Jason Mannino, born January 28, 1975, is a retired American

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...

player. Mannino was the #1 player at the end of the 2002-200
International Racquetball Tour (IRT)
season, and is a two-time winner of the US Open. He was named to the USA Racquetball Hall of Fame in 2020. Mannino's game style was unique, as he rarely hit drive serves, relying instead on a variety of half lob serves. Then during rallies he frequently dove to keep a rally going, hitting the ball to the ceiling while waiting for an opportunity to hit a winning shot.

Professional career

Mannino began playing full-time on the

International Racquetball Tour The International Racquetball Tour (IRT) is the leading professional racquetball organization for men's competition. It was founded in 1991 and is the successor to previous iterations of the tour by different names. Professional Men's racquetbal ...

in 1995, and finished in the top 10 each of his full seasons on tour until his retirement after the 2009-10 season.http://www.bossconsulting.com/irt/ IRT Historical Data Archive Indeed, Mannino’s lowest ranking was 7th at the end of his first season, and he was never outside of the top 5 in the next 14 seasons hitting a career high at #1 at the end of the 2002-03 season. His 15 seasons in the top 10 are third most for an IRT player behind only

Cliff Swain Cliff Swain (born March 21, 1966) is a professional racquetball player and coach from Boston, Massachusetts. Known for his dominant drive serve and on-court intensity, Swain finished as the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tour (IRT) ...

(20) and

Rocky Carson Rocky Carson (born May 21, 1979) is an American professional racquetball player. Carson's a formeInternational Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Champion in Men's Singles – a title he's won a record five times. He has been the season ending # ...

(16). Overall, Mannino won 22 IRT tournaments in his career, placing him 7th on the all-time list, and was runner up on 18 other occasions, so he had a winning record when in a final (22-18). Mannino’s 193 appearances in IRT tournament puts him 4th all time behind Swain (with 286), Carson (222) and Ruben Gonzalez (216) (through the 2015-16 season). Mannino's career is highlighted by two US Open titles in 1999 and 2006. In 1999, Mannino defeated Swain in the final, 11-8, 4-11, 11-8, 11-8, Sudsy Monchik in the semi-finals, 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 11-3, and Dan Fowler in the quarterfinals, 11-9, 11-0, 11-4. His 2006 win came at the expense of

in the final, 11-9, 11-8, 11-5,

Jack Huczek Jack Huczek (born January 13, 1983) is a retired American racquetball player. Huczek was a 3 timInternational Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Champion in Men's Singles, and he was the #1 International Racquetball Tour (IRT) player at the end ...

in the semi-finals, 11-5, 11-6, 6-11, 9-11, 12-10, in the semi-finals, and Swain in the quarterfinals, 11-8, 13-11, 11-2. Seven years is the longest period between US Open wins by a player. Also, Mannino's only one of four men - along with

Kane Waselenchuk Kane Waselenchuk (born November 9, 1981) is a professional racquetball player born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Waselenchuk finished the 2018-19 season as the #1 player on the International Racquetball Tourbr> (IRT)for a record extending 13th ti ...

, Sudsy Monchik and

- to win the US Open more than once.

International career

Mannino won a World Junior title in Boy's 18 and under singles in 1994, and in Boy's 18 & under doubles in 1992 with partner Sudsy Monchik. But Mannino never played for Team USA as an adult.

Personal

Originally from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, Mannino now resides in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

, where he's lived since the early 1990s. His accomplishments are all the more remarkable given that he suffered severe injuries following a car accident when he was 18. Mannino won his World Junior title only two months after beginning to play again following the accident. During his career and afterwards, Mannino did numerous racquetball instructional clinics and camps often with his coach Fran Davis, and the two of them wrote ''Championship Racquetball''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mannino, Jason American racquetball players 1975 births Living people