This photo from the Minnesota Twins shows Ewen-Trout Creek graduate Jim Manning. He was 18 years, 268 days old on his MLB debut April 15, 1962. (Minnesota Twins Press Photo)

TROUT CREEK — Anyone who saw him play would likely insist that the late Jim Manning was among the very best high school basketball players in the Upper Peninsula.

“I think he could have starred on any team in the state of Michigan,” late Chassell High coaching legend Ed Helakoski once said. “He does everything well on the basketball floor.”

Standing just 6-foot-1, Manning was a great leaper who often outrebounded much taller opponents.

“His timing was just so good that he would always know where the rebound was going,” Trout Creek High coach Bruce Warren said. “There isn’t a single thing he doesn’t do well.”

Manning’s all-around skills allowed him to rack up a U.P. record 2,147 points between 1957 and 1961. He scored 60 points or better in a game three times.

That stood as the Peninsula record until Dominic Jacobetti of Negaunee St. Paul tallied 2,150 points a few years later.

Jacobetti’s record wasn’t broken until Gage Kreski of St. Ignace shattered it in 2016.

But Manning possessed other athletic skills, including baseball.

Taught the diamond skills by his father, Ben, he attracted the attention of major league scouts on the mound.

Pitching for the town team, Manning tossed a couple of no-hitters and struck out as many as 19 hitters in one game.

Former Ewen-Trout Creek basketball coach Tom Caudill remembered the fastball of the Trout Creek ace.

“He could really throw the ball,” Caudill recalled a few years ago. “The hitters virtually had no chance of hitting it.”

Manning signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins right out of high school. And although his big league career was short-lived, he managed to get into five games.

At the time, Manning was the youngest Twins player to ever make their big-league debut. He was 18 years, 268 days old when he pitched in relief against the Los Angeles Angels on April 15, 1962.

But it was in basketball where Jim made his name.

Playing on perhaps the shortest floor in the region was no problem for Manning.

Late Mass High skipper Ernie Toivonen said the size of the court didn’t faze the Anglers’ star.

“His shooting range was unlimited,” Toivonen said said. “And he played as well on larger courts as he did on smaller ones.”

Growing up in the small small (approximately 325 residents) sports was always in vogue.

“In the winter, we play basketball, in the spring and summer it’s baseball and in the fall, it’s football,” Manning said in an interview in 2011. “What else are you going to do in a small place?”

Trout Creek enjoyed great success, winning a few Class E basketball titles. It should also be said the Anglers were the last team to defeat Chassell before the Panthers record 65-game win streak.

When the school consolidated with Ewen in 1967 to form Ewen-Trout Creek High School, the success story continued.

The Panthers have turned out many outstanding athletes. That list includes Gary Fors, Dave Besonen and Mike Ojala to name just a few.

When girls basketball started up at E-TC in the early 1970s, Jim’s sister, Sandy, was among the first to gain all-state honors.

Manning’s niece, Shana DeCremer, would become an All-American player at Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan University — the former the school where Allison Bailey gained fame.

Shana DeCremer later married Mike Ojala and the two had twins, Matt and Travis, who have gone to fine athletic careers at Calumet High.

Ben Manning, said for his baseball and a long officiating career, was inducted into the U.P. Hall of Fame.

Shana and Mike attained the same honor a few years ago.

Jim, who died earlier this year, was inducted into the hall of fame a few years ago. But he declined to accept it.