For nearly 40 years, Jeff Manto carried a quiet, unfinished goal. He had lived the dream in baseball, playing a decade in the major leagues and being selected for the Temple Hall of Fame. But one goal still lingered: graduating from college.
On May 8, nearly four decades after he left Temple for the 1985 MLB draft, Manto walked across the graduation stage and claimed a degree he once thought might never come.
"It probably puts the cherry on the top that I completed what I started out to do," Manto said. "It's a great accomplishment only because of the fact that I followed through."
In 2021, Manto returned to Temple to finish what he started in 1982. He did it through the NCAA Division I Degree Completion Award Program — a resource for former student-athletes within 30 credit hours of earning their first undergraduate degree. To date, the program has awarded over $30 million to over 2,900 former student-athletes. Of those, 90% have successfully received their undergraduate degrees.
Manto's path back to Temple was far from linear, however.
He left Temple after his junior season with a career batting average of .412 and multiple offensive records to his name after being converted from a pitcher to an outfielder. He was drafted by the California (now Los Angeles) Angels in the 14th round of the 1985 MLB draft.
He climbed the ranks and enjoyed a successful journeyman career as a corner infielder, playing for eight teams. Although he never participated in a World Series, he played for three teams that made an appearance there: the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies, the 1997 Cleveland Indians (now Guardians) and the 1999 New York Yankees, with the Yankees winning.
Manto also shares the MLB record for home runs in consecutive at bats, hitting four straight with the Baltimore Orioles in 1995.
Throughout his baseball journey, which included transitioning from player to coach in 2001, the idea of finishing his degree occasionally popped up. One memorable example occurred at an unexpected moment in 2002 when he was managing the Lakewood (New Jersey) BlueClaws, a Phillies minor league affiliate.
"For 8½ innings, there was this lady yelling my name over and over again," he recalled. "So at the end of the game I said, 'Lady, what do you want?' She said, 'I am your guidance counselor. My name is Arlene Dowd. Get back to school.'"
The interaction with Dowd, aformer longtime administrator at Temple's business school, stuck with Manto.
"So I followed up with her. I think the desire that Temple had to get their student-athletes graduated was an inspiration for me."
Still, timing is everything. Manto's coaching career made it logistically challenging to return to school. It wasn't until 2020 that he finally had the time to act. But even then, finances nearly shut the door.
"It was $800 a credit," Manto said.
He tried every avenue he could think of to secure funding — and kept hearing the same answer: no.
"Financially, it didn't make sense," he said. "And I told my wife, I'm not going to go back. I'm done."
Still, he made one more call — to the NCAA.
"I went on the NCAA's website, and I saw this long list of programs they had. And I thought to myself, 'I don't have time to read all these programs. I'm going to call and ask if somebody can tell me if I fit one,'" Manto said.
The person who answered, Lori Thomas, didn't hesitate.
"She said, 'We'll take care of it,'" Manto said. "And sure enough, I never saw a bill. The NCAA covered the cost of every class."
With finances secured through the Division I Degree Completion Program, Manto entered Temple's Bachelor of General Studies program — launched in 2020 specifically for those with credits but no diploma — as part of its first cohort.
"He only had 24 credits left to complete the BGS degree. He really fit that mold perfectly of who we created this program for," said Tara Stasik, director of academic and student services at Temple. "Jeff just embodies what a BGS student is all about, as well as what a Temple student is about. Our motto is, 'Perseverance Conquers.' And that's exactly what he did. He didn't give up."
Manto, who now coaches high school baseball, took one or two classes each semester, steadily chipping away at his remaining credits. His academic highlight was a capstone project on racial diversity in Major League Baseball, for which Manto combined coursework with personal insight.
"For his capstone project, he utilized all that he learned from his courses and research to something that was near and dear to him," said Nicole Nathan, a Temple professor who taught the capstone course. "Interviewing players and coaches, as well as collecting his own data, Jeff investigated systemic barriers that have contributed to this decline, such as rising costs to play baseball and the decrease of baseball fields in cities."
Nathan added, "His classmates were always very impressed by Jeff's story from a former professional athlete to his continued coaching of baseball and now as a student finishing his degree."
For Manto, the whole process — from hitting "submit" on his last paper to walking the stage May 8 — felt like more than just an academic victory.
"I think it's the same dopamine, if you will, of winning the championship," he said. "I beat it. I beat the system. I got my degree."
Doing so at Temple only added to the moment — the Philadelphia school had been his foundation long before the MLB.
"We were tough. We had a coach who was tough, Skip Wilson," Manto said. "He didn't allow us to get too far off path. He didn't allow us to slack off at all, and the life lesson from that was you can't give in. You can't give up. You got to fight."
After proving to himself that it wasn't too late, Manto hopes his story reminds other former NCAA student-athletes that unfinished doesn't have to mean unfinishable.
"I would tell them to do it," he said. "If I can do it, anybody can do it. Just take the time. I chipped away at it."
His journey also served as a reminder that the NCAA's impact on student-athletes can extend far beyond their years competing.
"I originally thought that the NCAA was your friend for four years," he said. "I didn't realize that there's a lifetime relationship with the NCAA."
Now, with his degree in hand and family — including two daughters who are Temple graduates — cheering him on, Manto finally feels whole.
"Now I can say I'm one of them," he said. "I feel accomplished."
