Fans of Santa Barbara High School aquatics in the ’80s and ’90s will remember Gerry McManigal. The Santa Barbara paterfamilias, who died on October 17 at age 81, cheered three children through the Dons water polo and swimming programs without missing a game or meet. At one point, wunder-coach Nan Verkaik spied an opportunity. Handing McManigal a microphone, she made him a permanent announcer at swim meets — those chaotic confabs filled with nervy athletes, starting guns, and chlorinated hair. McManigal took up the charge with duty and diligence, like he approached most things in life.
Mr. Espinoza is representing the Dons in lane six…
Next year, Ms. Falzone will be swimming for Princeton…
The 500 freestyle is 20 continuous laps, or a good time for everyone to stretch their legs…
Away from the pool, something also clicked for McManigal in Santa Barbara, where he resided for 40 years, his longest chapter in life. San Franciscan by birth, McManigal revolted against his hometown’s cold and wet — and its big-city feel. Once he reached the South Coast, he never wanted to leave.
Born in the San Francisco Presidio during the blackout following Pearl Harbor, McManigal and his family spent his earliest years traveling the country with the Army during World War II. In 1946, the family briefly shipped to Germany, where McManigal’s then-lieutenant father led a division in Berlin to identify and collect U.S. war dead.
Back in San Francisco after the war, McManigal lived a life redolent of Norman Rockwell. He played football, baseball, and basketball in city streets and parks; attended public schools; and sang with the San Francisco Boys Chorus. Sports were his enduring passion. McManigal served as high school quarterback and joined multiple athletic teams at UC Berkeley. He also played infield for the Jeffersons, a semi-professional baseball team in San Francisco.
After earning two degrees at Berkeley, McManigal pursued a career in law, a field he had a complex relationship with. Although it provided a stable middle-class life for his family, more than once he quipped that it meant spending far too much time with lawyers.
Following a one-year tour of duty in Vietnam, McManigal moved to Delano in 1969 to work for California Rural Legal Assistance, aiding farmworkers involved in Cesar Chavez’s grape boycott. In 1972, he relocated to Santa Barbara to practice workers’ compensation law for the State Fund insurance company, and also Ghitterman & Associates.
In Santa Barbara, McManigal perfected his greatest role in life — devoted father to three sons, shepherding them selflessly through all phases of their lives, and taking particular interest in their athletic, educational, and cultural pursuits. He reminded them often about “the vicissitudes of life,” urging persistence, while also teaching the value of play — himself reveling in regular marathon running, beach volleyball, and large bowls of ice cream.
Gentle and contemplative, McManigal was a loyal supporter of the Cal Bears, the San Francisco Giants and 49ers, as well as the Dons and UCSB Gauchos. He also loved dogs, music, and art, and he read voraciously, including works of history, philosophy, politics, and medicine.
McManigal was a classic example of a liberal youth who grows more conservative with age. But for him, politics were ultimately situational. For example, when News-Press owner Wendy McCaw famously intervened in her paper’s newsroom in 2006, triggering mass resignations and a court fight between the company and unionized journalists terminated for “disloyalty,” the labor neophyte McManigal — whose son was among those dismissed — became a stalwart backer of the Teamsters union. When the feds prosecuted the company for numerous labor law violations, he attended daily court sessions with great interest, recounting McCaw’s dramatic testimony on the stand to all who would listen.
He lived his final decade in San Francisco, where he battled multiple debilitating illnesses with his trademark determination.
McManigal is survived by sons Jason McManigal of Granite Bay, Bret McManigal of San Francisco, and Barney McManigal of Oxford, United Kingdom — and their spouses, Lindsey Huff McManigal, Kimberlea Offner McManigal, and Mark Bainbridge, respectively. He is also survived by five grandchildren: Gavin (17), Garner (16), Ryan (15), Giulia (14), and Cole (13) McManigal. In addition, McManigal is survived by brother Ken McManigal and his wife, Carolyn, of Carmichael; nieces Melissa, Tara, and Crista, and their families; his Aunt Zona Roberts, of Berkeley; and many cousins and friends.