Officer James Manor
Sun archives
- Funeral services planned for officer killed in crash (5-11-2009)
- Accused driver’s attorney in fatal police crash speaks out (5-11-2009)
- Driver in fatal crash with officer wasn’t drunk, to be released (5-8-09)
- Metro officer killed in collision remembered as ‘caring individual’ (5-8-09)
- Metro Police officer killed on duty in collision identified (5-7-2009)
- Driver who went through police crash site arrested for DUI (5-7-2009)
A little more than a decade ago, with Clark’s football team trailing Cheyenne late in the fourth quarter, quarterback James Manor was called upon once again to take charge and lead his team out of a tough spot.
Even his coach was nervous. But not Manor. He was calm and self-confident.
“He said, and I never will forget it, ‘Don’t worry coach, we’ll win this game,’” said former Chargers coach Jim Massey.
It was the final game of the season, and Massey had reason to be concerned.
“We ran the option with Jamie because he was such a horse,” Massey said. “A few plays earlier he hung onto the ball too long when he should have pitched it.”
But with the game on the line, Manor executed the option to perfection to score the decisive touchdown, capping a winning season for Clark in 1998.
It was with that same tenacity that Manor lived his life, Massey said. Manor, a Metro Police officer, died last Thursday while responding to an emergency when his patrol car collided with a pickup truck on Flamingo Road near Rainbow Boulevard.
“He had such confidence in himself,” Massey said. “I know he was on a mission in that car, just like everything else he did.”
Manor, 28, is being remembered as someone who made others around him better — the type of man you want running your football team, working for your business or patrolling the streets of Las Vegas.
“Jamie was just a leader,” Massey said. “He was the homecoming king, which says a lot about his popularity. Sometimes in a tragic situation you will hear people say how great someone is even though you know otherwise. Not with this kid. He was a true gentleman.”
Manor, who also starred on Clark’s basketball team, was the type of person everyone wanted to be associated with, friends said. Massey took over the program for Manor’s senior year and was having a tough time getting players to attend summer workouts.
That’s when Manor stepped in and organized an effort to get his teammates on the practice field.
“He was just very charismatic and very easy to get along with,” said Perryn Hale, a teammate of Manor’s at Clark who is now the coach at Cheyenne. “He was just full of joy and a great teammate to everyone. He commanded respect from a lot of people and got it because of how hard he worked.”
Manor went on to play linebacker for two years at Eastern Michigan, starting 21 of 24 games and finishing his career with 137 tackles.
But his heart was always in Las Vegas. He would come home during breaks from college and head to the Doolittle Community Center, where one of his passions was working with children. He played pickup basketball games at the center as a child.
“He was such a good role model for those kids,” said Wayne Tanaka, the principal at Clark when Manor was a student. “He was a profoundly religious and genuinely nice kid.”
Manor, one of 11 children, was raised mostly by his mother, Linda. She ran a tight ship and expected her children to bring dignity to themselves. “He was the perfect student-athlete, of course, with the student part first,” Tanaka said.
As for that winning play in Manor’s last football game at Clark, Massey said, it was a perfect way to cap Manor’s high school career.
“He faked the pitch and walked right into the end zone,” Massey said.
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