Remembering Vaughn Mancha

By Jim Joanos

When Vaughn Mancha died last month, the Florida State University athletics community lost a most valuable and legendary component. Mancha first came to FSU in 1952. Even before that, he possessed celebrity status. He was born in Sugar Valley, Georgia, in 1921, and grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. As a result of a childhood accident, he lost vision in one eye but never let that hamper him. Because of that condition, he was not required to serve in the military, but he nevertheless joined the Merchant Marine to be able to serve the country during World War II. Following that experience, he entered the University of Alabama and became one of that school's greatest football players of all times. A four year letterman, he was an All American center and linebacker, and captained the team his senior season. During his playing days, he along with his team played in the Rose and Sugar Bowls. While at Alabama, he met and married Sibyl who would be his companion throughout the rest of his life. The couple would have and raise two daughters and a son. In time there would be four granddaughters.

Vaughn Mancha

Mancha was drafted into the National Football League in 1948 by the Boston Yanks (now the Indianapolis Colts). After a short time, a knee injury ended his playing career so he turned to coaching. In 1949, he became the Head Football Coach at Livingston State University (now the University of West Alabama). Oddly enough, Mancha's Livingston State team was the only team to beat the Florida State Seminoles during the 1949 season. The two teams would never play each other again but in 1952, Don Veller, FSU's head coach at the time hired Mancha and he became an assistant coach at FSU. In 1953, FSU changed head coaches and Mancha continued as an assistant on Tom Nugent's staff where he served through the 1956 season. It was during the Nugent years while Mancha was an assistant that FSU got its first big dose of major college football. They began to play some big time schools including Miami, Georgia, Auburn, and Georgia Tech. The 1954 FSU team was the first Florida college team to play in a bowl game outside the State of Florida when they played Texas Western (now known as the University of Texas at El Paso) at El Paso's Sun Bowl.

In 1957, the Mancha family moved to New York City where Vaughn worked on a graduate degree and coached linebackers at Columbia University. In 1959, he cut his studies short and returned to Tallahassee this time as the FSU Athletic Director. He served as Athletic Director for the Seminoles for twelve years. During that time he led the athletics program as the school grew from a relatively small state school into the internationally recognized institution that it became. The football team under head coach Bill Peterson attained national prominence and made bowl appearances including ones to the Gator (twice), Sun and Peach. In Basketball, Hugh Durham followed Bud Kennedy as the head coach as that team also became highly competitive. The baseball team under legendary head coaches Danny Litwhiler, Fred Hatfield and Jack Stallings was consistent as a national power year after year. Mancha's contributions of hard work and leadership greatly helped Florida State to prosper across the board in sports. After his years as athletic director, Mancha stayed on at FSU and taught media courses in the College of Education for approximately fifteen years until his retirement.

Throughout his lifetime, Mancha was honored in numerous ways. Among the honors was induction into a number of athletic halls of fame including the FSU Athletics Hall of Fame, the National Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

Throughout his later years, Mancha continued to attend athletic events and quarterback club meetings and his unforgettable personality added a great deal of character and color to the sports culture that exists in Tallahassee. He loved Italian opera and did not mind bursting out in song whenever he felt like it. He added a positive, lasting and refreshing mark on FSU and its traditions that many of us will always remember. We shall miss him.