Adolph "Red" Jansky - Class of 1941

Football, Basketball, Baseball

Presenter:  Tom Jansky  

Adolph "Red" Jansky, was the type of person you'd expect to find in a Norman Rockwell portrait.  He was the All-American boy, who was a leader amongst his peers, and would build a life serving his country, and his community.

Over the course of his career, he won 10 varsity letters in three different sports, and was voted "Most Athletic" by his classmates three years in a row.

In football, he played end.  Even though he was vastly undersized, he made up for his lack of bulk with heart and spirit.  The Asbury Park Press writer Herb Kamm once quoted his coach Granville Magee as saying,  "at 159 pounds, Jansky is the hardest tackler in the Shore Conference".

Jansky was an integral part of Magee's early success at Manasquan.  He was a standout member of the 1939 NJSIAA and Shore Conference Champions.  As a senior, he helped lead the Blue and Gray to a second consecutive undefeated season (losing out on a second straight state title, finishing second in the mathematical formula use to choose winners).  During his tenure, Manasquan recorded a record 21 straight victories (then a Shore Conference record), and was selected as a member of The Asbury Park Press's All-Shore 11, and the Daily Standard's All-County 11.

On the hardcourt, "Red" continued to help Magee coach teams to success.  Described by Kamm as "a set shot specialist", and an aggressive defensive standout, Jansky played both guard and forward as an underclassmen on the two teams that fell to Neptune in the annual Shore Conference Tournament, but returned with his team to the SCT as a senior and beat Neptune to win the first basketball title in school history before a packed house at Asbury Park High School.

In baseball, Red played third base, and once led the Manasquan nine against Lakewood by scoring 8 runs and hitting 3 doubles in a single game.  He capped off a tremendous career finishing 12^th in the Shore Conference with a .360 batting average.

It should come as no surprise that while at Manasquan, Red was elected captain of his teams in all three sports, and served two years as president of the Athletic Council.  After school, he was drafted, like so many other of his generation, and spent 3 years in the United States Navy.

Red never lost his love for sports however, and played for many years with Ki Estelle, Manasquan AC, and West Belmar Athletic Association.  He would retire as Assistant Postmaster in Sea Girt after serving that community for 45 years.

George "Chip" Hirst - Class of 1970

Baseball & Basketball

Presenter - Phillip Schwier

Baseball is one of Manasquan's oldest sports, with the first known pitch having been thrown as early as 1917.  But few pitchers in Manasquan history have been as good as George "Chip" Hirst. 

A standout right hander, and 4-year letter winner for Jack Hawkins' teams, Hirst was an integral part of his team's NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II Championship season in 1969.

The following year he led the Manasquan Nine to the Monmouth College Tournament Championship, and was awarded the MCT Most Valuable Player Award.

He finished his career as the Shore Conference all-time career leader in wins (33), a record that stood for 36 years until Toms River East and Rutgers University pitcher topped it, winning his final high school game in 2006 to finish with 34.  And is currently first in all-time career wins, and is tied for first all-time in wins in a single season (12) with Mike Mahady (Class of 1985). Hirst was named 1^st team All-Shore selection by The Asbury Park Press in 1970.

Chip was also a three year letter-winner for "Doc" Nine's basketball teams as they moved into the new gym for the first time.  A towering front court player with a guards touch, he was a 1970 1^st team All-Shore, All-Division selection by The Asbury Park Press, and was awarded the 1970 Frederick Lyman Abbott Basketball Award given annually to the team's most outstanding basketball player.

After graduation he would go to pitch for Erskine College in South Carolina, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, and earn 1^st Team All-District honors as a pitcher in 1972.

 Granville V. Magee - 1937 - 1954

Athletic Director, Football Coach & Basketball Coach

Presenter - Skip Magee

With movie star good looks and a commanding personality, Granville V. Magee came to Manasquan High School looking to build an athletics program, and in doing so set a standard by which teams for the next 70 years would be measured.

He was hired as an athletic director, physical education teacher, and coach in 1937, and was given charge of the football, basketball and track teams. 

