Manus McCracken
- Post by: mcalibrary
- January 12, 2024
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JOSEPH “JAZZ” DIMINICK MALE SCHOLAR ATHLETE
Jazz Diminick would have been excited to have Manus McCracken be the recipient of his male scholar athlete award. Manus has worked very hard to become the player that he is. Some may say Manus is a tad undersized, a step slow, and maybe not quite as strong as those around him. What does set him apart is his burning desire to be the best. He has focused on his lateral speed and has become a true student of the game. Manus has started 35 games at the linebacker position and has posted double digit tackles in 16 of them, with a best of 20 in the game with the Danville Ironmen. He has come up huge in the biggest of games, having 10 or more tackles twice against Southern, Selinsgrove, Loyalsock, South Williamsport and North Schuylkill.
McCracken led the 2017 Tornadoes with 133 tackles, 77 of them solo. The 77 solo tackles represent the most ever by a Red Tornado. He surpassed Vince Yasenchak’s 76 in 1999 and Steve Matura’s 75 in 2002, both accomplished in 15 game seasons. The 133 tackles ranks as the 9th best season ever at MCA making him only the 10th MCA player to record 100 tackles in 2 seasons. Manus’s career total now stands at 332 tackles (7th all-time) with 35 for loss. He has also added 9 QB sacks, 3 Passes defended, 3 fumble recoveries and 5 QB hurries. In addition, he was the fullback who helped pave the way for MCA to run for 3000 yards in 2017.
For his efforts, Manus has been named to the PA Sportswriters AA First Team as a linebacker, Eastern PA Football AA 1st team linebacker, Pennsylvania Football News AA 2nd team linebacker. He capped it off by being named to the WNEP TV 16 Dream Team.
McCracken has also earned four letters wrestling with the Tornado Matmen and has been a part of MCA Track and Field. McCracken culminated his wrestling career by qualifying for the PIAA State Championships at 195lb. Manus is currently ranked 3rd in his class and has a 1480 in his SAT’s. He still finds time to volunteer in his church as an altar server and at the local food pantry, moving food goods and with distribution. He has also worked transforming the Mount Carmel Public Library Reading Garden into a beautiful and thriving flower garden for the citizens of Mount Carmel. Helping his community is important to him now and is part of his plans going forward. Manus plans to attend an Ivy League or Patriot League school to major in mathematics or engineering. He is the son of Vivian and Casey McCracken of Mount Carmel.