Region II playoffs on five occasions. He had a career record of 262-155-5 (.627) as coach and is second in program history in career victories. Villanova reached the postseason for the first time ever in 1952 and returned to the playoffs in 1953, 1958, 1960 and 1961.

Two players who were coached by Mahan during their Villanova careers sat down recently to talk about their experiences at Villanova and playing for the Wildcats under Mahan's guidance. Below are each of their stories, as told to current volunteer assistant coach Chris Johnson.

John Donatucci
Class of 1957
Shortstop

John Donatucci was a three-year starting shortstop for Villanova from 1955-57 and went on to play minor league baseball following his collegiate career. Donatucci recently spoke about his experiences with current volunteer assistant coach Chris Johnson.

I am so pleased to have the opportunity to talk about my baseball career after so many years. I want to do it in two ways, first to talk about my personal experiences and subsequently my baseball career.

There is no question that my most cherished personal experience was knowing and being exposed to Art Mahan. Also high on the personal experience are the friendships I had, and still have, with Hank Nichols, Jack Kelly and our non-baseball playing sidekick Arnold Clark. Terry Hayes was part of our baseball group as well but he entered the Augustinian Seminary in his senior year and has drifted away over the years. It is unfortunate that every kid cannot have an Art Mahan in his life to teach him and guide him on his life's path.

Art Mahan was a man of absolute integrity, fairness and moral character. He treated us all as respected individuals and taught us all he could about baseball and life. He had a sense of humor that is unmatched and a memory of baseball events in his career that were as entertaining as the most accomplished comedian. When we would travel to games Art would sit in the front seat on the passenger side of the bus and tell the most hilarious stories about his playing days in the minors and the major leagues. There were times when our bus driver (we called him Bussy) almost lost control of the bus when Art got off on one of his better stories and had him laughing uncontrollably.

The whole team would gather around Art's seat and listen to his tales. I wish someone had chronicled those stories so we would have them as a constant reminder of Art. His two favorite subjects were a minor league manager named Specs Toporcer and a pitcher named Jim Bagby.

Hank Nichols, Jack Kelly, Arnold Clark and I remain friends to this day and every so often get together in Philadelphia and relive old times. Our lives have taken us to different parts of the country but I know that if there was ever a need that any of us had, the other would respond.

My Villanova baseball career began when I got a phone call from Art Mahan asking me if I'd like to attend Villanova and play baseball for the school. Keep in mind, I lived in Erie, Pennsylvania and Art was calling from Philadelphia and had never seen me play. All his information about me came from Major League scouts that Art knew and who had been following me for years. Imagine an 18-year old getting a call asking him if he would like to play for a school like Villanova. I don't know how loudly I answered him but I am sure his hearing must have been impaired when I answered `yes, yes, yes!' on and on.

I did not meet Art Mahan until the spring of my freshman year when the Villanova baseball season began. He was in the Field House working with the players when I walked up and introduced myself. As soon as I met Art I knew I would like him. Freshmen were ineligible to play at the time so I worked out with the team each day and sat in the stands and watched the home games.

During the next three years I was the starting shortstop and hit fourth or fifth in the batting order. My sophomore year I started out hitting very well but did not finish that way. I don't remember my final average but it was somewhere between .250 and .275. I hit .300 both my junior and senior year and, according to my records, during my senior year batted fourth all year and hit .363. I was honored to be named co-captain with Hank Nichols my senior year. I did manage to hit a few home runs each year but, at the time, the left field fence at Villanova was over 350 feet away, making home runs difficult at best.

I do remember hitting a grand slam against St. Joe's but I don't remember the year. We won most of our games against the Big Five, as the Big East was not yet in existence. I remember one game we lost against Temple, 1-0 at Villanova. Jack Kelly pitched an incredible game but we just didn't get him any runs. In my senior year, Villanova was selected to play in a four-team elimination to see who would represent the East in the College World Series. We lost a heartbreaker in the last inning, 2-0, to NYU.

There was no Major League Draft in those days, so you were just scouted out by Major League scouts and, if you were good enough, offered a contract. I had opportunities to sign with Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Detroit. I eventually signed with Detroit after a memorable experience with Brooklyn. I did sign for a bonus but the money was not the same back then as it is today.

I want to talk about my Brooklyn Dodger experience. In 1958 Hank Nichols and I were invited to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn for a tryout. The Dodgers had moved to Los Angeles the year before but Ebbets Field was still there and the Dodgers used it for final evaluation of prospects. When we arrived at Ebbets Field they told us to get dressed and get ready. We walked into the Dodgers locker room and it was surreal. It had the look of a room that a parent or a spouse keeps when they have lost a loved one. All the carpets were clean and the lockers were empty but had hangers in them.

