Camp Countdown: Troy Maneval's Courage
7/14/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
If you ever go thumbing through any college sports information archive, you'll find several folders of athletes that are over flowing with articles, stat sheets, video and photos. Those folders have been rubber-banded and taped over several times because they're so frequently referenced the folder itself is deteriorating.
But in the same file tower, you'll also find many more folders that are much thinner, in far better condition. These folders are for the players that didn't set any records. These athletes probably weren't consistent starters or maybe never logged a minute of playing time. But everyone has a story, even if it wasn't written up by hometown beat-writers or featured on the evening news.
For today's countdown installment, here's one of those stories, found in the " `M' Non-Lettermen'" folder.
Berwick's finest in their finest hour
Originally Published by the Press-Enterprise (PA) August 7, 1991The first thing that grips you is their courage. The image of three Berwick police officers slipping into a literally explosive house Thursday to save a young hostage is as fine an example of heroism as any of us is ever likely to see.
The facts are well known by now. The allegations against Wells Winn will say he held is 18-year-old stepdaughter prisoner in her First Avenue home, sloshed paint thinner over her and in the house and threatened to ignite it all, taking her with him in his escape from whatever emotional agony set him off.
The facts, however, do not give full color to the extraordinary performance of Police Chief Eugene Golla and officer Jim Comstock and Troy Maneval. In those few minutes between the decision to go in and the moment they had Winn in their grasp, that trio must have suffered a lifetime's load of anxiety. It is a cliché that police officers may be asked to face death at any time. Thursday afternoon, however, those three lived through the meaning of the words.
Ex-Dawg Draws on Football Training
Berwick officer helped free captive from explosive siegeBy Heather Kichner
Originally Published by the Press-Enterprise of Pennsylvania in August 1991.
BERWICK - The lines of Troy Maneval's life are like connecting a dot-to-dot drawing. Each line leads from one important point to another.
The completed picture certainly looks like a success.
 Troy Maneval  | |
He attended college at Wake Forest in North Carolina, majoring in sociology with concentrations in criminology and juvenile delinquency and earned great grades.
His entire picture could have been erased within minutes recently when he helped storm the paint thinner-soaked house where Wells Winn held his stepdaughter captive.
"Everything is kind of a building block for the next thing," said Maneval, pausing to remember. "I've drawn on everything at one time or another. I've drawn back on football, on college - both on the field and the book work. It was all good experience."
In 1982 when Maneval was a sophomore in high school, he had a broken ankle and managed only to reach the junior varsity level.
But things progressed.
"In 1983 I was a backup tackle, and in 1984 a starting offensive guard," said Maneval, of the position he liked to play most. "I remember the first game my senior year - Harrisburg was tough. We were a fairly new team working together and we needed to build some confidence. We came back to win it."
Maneval found he was learning about discipline and self-motivation from Berwick Coach George Curry.
"He strived to get the most out of the player, but also to let the player know what he could do, being confident in himself," Maneval said.
In high school, Troy was interested in math and nuclear science. He had "several good offers" to attend colleges, and chose Wake Forest.
"What stuck out in my mind were the 3,300 undergraduates. The professor-to-student ration was 1 to 20," he said of the institution in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"I didn't have 400 people in a class and I never watched a TV screen."
Like most college freshmen, he dealt with the leaving-home blues.
 Troy married Alice Neal Maneval (above). Neal was a four-year letter winner in women's basketball at Wake Forest. She was honored last season for her outstanding achievements as a Demon Deacon when she became an ACC Legend at the 2009 Women's Basketball Tournament. | |
Maneval entered college with the idea of playing, but was again jinxed with a broken ankle during the spring of his senior year in high school.
"I went to college healing it, and I sat out most of that year and missed most of the practices," he said. "And my sophomore year I was behind a redshirt junior All-American."
That was the last year he played, he said, implying that football became less important as other aspects of his life emerged.
"I have a lot to thank football for," he said. "But now I just let the players play their game. I just hung everything up. I had a lot to do.
I think the intensity level from high school to college is just hard to comprehend," he said of playing under coach Al Groh, now a defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, and Coach Bill Dooley.
"You're a star here in your hometown, and you go to a college where there are a hundred stars like you. There's always somebody somewhere bigger and better than you are. It's really different going into that environment, and you have to remember why you're there."
Maneval graduated from Wake Forest in the summer of 1989 and in September he started training at the police academy at the Northeast Training Center in Wyoming.
Maneval's career couldn't be much more exciting. The Winn incident is a perfect example.
"The waiting was tough. He was screaming out the windows and it was frustrating," said Maneval. "And the pastor did a very good job of keeping him talking, so that allowed us to get something going."
The emotional discharge after the incident was overwhelming.
"Everybody was extremely happy," said Maneval. "It's a good charge - a good adrenaline surge, but when it's over you're glad it's over. You can be proud of the department. I want to emphasize that everyone did a great job and it was good team effort," he said, his comments echoing his years of football teamwork.
30 Day Camp Countdown Intro
Day 30: Wake Forest Football, 1889
Day 29: Assistant Coach Beattie Feathers
Day 28: Wake Forest in Japan, 1974
Day 25: Deacon History 101