Magee worked quickly to turn around the football program and made school and conference history by becoming the first team to win both the State and Shore Conference titles in the same season in 1939.  His teams would not lose another game until 1941 (setting what was then a Shore Conference record for consecutive wins (21)).  Following Pearl Harbor, Magee was drafted by the Army, reported for duty on New Year's Day 1942, and spent the next three years in charge of a prisoner of war camp at Ft. Niagara, NY.  Turning down lucrative business opportunities presented by fellow officers, he would instead return to Manasquan and guide the Blue and Gray to two more state titles in 1946, and 1947 and finished with a career record of 52 wins 14 losses and 8 ties.

In basketball, Magee's leadership style was just as effective.  He coached three seasons (1939-1940) before leaving for the war.  He guided his teams to the Shore Conference Tournament finals three years in a row, losing to Neptune twice by a total of four points, before beating them in 1941, in overtime, becoming the first team in school history to win the storied title.  He would leave the court with a record of 30-8.

Magee was also the head track coach from 1938-1941, and helped his team finish 3^rd in the 1939 Shore Conference Meet.  He also introduced golf to the Shore Conference as a varsity sport in 1939 and after returning from the war, watched his team win the Shore Conference Championship in 1946.

Off the field, Coach Magee held the positions of athletic director, guidance councilor, vice-principal, and acting principal.  He would leave Manasquan in 1954, but his influence and presence would continue to be felt in New Jersey athletics.  He spearheaded a committee in 1951 to choose a new head coach for Rutgers University, he founded the New Jersey Athletic Officials Association, and would become the first Superintendent of Wall Twp. Schools to oversee the brand new high school's construction and opening, and assisted in starting the Wall Township Public Library Association which founded the township's public library.

In both Manasquan and Wall High School's there are awards honoring Magee's memory.  At Manasquan, the Granville V. Magee Award is given annually to the football team's "unsung hero" who goes unnoticed by the media, but makes a significant contribution to his team.  At Wall, the Granville V. Magee Memorial Scholarship is awarded annually to the senior who has achieved academic and athletic success while demonstrating leadership ability.

Jack Hawkins - Class of 1968-1989

Football Coach & Baseball Coach

Presenter - Lenny Warwick

As the head football coach (1968-1979), "The Hawk" was enormously popular with his players and among his peers.

In his ten seasons he guided his teams to a record of 81-18-2, placing him second all-time among Manasquan football coaches.  During his tenure, the newly named Warriors, won 6 division titles, enjoyed 3 undefeated seasons, and were awarded the 1969 NJSIAA CJ Group II State Champions.   He would return to the gridiron again in 1985, as an assistant and helped Coach Vic Kubu's staff steer the Warriors to 2 more division titles and a state final.

He was named Coach of the Year three times, twice by the New York Daily News, and once by The Asbury Park Press.   In 1976, when The Asbury Park Press sponsored the 1^st Annual All-Shore Classic football game, pitting the very best seniors from Ocean and Monmouth Counties against each other, they game's founders chose Jack to head the Monmouth 11.  They couldn't have chosen a better candidate as Coach Hawkins represented both Manasquan and Monmouth County in style, arriving on the infield at Wall Stadium driven by a chauffeured Rolls Royce, wearing a white tuxedo, complete with top hat, gloves, cane, and tails.

On the diamond, Jack's baseball teams enjoyed equal success.  During his eight seasons (1968-1976) as head coach, the Warrior Nine recorded 100 wins and 35 losses.  A Mater teacher, Coach Hawkins' teams were talented and always well prepared, winning 4 division championships, 1 NJSIAA State Championship in 1969, and 2 Monmouth County Tournament titles. 

Off the diamond, Hawkins's love of sports and never-ending desire to teach has evolved into the "Be the Best You Are Baseball and Softball Clinic", which he founded in 1973.  Today, after 36 years, it is continually one of the largest baseball and softball clinics in the United States.  Past speakers include: Ted Williams, Tom Seaver, Whitey Ford, Earl Weaver, Gene Michael, Skip Bertram, and Andy Blaylock.  Last year alone, the clinic drew 2,600 college and high school coaches from up and down the East Coast.

Coach Hawkins was inducted into the Princeton High School Hall of Fame in 2008, and the New Jersey Football Coaches' Hall of Fame in 1991. 

