Lance Mann
# Lance Mann

Lance Gibson Mann (12 July 1930 – 13 March 2015) was a professional footrunner and a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

## Footballer

A talented wingman, Mann started his football career in Walwa, before playing with Albury Football Club in the Ovens & Murray Football League.

He played his first senior match for the Essendon Football Club against Fitzroy at the Brunswick Street Oval on 2 June 1951 (round 6). He played in every match for the rest of the season. He played in Essendon's Grand Final 10.10 (70) loss to Geelong 11.15 (81), and was one of Essendon's best players.

Lance won the Ovens and Murray Football League Best and Fairest award, the Morris Medal in 1956 and was a member of Albury's 1956 premiership team.

He was the coach of the Essendon Reserve Grade team in 1960 and 1961.

## Sprinter

### 1952

Trained by Pat Kennedy, aged 21, Mann won the Wangaratta Gift on Monday 28 January 1952, running off 8½ yards 8+1⁄2 yards (7.8 m) in 12.1 seconds. He started the final as 5-to-4-on favourite, having been a 20/1 outsider before the first heat.

On Monday, 14 April 1952, he won the 75th [130-yard (120 m)] Stawell Gift in 11 14/16 seconds, running off a handicap of 7+1⁄4 yards (6.6 m).

On Wednesday, 16 April 1952, he also won the Bendigo Easter Gift by 2 yards (1.8 m) in 11.8 seconds, running off a handicap of 7+1⁄4 yards (6.6 m).

Mann was the first athlete to win the Wangaratta Gift, the Stawell Gift, and the Bendigo Gift treble in the same year. It is also significant that his Essendon team-mate, Norm McDonald, running off 5 yards (4.6 m), ran second to Mann in the finals of both the Stawell Gift and the Bendigo Gift.

### 1958

On Monday, 10 March 1958, and running off 4½ yards, he ran second in the Bendigo Thousand (130 yds); the feat was all the more remarkable as Mann had broken down during his heat the year before (1957) with a thigh injury so severe that he had to be stretchered from the ground.

## Footnotes

* ↑ "Vale Lance Mann".
* ↑ Johnstone, D., "Lance Mann — an Albury sporting legend", The Border Mail, 17 March 2015.
* ↑ Buggy, H., "'Back to the Wall' Succeeds", The Argus, (Monday, 1 October 1951), p.11.
* ↑ "1956 - O&MFL - Morris Medal votes". O&MFNL. O&MFNL.
* ↑ Heavily Backed for Stawell Gift, The Sunday Herald, (Sunday, 13 April 1952), p.10.
* ↑ Balfe, H., "Mann Takes Gift", The Argus, (Tuesday, 29 January 1952), p.10.
* ↑ Welch, B., "Stawell Gift: Fancied Runners Clash In Heat: Draw Upsets Betting", The Age, (Saturday, 12 April 1952), p.14; Mann for Stawell Gift Today, 'The Age, (Monday, 14 April 1952), p.12; Welch, "Mann Beats Team Mate in Stawell Gift Final", The Age, Tuesday, 15 April 1952), p.14.
* ↑ The Bendigo Easter Gift is an entirely different event from the Bendigo Thousand. The 1952 Bendigo Thousand was conducted 8–10 March 1952. Mann, running off a handicap of 7+1⁄4 yards (6.6 m) came second in the second semi-final to the eventual final winner Dave Hobbs, who ran off 9+1⁄2 yards (8.7 m). Hobbs won the semi-final in 11.7 seconds, equalling the record set by Australian sprint champion, John Stoney, in 1948. Hobbs set a new race record (11.6 seconds) in winning the final (see: Bendigo Thousand to Burnie Gift Winner, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Tuesday, 11 march 1952), p.15.
* ↑ Superb Bendigo Win by Mann, The Age, (Thursday, 17 April 1952), p.16.
* ↑ Kerville, B., "Essendon Pair Dons of Track: Great Fight in Stawell Gift", The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 16 April 1952), p11.
* ↑ Bendigo Thousand Finish, The Age, (Tuesday, 11 March 1958), p.18.
* ↑ Mann Injured at Bendigo, The Age, (Monday, 11 March 1957), p.16.
