Photos courtesy of Pickerington Local Schools
Pickerington High School Central senior Sterling Manley has dreams to soar above the rim, and he may be well on the way to achieving them.
Manley is involved in several athletic and extracurricular endeavors, but is probably best known at Central – and in the Pickerington community in general – as the towering power forward for the Tigers varsity boys’ basketball team.
The 6’11” cager has been playing basketball for most of his life. With him on the court, the Tigers were 25-3 this past season and advanced to the regional semifinals.
The road there had its potholes, Manley says. Most notably, he suffered two major injuries in a six-month span. The official sports-medicine diagnosis in both cases was tibial tubercle avulsion, better known as a broken leg, and the second one caused him to miss the beginning of this most recent season.
He worked hard at his rehabilitation in the off-season, wanting to get back in the game as soon as possible, though he knew the path there would be long.
“I wanted to be on the court, but I knew I had to trust the process,” Manley says. “I knew that I needed to do rehab to play again. I’m glad I trusted the process.”
A player with Manley’s skill and physical gifts does not go unnoticed. Heading into his senior year, he received full scholarship offers from a whopping 22 universities across the country.
Before that, though, Manley had a conversation with Johnathan Hedgepeth, coach of the varsity girls’ basketball team at Central. Hedgepeth asked Manley what school he wanted to attend, and his first answer was the University of North Carolina.
Hedgepeth connected with Sylvia Hatchell, coach of UNC’s girls’ basketball team, and she got him in touch with one of the men’s assistant coaches. Soon enough, the Tar Heels coaching staff had seen Manley’s game film and knew they had an opportunity.
“My dream became reality after a short conversation with coach Hedgepeth after an open gym one evening,” Manley says.
Ultimately, in October, Manley committed to attend and play basketball at UNC. He was impressed by the coaching staff, the quality of the educational programs and the winning environment there.
“That's an atmosphere and environment that I will enjoy being in,” he says. “I know I will be successful there.”
Manley’s athletic and academic careers have been a source of pride for Manley’s family as well: his parents, Kim and Eric, as well as his older sister, Adelia, and younger sister, Camille.
“We truly thank God for giving Sterling this amazing ability to play basketball,” says Kim. “He truly is a hard-working individual.”
Amid his commitment to the Tigers basketball team, Manley has maintained a grade point average of 3.6 and participates in Central’s Drug Free Clubs of America program. Central started its chapter of Drug Free Clubs of America in the 2015-16 school year. To participate, students take pledges to remain drug-free and, after submitting to urine tests to prove it, are eligible for rewards from the school and from local businesses.
“I am proud to be a Drug Free Club member,” says Manley. “It shows I stand for something I believe in.”
This fall, Manley was elected homecoming king and his girlfriend, Ireland Landis, was elected queen.
Manley’s career path isn’t set, but he plans to study either sports management or communications due to his enjoyment of sports.
Ray Bruster is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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