There was a manager's office in a corner with the desk still in pace and the chair neatly behind the desk. A trainer's table sat against one of the walls as if waiting for one of the Dodgers to come in for treatment. Above each locker was a white placard with the name carefully printed in black of the Dodger who last occupied that locker. All I could do as I was getting dressed was look around and enjoy being in this famous locker room.

When we finished dressing and walked out onto the field and did some preliminary drills one of the coaches told me to grab a bat and get ready to hit. I went to the bat rack and there was a bat with Jackie Robinson's name beautifully scripted on it. Anyone who has ever seen a Jackie Robinson bat knows exactly what it looks like. It is what we called a Bottle Bat, thick handle and a long barrel, meant to make contact. I grabbed the bat and went up to hit. Pitching to me was Joe Black, a former star Dodgers pitcher that was now involved in evaluating prospects.

It was a few years since Jackie Robinson had played in Brooklyn so I don't know if it was an actual bat that he used but I refuse to believe otherwise. After the evaluation, the Dodgers were going to ffer me a contract. The Dodgers business offices were on Flatbush Avenue across from Dodger Stadium. We walked into what had been Branch Rickey's office but he no longer owned the team. He had sold the Dodgers to the O'Malley family so the office now belonged to Walter O'Malley.

There is a famous picture that shows Branch Rickey signing Jackie Robinson to the first Major League contract offered to a black man. The office and the chair I was sitting in look exactly like the office and chair Jackie Robinson sat in when he signed his first contract. I am not sure it was the same chair I was sitting in, but again I refuse to believe otherwise. As I mentioned above, I signed with Detroit and did not become a Dodger but this experience with the Dodgers was one of my more memorable moments.

One of the reasons I signed with Detroit was that Frank Skaff was the Tigers scout that offered me a contract. Frank is a former Villanovan, Major League player, manager and member of the Villanova Varsity Club Hall of Fame. He was also a good friend of Art Mahan. After signing, I was sent to Durham, N.C. in the Class B Carolina League. I played my best baseball in Durham but my hometown, Erie, was also a farm team of Detroit and the owner of the team asked that I be sent there to help attendance. I think my mother and father and a few of my relatives began coming to the Erie games but that was about all. Things went straight down hill for me from that point and I never again was able to play as well as I did at Villanova or Durham. I played for Valdosta, Georgia in the Class D Georgia/Florida League but there too things were never the same.

Detroit released me so I took my Villanova Engineering Degree and went to work in the food industry with Unilever. Over the years I managed a number of their plants and eventually became Vice President of Operations of their Lawry's Food Division. You wouldn't know it but for a lot of years I was in your kitchen feeding you. Plants and company operations that I managed manufactured Lipton Tea, Wishbone salad dressing, Pennsylvania Dutch Noodle and Side Dishes, mixes fur Dunkin' Donuts, Mrs. Butterworth's pancake syrup, Country Crock margarine, Lawry's season salt, spices, salad dressing and sauces and several other products. I spent a number of years managing operations of several smaller companies and have done some consulting work. I am going to be 75 years old this year so I have officially hung it up.

I have two sons who graduated from University of Southern California and from UCLA. I have five grandchildren, including three beautiful granddaughters, two of whom are identical twins. Both of my sons have Engineering degrees. One works in Research and Development for Del Monte Foods and the other is an Environmental Engineer with an environmental engineering firm. They both live in California.

Jim Manion
Class of 1969
Shortstop

Jim Manion played shortstop for Villanova from 1967-69, during years when the team was a combined 35-16 (.686). The following story about Manion's playing experiences was co-written with current volunteer assistant coach Chris Johnson.

When Jim Manion played shortstop for Villanova from 1967-69 the wood bats cracked often, the team never played farther south than Annapolis, Maryland and a burst of good weather was needed to get in 20 total games for the season.

Manion, who was a co-captain of the 1969 team, has only fond memories of playing for head coach Art Mahan, whose trademark sense of humor could defuse any threat to team camaraderie, including once when Manion got a little too much credit for his role in a four-player, late-inning, game-saving relay against Rutgers.

"Our slick fielding first baseman, Pete `The Greek' Lagos was furious at practice after a morning headline in a Philadelphia paper blared `Manion Relay Thwarts Try For Homer, Saves Villanova's 8th Straight'," Manion recalled. "The play actually involved center fielder Sammy Greenwood retrieving a long drive at the fence and throwing to me in short center before I threw to Pete The Greek, who then whirled from behind the pitcher's mound to throw a strike to catcher Joe Urbanovich, who blocked the plate and applied the tag."

