Jake Landfried - Class of 1964

Football, Head Baseball Coach

Presenter - Jeff Osborn

Jake Landfried came to Manasquan High School from Ambridge, a small Western Pennsylvania steel town in the shadow of Pittsburgh.  When he first arrived in the area, he was upset that games would be played on Saturday afternoons rather than under the lights on Friday evenings - the way, he thought, "real games" were supposed to be played.

But once he adjusted, the speedy halfback for Bruce Lackey's Blue and Gray football team would often carry the load during some lean years on the gridiron.  In an Asbury Park Press Thanksgiving game preview, against a heavily favored Point team, it was written that "Manasquan's best chance to score may come form their ability to get Landfried into the open field".  As a senior, Jake was honored with the Peter Blocksom Roetzel Award as the school's most outstanding player.

Jake would go onto play football and run track at Montclair State College.  In 1968, he chased a dream by signing a contract to play for Lou Saban's Denver Broncos of the AFL, and following a series of events, later hurt his knee in a try-out with the New York Jets.

When he returned to his alma mater, he would wear many hats - baseball coach, wrestling coach, football coach - but it was in baseball that he would earn the respect and admiration of anyone he came into contact with.  He began what would eventually become a 25 year career as a baseball coach at Manasquan in humble fashion, volunteering as a freshman coach in 1970 He next assumed a paid position as freshman coach in 1972, then JV for three years before accepting the position of head coach.  His tenure at the helm was interrupted briefly, when he was named Manasquan High School's vice-principal in 1986. 

In his 20 seasons as a head coach at Manasquan, Jake piled up 338 wins against 172 loses (.663 winning percentage).  He won 7 conference championships, and, on one beautiful June afternoon at Princeton University, a NJSIAA Group II State Championship.  During his tenure as a coach he coached several players that were drafted and would later play professional ball, but he also had the privilege of coaching his two sons, Jade (Class of '92) and Jax (Class of '98). 

Jake's name is synonymous with class in every circle it's mentioned.  In 1998, along side his son Jax, he was inducted into the Jersey Shore Athletic Hall of Fame.  Today, the number he patrolled the foul lines in, #22, is one of only two numbers ever retired at Manasquan High School.

chool.