Charles "Chuck" Ferrell - Class of 1976

Cross Country & Track

Presenter - Jack Ford

The great distance runner Steve Prefontaine once said that while "some people create with words or with music or with a brush and paints, runners like to make something beautiful when they run. They like to make people stop and say, I've never seen anyone run like that before." It''s more than just a race, it's a style. It's doing something better than anyone else. It's being creative."

If there's any truth to Prefontaine's words, then, during his time at Manasquan, Chuck Ferrell was an artist who painted his greatest works three miles at a time on the grounds of the Sea Girt Army Camp, or the trails of Ocean County Park, or whatever path led him to victory.  And those who paid attention to Manasquan Boys' Cross Country did stop and say, "I've never seen anyone run like that before".

Ferrell won seven letters while at Manasquan, four in Cross Country and three in track, but it was the lonely sport of cross country that Ferrell created his masterpiece.

His career began during his sophomore year leading Manasquan's Warriors to the division title, a feat which he'd repeat two more times.  Yet it was during that season that he realized he could be something special, and for the next two seasons, he would start his races in front and never look back.

During his junior and senior season (1974 and 1975), Ferrell never lost a Shore Conference race.  Not only did he lead his team to division titles during those years, but he became the first man in history to win the Monmouth County Individual Meet in back-to-back years.  He became the second man in history to win the Shore Conference Individual Meet in back-to-back years - (setting the course record at 14:23.3). 

Ferrell's feet carried him beyond the trails of the Shore Conference, to the state meets, where he won the 1974 and 1975 NJSIAA Group III State Individual Championships (setting the course record of 15:17 in the latter of the two).  He wound up placing 8^th out of 25 runners in the 1974 Meet of Champions.

He was a 3-time All-Shore selection by The Asbury Park Press (including two 1^st team honors in '74 and '75).

Simply put, he might have been the greatest Cross Country runner Manasquan High School has ever seen.

Patricia Barnaba - 1971-2008

Field Hockey Coach, Basektball Coach & Softball Coach

Presenter - Connie Kordulak

This past September, the Manasquan High School field hockey field was dedicated in name to Coach Barnaba who not only founded the program, but who spent her career as a champion of girls athletics at Manasquan and the Shore Conference.

Coach Barnaba came to Manasquan in 1971, as a physical education teacher, at a time when girls' were not offered varsity sports, and she would work quickly and tireless to change that.

She established the girls' field hockey program in 1971, and led the team for the next 37 years.  In that time she would go on to win 361 games, 4 NJSIAA Championships, 13 divisional championships, and the 1998 Shore Conference Tournament.  In recognition of her efforts, she was voted the 1990 NJ State Field Hockey Coach of the Year by the Newark Star Ledger, and was twice voted the Shore Conference Coach of the Year, in 1990 and 1998, by The Asbury Park Press. 

In 1975, Coach Barnaba also established the school's first softball team, and within four years had her girls on top of their game.  In 20 years at the helm, she compiled 453 wins, 3 NJSIAA Championships, 14 divisional championships, 2 Shore Conference championships in 1977 and 1986, and a Monmouth County title in 1999.   She was named Coach of the Year twice, once by the Asbury Park Press in 1986, and once by The Star Ledger in 1987.

Aside from her exploits on the field that now bears her name, Coach Barnaba also re-established the girls' basketball program after a 34 year hiatus (the program was disbanded after the 1937 season).  In 6 seasons, she helped guide the program to success at the varsity level and recorded 86 wins.  When leaving her seat at the end of the bench she continued on the court as a basketball official and continues to follow all her sports.

Coach Barnaba has spent the last 37 years building a legacy at Manasquan High School, and it is one that will endure, and resonate not only in her many championships and wins (900 in total) but in the results of her tireless advocacy for women's sports.

Not only has the field hockey field been dedicated in her name, but she is also a member of the NJSIAA Coaches' Hall of Fame (inducted in 2000).

Jenniffer Siemaszko Collins - Class of 1987

Basketball & Softball

Presenter - Terri Keating

Jenniffer Siemaszko won 8 letters in two sports, and dominated both of them like few before or since.  Siemaszko, the consummate sportswoman, intimated opponents with her tenacity and relentlessness.