How, Lagos wondered out loud during a round of infield practice, could the newspaper ignore his key final throw and mention only the names Greenwood, Manion and Urbanovich?

"Finally, Coach Mahan stopped hitting grounders from home plate and deadpanned toward first, `Well Peter, did you ever consider that maybe the headline writer just didn't like Greeks?'" Manion recalled. "The whole team howled at the intended absurdity and Pete The Greek grudgingly joined in."

Manion came out of Chaminade High School on Long Island, where he played for Villanova Hall of Famer Charlie McGuckin '54.

"Charlie was a great coach who really inspired me," said Manion, who grew up in Huntington, N.Y. "Charlie had also played for Art Mahan and spoke of him with the highest regard."

Manion said the most fun he had was on bus trips during Spring Break when away games would include overnight stays for games at West Point, Penn State and the Naval Academy.

"There was no Big East Conference back then but we'd play all the Big Five schools and teams coming south from New England like Dartmouth, Vermont and New Hampshire," Manion said. "Seton Hall, Rider and Fordham were always good games too."

Villanova did not make the NCAA playoffs in any of Manion's three years playing, despite the 1967 team winning its last 12 games and beating three of the four teams that were selected to play in the NCAA's Northeast Regional.

"I was lucky to play with a great bunch of guys," Manion said. "There was Glenn `Big Guy' Desimone, Steve `Pinky' Krines, Buddy Long, Mike `Sparky' Leach, Richie Lettieri, Joe Urbanovich, Kenny O'Brien, Charlie `Fitz' Fitzpatrick, Jim Wagner, Gene Rampone and of course Pete `The Greek' Lagos. All three years produced teams with solid winning records."

Freshmen were ineligible to play during Manion's time in school but he got familiar with the Villanova system by watching Dion Von der Lieth complete his senior year at shortstop in 1966 before signing to play in the Yankees minor league system. In his own senior year, Manion greeted a freshman named Mike Siani who arrived from Staten Island to step in and succeed him at shortstop for the following season.

"Mike was a natural at shortstop with tremendous range, so I felt safe leaving my position in good hands," Manion said of Siani, a two-sport star in college who chose professional football and went on to excel at wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders.

Personally, Manion took credit for one good year, his senior season when he hit .425.

"After two mediocre years at the plate, I decided to relax and have fun my senior year and I wound up hitting everything in sight," Manion said. "I always took pride in my glove and my arm and I was consistent, playing every inning of every game at shortstop for the whole time I was there."

Despite his success, Manion said the scouts who occasionally mulled around the backstop at Charles McGeehan Field, then located directly behind Jake Nevin Field House and since replaced by the Pavilion, agreed with his decision to forego pursuit of a professional career in baseball.

After graduating with a degree in Social Sciences, Manion spent a year as a VISTA volunteer, working with youth groups in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the federal anti-poverty agency. He then spent six months in the military for required National Guard training before getting a job as a news reporter for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey. Manion also worked as a State House reporter for the Associated Press in New Jersey covering government and politics.

"I got into writing at Villanova when, on a whim, I offered an unsolicited column to The Villanovan," Manion said. "I remember taking quite a bit of ribbing from my teammates at the time - it was about my take on the Simon and Garfunkel song `The Sounds of Silence' as applied to the Villanova campus - heavy stuff back then for a jock."

Following nearly 13 years of writing news and feature stories, Manion said he wanted to get a first-hand look at government and politics. He took a job as Communications Director for the New Jersey Senate where he worked as a spokesman for four successive Senate Presidents before retiring after 25 years of service.

Manion and his wife, Sue, reside in Ewing Township, N.J. He has two adult stepdaughters, Erin and Regan McGrory, and a daughter, Kate Manion, a senior at the University of Delaware.

Manion said he has renewed interest in the Villanova baseball program due in large part to the marketing skills of head coach Joe Godri, whose e-mails to former players keep them abreast of the current team's schedule, key players and ways to support their efforts.

"I would urge every former player, especially a lot of my former teammates, to sign up for Coach Godri's communications," Manion said. "Coach Godri has created a great sense of community around the team that is worth supporting."

Manion, 63, a former marathon runner who once ran across New Jersey in a single day, now runs shorter distances, swims laps and goes to a local gym. He also occasionally writes feature stories for his local daily newspaper.

"My advice to Villanova ballplayers today would be to enjoy the experience while you work to excel because - I guarantee this - no matter how successful you become professionally, this will be a highlight of your life."