West Branch's Steve Manz, a 1999 Ogemaw Heights grad, is training at Ashland University in Ohio in his attempt to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in China.
Manz's Olympic dream has already taken him to a number of international meets, including this one in Greece.
Photos courtesy Steve Manz
Manz won the state discus title for Ogemaw Heights in 1999, setting a state finals meet record in the process.

ASHLAND, OHIO – Not all professional athletes are rich.

Steve Manz is just hoping to keep a roof over his head, eat well and pay his travel expenses.

He also hopes to be in Beijing, China in August of 2008, competing for the United States track and field team in the shot put.

If Manz were in Europe, he’d be getting paid to compete in meets. In fact, he travels there during the summer to throw, make two or three thousand dollars (for the summer, not per meet) and see parts of the world he’d never see otherwise.

But.even a couple thousand dollar paycheck would be a boon here. In the U.S., being a professional track and field athlete means paying your way to meets. It means trying to make ends meet while training with the necessary focus and endurance to become a world-class athlete. Only the most recognizable stars – usually sprinters – rake in the big bucks through endorsements or appearance fees.

Manz is no sprinter. He toils in relative obscurity at Ashland University in Ohio, with a few side jobs as a personal trainer, and devotes the rest of his energy to qualifying for the Olympics.

It’s a dream he chases in spite of the cost, not because of the potential payoff. There won’t be any eight-figure contracts, Olympics or no.

FINDING THE RIGHT PLACE

Manz, whose last meet as an Ogemaw Heights Falcon in 1999 ended with a Class B state championship and state finals record in the discus, aims to be an Olympian. By the time he graduated from Michigan State University, he held Spartan school records in the shot put, discus and weight throw, achieved all-American status three times and had numerous all-Big 10 awards to his name.

His career best of 64-11 at Michigan State in the shot was close enough to elite level that he decided to keep training, see how far he could go.

“During my senior year of college my PR (personal record) went from 61-8 to 64-11,” he said. “It takes about 70 feet to get to the Olympics. I decided that if I needed five more feet, I was close enough to make it realistic.”

His focus on reaching the Olympics is so complete, it precludes even having a full-time job. More accurately, it is his job. It just doesn’t come with a paycheck.

That wasn’t the original plan.

After graduating Manz landed what at first looked like an ideal job for a prospective Olympian: assistant track and field coach at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. While coaching college throwers, he was also able to perform unattached against some good competition.

It didn’t work out quite as well as he’d hoped.

“Working a full-time job while trying to train at the same time was too much,” Manz said. “Dealing with track and field all day long, it was just too much track.

“I was focusing so much on coaching that my own training was falling off. If one area was going well, the other one would suffer.”

And for a Northern Michigan boy it was an exercise in culture shock. Not all of it was bad, but …

“Part of my experience there was Hurricane Rita,” he said. That storm, mere weeks after Katrina, came ashore near the Louisiana-Texas border not far from the McNeese State campus. Manz spent six weeks sleeping on the floor of his head coach’s home.

“I never want to go through something like that again,” he said

Still, it wasn’t hurricanes or culture shock that drove Manz back to the Midwest. His best throw this past year was 63-9 – significantly off his 2006 best of 66-2. He’s been ranked as high as 10th in the world and fifth in the U.S., but knows that won’t quite be enough.

“That’s what really prompted me to leave McNeese State,” he said. “I didn’t really throw that great this year. Now I’m in a situation where I can put all my focus on training.”

Ashland University in Ohio provided the environment Manz felt he needed. Ashland head coach Jud Logan competed in the hammer throw in four Olympics and was a captain on the 1992 team. He’s also been at Ashland for a dozen years and coached numerous outstanding throwers, including 2007 male field athlete of the year Kibwe Johnson, who won three NCAA national titles last year.

“Coach is just amazing,” Manz said. “We have 20 throwers here, as well as my training partners, so it’s just a great environment. He really knows what he’s doing.”

Johnson, as well as A.G. Kruger, the top American hammer thrower, and Bryan Vickers, who won the NCAA Division 2 shot put title, are Manz’s training partners, as well as the college kids. While it didn’t take long to get used to training with others, Manz said the shared experience has provided additional motivation.

“I’ve never even had one training partner before,” Manz said. “It wasn’t a huge adjustment, but it definitely makes you work harder. Especially when you have people throwing close to what you’re throwing and lifting close to what you’re lifting.”

Three to four hours a day of intense workouts, which include sprinting, throwing, lifting and plyometrics (exercises that help an athlete develop the explosive power needed for throwing events) will hopefully get Manz to that 70-foot mark that in most years is good enough to punch that Olympic ticket.

As with most things, Manz won’t reach his goals without money. Through his website, www.stevemanz.com, fundraisers he hopes to put on in East Lansing and West Branch, and donations to a tax-deductible account set up by his high school coach, Doug Grezeszak, Manz hopes to raise about $15,000 to cover a year’s worth of expenses that include rent, food, utilities, nutritional supplements and travel expenses.

“Money’s a week-to-week thing right now,” he said. “It’s pretty tight, but I’m sure I’ll get by. I don’t get too stressed about it. I’m just trying to keep my focus on training while making my ends meet.”

 

DONATION INFO

Manz will be selling t-shirts and accepting donations directly through his web site, or memberships can be purchased. Information is on his website, www.stevemanz.com, or he can be contacted at P.O. Box 951, Ashland, OH 44805.

Donations through Grezeszak’s account can be addressed to the Dwayne Rau Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of Doug Greseszak, 3680 Dill Drive, West Branch, MI 48661 (donors will receive a receipt for tax purposes). Grezeszak can be contacted by e-mail at grezeszd@m33access.com.

“Let’s all chip in and give whatever you can to help Steve with this dream,” says Grezeszak. “Can you imagine what it would be like to watch the trials on TV next summer, see him make the team and later see him compete in Beijing wearing the uniform of this great nation?

“I want to see a sign on the edge of town that says, 'Home of Steve Manz, Olympic Shot Putter.' With our financial help, this can happen.”