In 1987, as a team captain, she helped lead her team to the Manasquan's first ever NJSIAA Girl's Basketball Championship averaging 17.5 points and 11 rebounds per game.  A vision of' consistency, in the state final alone she scored 17 points and tallied 7 rebounds.  She would finish her career first all-time in offensive rebounds in a career (525), defensive rebounds in a career (628, defensive rebounds in a game (14), and was the 4^th girl in school history to record over 1,000 points in her career (1,091). 

She was selected 1^st team All-State, 1^st team All-State Group II, 1^st team All-Monmouth County in by both The Star Ledger and The Asbury Park Press,  honored her with 1^st team All-Shore, and 1^st team All "B" South selections

In softball, she was dominance personified.  As a four-year, starting pitcher, she shut down opponents all but 6 times, finishing with a 56-6 career record, and leading her teammates to the 1987 NJSIAA Group II State Championship, 4 divisional championships, and a Shore Conference Tournament title in 1986. 

She would finish her career on the diamond with a school record 437 career strikeouts (with a season high 125 in 1986), and 1.62 career ERA.  In the 1987 State Quarter-final, Jen pitched 8 innings of no-hit ball to help her team win 4-0 in 10 innings, only to top that in the State Final, with a 3-hit shutout over heavily favored South Plainfield team.

Each Spring Jen was a regular in the post-season honors section of the local and state papers.  She was selected to the All-Shore and All B-South teams four straight times by The Asbury Park Press (with two 1^st team All-Shore nods in 1986 and 1987), and was selected All-Monmouth County by the same paper.  The Star Ledger made her a 3-time selection to their All-State and All-Group II teams in '86 and '87 (with 1^st team honors coming in 1987), and placed her on the All-Monmouth County teams four years in a row.

Jen went on to win the MHS Dorothy Emerson Award as the high school's Best Female Athlete, and played college basketball at Lehigh University, where she won ECC Rookie of the Year honors in 1988, and finished the university all-time leading rebounder (788).

Dara Hahn VanPelt - Class of 1992

Basketball, Soccer & Field Hockey

Presenter - Richard Johnson   

In four years at Manasquan, Dara Hahn was a force to be reckoned with on the field, in the gym, and in the classroom as well.  The National Honor Society member, MHS Varsity Scholar, and Senior Class President would go on to win accolades as one of the premier 3-sport athletes of the decade.

In field hockey, under fellow inductee and then Coach Pat Barnaba, she would help lead her team to win championships in both their division, and NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II.   In recognition of her efforts Dara was selected 1^st team All-State Group II, and 1^st team All-Monmouth by The Star Ledger, as well as 1^st team All-Shore by The Asbury Park Press.

In basketball, under head coach Dick Johnson, she was a standout on teams that won 3 straight division championships and an NJSIAA Group II State Championship in 1992.  She was a 2-time All-State, All-Monmouth County selection by The Star Ledger, 2-time All-Shore, and 3-time All-Division selection by The Asbury Park Press (winning 1^st team nods in 1992).    She finished her career at MHS as the all-time single game (11) and career steals (335) leader, is tied with fellow inductee Doris Sable Burke as the all-time leader in single game field goal percentage (100%), and is 2^nd all-time for points scored in a career (1,302).

And in soccer, under coach Tony Trebino, Dara was a 2-time All-Shore selection a 1^st team All-State Group II honoree by The Asbury Park Press.  She would finish 2^nd all-time in total points (107), and assists (35), and 3^rd all-time in goals scored (36).

In addition to her many accolades, Dara was awarded the Dorothy Emerson Award as the high school's most outstanding female athlete. The Leonard Stout Memorial Scholarship, the US Army Reserve National Scholar/Athlete Award, and the Presidential Fitness Award. 

After graduating from Manasquan, Dara went on to accept a scholarship and play women's basketball at Monmouth College before returning to Manasquan High School roaming the all-familiar sidelines in two sports, coaching girls' soccer and basketball (as an assistant and head coach)for seven years, before taking a job teaching math at Raritan High School where she coached field hockey and basketball for two years.

Dara Han, now Van Pelt, currently lives in West Belmar with her husband and two children.