Baptiste John "Bap" Manzini (August 27, 1920 – May 9, 2008) was a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

coach. Manzini was born August 27, 1920, in Treveskyn, Pennsylvania. He attended

Saint Vincent College Saint Vincent College is a private Benedictine college in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 by Boniface Wimmer, a monk from Bavaria, it is operated by the Benedictine monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey, the first Benedictine monastery in the ...

, where he was an all-state center. Upon graduation, he joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

. He played in three seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, 1944 and 1945 for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and 1948, one game for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

and three games again for the Eagles. When his playing career ended, he coached high school football in Pennsylvania for 30 years at the former Bellmar High School and at Thomas Jefferson High School. Overall, his record was 203–74–8.

References

External links

Obituary
in the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the All ...

'', May 12, 2008. * 1920 births 2008 deaths American football centers Detroit Lions players Philadelphia Eagles players Saint Vincent Bearcats football coaches Saint Vincent Bearcats football players High school football coaches in Pennsylvania People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Burials at Monongahela Cemetery United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II {{offensive-lineman-1920s-stub