One for the Ages
Achieving the number one ranking in any season is impressive; finishing first in the 2002-2003 tour lineup was remarkable. The IRT’s 18-event season was the longest in a decade and the most competitive in history. Unprecedented depth and ruthless competition saw eight different players win ranking events. 

Through it all, Mannino’s performance was commanding. With consistency as his hallmark, Mannino fed on the pressure and locked in the number one ranking by the 14th event on the slate. When all was said and done, Mannino won seven events and finished nearly 1,000 points ahead of #2 ranked Kane Wasenlenchuk.

ALBUM ...

The wee Mannino didn’t take long to pick up Dad’s racquet and start swinging ... we suspect that plenty of lamps and shins were sacrificed in the early days ...

Picking up some early style points

With best buddy, Monchik

An Unlikely Champion
While not the first to try, Mannino is the first player in a decade to succeed in finishing No.1, bearing a name other than “Sudsy” [Monchik] or “Cliff” [Swain]. Indeed, since 1993, Swain finished No.1 five times (six times in his career) and No.2 five times while Monchik held five No.1 titles and two No.2 finishes. In the face of such total domination, Mannino remained confident, “I thought I was in the hunt even when I wasn’t. But over the past several years I felt that I had a chance to finish No.1 going down the stretch at the end of each season, but the Sudsy/Cliff onslaught was just too much at that time.”

Still, Mannino seemed an unlikely candidate to pry the top ranking from the shared Swain/Monchik death grip. An 8-year tour veteran, Mannino was a perennial semi-finalist who occasionally logged wins against Swain and Monchik. Perhaps it was a sign of things to come when Mannino used his control / retrieval / counter-punching game to defeat Monchik and Swain in succession to win the 1999 U.S. Open. In reflecting on how he was able to “crack the code” and come out on top against the pair, Mannino says he “always felt that it was only a matter of time ... I just tried to make it as hard as possible to beat me. I felt I would win the battle of attrition.” Hmm – if only it were that easy!

While Mannino gradually enjoyed additional inroads against Monchik and Swain during the next couple of seasons, he did not move up in the rankings. It seemed that Mannino’s career, while stellar (and enough for Racquetball magazine to name him one of its 32 Greatest Players of the 20th Century, Nov.’99), would never yield a #1 finish.

Seize the Moment
When Monchik broke his foot prior to the 2001 U.S. Open and was out for the entire season, many believed it to be a foregone conclusion that Swain would dominate the remainder of the events and easily capture his sixth season title. Mannino, never one to be influenced by the whimsy of conventional wisdom, stepped into the breach. For the remainder of the year, he catapulted past the rest of the field and battled Swain at every turn. In the end, Swain did capture his historic sixth title, but only by the narrowest of margins over Mannino. 

Quite a Lineup
After the 2001-2002 season’s epic battle, the 2002-2003 season was the most eagerly awaited in years. Would Swain be able to capture a seventh title? Would Monchik return with a vengeance to reclaim the top spot? Many experts believed that a new champion would indeed be crowned. Rabid fans turned a hopeful eye toward Waselenchuk – a mild-mannered, cheery Canadian who is the latest incarnation of the lethal Hogan/Swain/Monchik serve-and-shoot game style. Some believed that an 18-event season, the longest in a decade, would favor iron man Swain or even the much celebrated and ballyhooed Huczek, a fit and fleet-footed latter-day Mike Yellen. Mannino certainly figured to be in the mix, but the jury was out on whether his body could withstand the long season and whether his game would hold up against an ever-increasing talent pool. 

The season exceeded all of those expectations. Leading up to the U.S. Open, Waselenchuk came of age with monster wins at the season opener in New Orleans and in Mexico. Young gun Alvaro Beltran, the finest player ever produced by Latin America, began the season white-hot with a finals appearance and his first-ever tour victory in Virginia. Monchik shook off ring-rust to capture Colorado and Riverside. Swain struggled. In addition to pocketing wins in Stockton and Chicago, three additional finals appearances gave Mannino an early lead in the rankings race.

Mannino was barraged at mid-season, when Monchik caught fire and several others, including John Ellis, Derek Robinson, Mike Guidry, Huczek and Mike Green, found their stride. Mannino recognized the situation for what it was, “it has not been easy. [Everyone] decided to bring their A-games this year, making it harder than ever to get through them. I just tried to play the percentages and let the chips fall where they may.” 

Still, Mannino’s foundation was intact. Backed by a strong support system including his father, wife and coach Fran Davis, Mannino never lost in the 16’s and rebounded from several quarterfinal losses with victories in the following event. Like most players on tour, Mannino nursed nagging ailments all season, yet he avoided major injury despite his go-for-broke, acrobatic game style. 

At the end of the day, Monchik and Waselenchuk faded with injuries. Late season charges by Huczek and Carson fell short. Swain, while managing to gut out a No.3 ranking, never found his rhythm and failed to win an event all season for the first time in his storied career. In the end, Mannino’s consistency and determination left him as the last man standing.

