The finest high school athletes in winter sports received recognition during a Tempe All-City Association banquet March 24 at Corona del Sol High, highlighted by the induction of a local sports legend into the organization’s All-City Hall of Fame.
Dan Manucci, who starred as a quarterback at McClintock High in the 1970s before going on to Mesa Community College and Kansas State, and later to the NFL, joined the elite list in the Hall.
Manucci was a two-sport star and captain of the football and baseball teams at McClintock. In 1974, he received the Joe Selleh Award, given to the school’s most outstanding senior athlete.
He played football at MCC in 1975 and 1976, and was a member of the 1975 junior-college national championship team that won the Wool Bowl.
He earned a football scholarship to Kansas State University where, as team captain, he led the Big 8 Conference – forerunner of the current Big 12 – in passing his senior year and received 1978 All-Big 8 Honorable Mention. He also received the Mike Ahearn Top Athlete Award and was named the Ken Ochs Most Inspirational Player in 1978.
Manucci was selected by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round of the 1979 NFL Draft and played three seasons with the team. During his pro career, he also played for the Canadian Football League’s Toronto Argonauts in 1981 and the United States Football League’s Arizona Wranglers in 1983.
For more than two decades, he has been co-host of the Valley sports-radio talk show “Roc and Manuch” and has done TV and radio work with the Arizona Cardinals, Arizona State, Arizona Rattlers and high school football.
Perhaps Manucci is best known among young sports fans in the Valley as a quarterback guru. He has dedicated more than 30 years to private quarterback coaching and development, mentoring and training players at all levels.
He is on the Advisory Board of the National Football Foundation, Valley of the Sun Chapter and participates in the local NFL Retired Players Association where he continues to support and grow the sport.
During the banquet, the Tempe All-City Association presented All-City awards to winter-sports athletes in basketball, soccer and wrestling from all six Tempe Union High School District schools.
The Tempe All-City Association is a group of local citizens and businesspeople dedicated to giving wider recognition to high school student-athletes.
More information: TempeAllCity.com.