History indeed. www.jasonmannino.com

On July 26, 1993 Jason Mannino was driving his car on a rainy night when it went through a puddle and spun out of control. Colliding with another vehicle, Jason's car burst into flames as it spun off the road, finally coming to a stop after hitting a telephone pole, fire hydrant, and a bus sign. His friend and passenger, Kurt Kratzer, and another friend in a trailing vehicle, Steve Guarnieri, helped Jason from the car as flames shot out 20 feet from his gas tank.

20 Questions … Jason Mannino

2002-2003 IRT Season Champion 1999 U.S. OPEN Champion

Birthdate: January 28, 1975  Age: 28 Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York Residence: San Diego, Calif. Family: Wife Jennifer, son Jason Height: 5'8" Weight: 175 Racquet: Pro Kennex Shadow 165 Sponsors: Pro Kennex, RacquetballCatalog.com, Resendez Chiropractic. -- Wheels? Mercedes SLK hardtop convertible, black on black. -- What CD is in your car right now? I have six in the changer, but “Life After Death” by the Notorious B.I.G. was playing when I got out. -- How do you relax? Usually by the T.V. with my wife and a glass of wine. -- Last movie that you saw? Bruce Almighty -- Favorite actor? DeNiro. I don't think I need to explain why. -- Favorite referee? Erin Brannigan. He was the best and he wasn't even that good. -- Best trash line you have dropped? I have a couple and most you can't print. The most recent one that you can was after a player was complaining to the ref after I just beat him 11-0. I looked over at him and said, "Why are you complaining? I just gave you a donut, do you really think you have a chance?" -- Best trash line you have heard? "I'm gonna beat you so bad this game your mother's gonna make you do three-a-days." -- Favorite opponent? Sudsy. He's the most exciting to play. -- East coast or west coast? When it comes to family and friends, east coast. When it comes to quality of life, west coast. -- Ice cream or cake? Cake. -- Coke or Pepsi? Pepsi. -- Beer or champagne? Champagne. -- Favorite eats? East coast or west coast? (laughs) West, Mexican. East, Italian -- Best pizza? Sam's in Brooklyn. -- Favorite non-racquetball sport? Baseball. -- Favorite team? The Yankees. -- Perfect vacation? An over water bungalow in Tahiti, drinking a frosty drink, and laying on a hammock with the wife. -- Ten years from now you'll be … Retired, enjoying life with my family and friends. Maybe doing some teaching and camps to give back to the sport. -- What are you good at again? That's the question!? Everything. No, seriously the real answer is working with people that love the game. You can just tell who they are.

At the hospital it was learned that Jason had broken his back in three places, suffered a broken pelvis, two broken ribs, and was bleeding internally. It was not known if he would live. When he did, doctors told him that he would never walk again. He was hospitalized for two weeks and confined to bed for four months. Eight months later he began to walk with a back brace and a walker, before shedding them to walk on his own, but with a limp.

Jason didn't pick up a racquet again until November of 1994. At a San Jose event, he won one match before losing in the next round. He then began to train rigorously for the World Junior Championships that were only three weeks away. After shedding 18 of the 30 lbs. he'd gained in recovering from the accident, Jason ripped through the boy's 18- singles division to win the title ... and more.

Q & A With the Russ Mannino 
Nothing makes a person happier and more proud than to see their children succeed in life, especially at something that they love. RACQUETBALL interviewed Jason's dad, Russ Mannino, for his views on his son's career. Russ is an accomplished player and coach in his own right, taking second in the men's 55+ in Houston this year, but all talk centered around Jason and his new IRT title.

How does it feel to know that your son just became the No.1 player in the world? We all live through our kids and it's nice that they attain their goals and can make a living playing a great sport. Whether he achieved No.1 or not would have been a great accomplishment considering the accident he had. Last year he finished No.2 and if that was as high as he finished then I still would have been proud of him.

What was it like for you and your family after Jason's accident? That was pretty challenging. First, you don't know if your kid is going to live. Second, you had to wonder if he would walk and be able to function normally afterwards. Third, and the least important, was whether he could play racquetball again. It took him about a year before he picked up a racquet and started fooling around with it on the court.

Did you know that he would be able to reach the No.1 spot? Before the accident I thought he could be a top player. He’d just lost an 11-8 tiebreaker to Suds at Junior Nationals and then a week later he had the accident. After the accident it wasn't a concern, but he wanted to take a couple of years to compete on tour and see if he could make a living at it. Every year he got better until this year when he got to be No. 1.

When did you first know that he could be one of the great ones? Probably when he was 13 or 14 when he played in the 16's at the World Juniors in Florida. He and Sudsy always played up a division at worlds and Jason beat some good players like Alan Engle and some others. He didn't win, but he beat three or four real tough players.

What do you think drives Jason to excel? I think the toughness of growing up in New York, the east coast confidence, the east coast cockiness, keeps him strong. Now that he is out here (San Diego) and is a little more mature, he realizes that works for him on the court. A lot of players can try to come on the court with an attitude, but they don't pull it off as well not coming from the east.

What do you see in Jason's future? I think he can stay on top for another few years. Now with a family I think he'll probably play for a few more years and then stay in the sport, whether it be coaching or clinics, to give back to the sport. Family photo: proud mom and pop Mannino spend some quality playground time with then-toddler Jason.