WARREN — After a few years away, the Mims-Manoa football camp, which started 30 years ago, has returned to Warren.
In 1994, Nick Frankos, Dominic “Mims” Massary and Tim Manoa began mentoring children in the form of a camp that would become a Warren fixture for more than two decades.
“It means a very big deal for kids in the city,” said Harding head football coach Matt Richardson, a Warren native.
“This is something that I know is part of Warren, so it was gonna continue.”
The 2024 “version” of the Mims-Manoa camp proved to be quite different than in years past. For one, the camp included only students between grades seven and 12. Additionally, the camp lasted two days and ran during Harding’s team practice Wednesday and Thursday.
But there are big plans for the camp in the future and “come back full-blooded,” according to Richardson.
“We hope next year to open it back up to the public and go [grades] four through 12, like it has been in the past,” Richardson said.
Richardson, whose Raiders staff instructed the middle school players in drills at Mollenkopf Stadium, also said he hopes future iterations of the camp will feature guests and last another day, like it used to be.
“We don’t have guest coaches this year, but next year, we’ll get back to having guest coaches from all over and do the same thing,” Richardson said.
Ultimately, Richardson, a Warren native who is set to embark on his first season as Harding’s head coach, hopes that the return of the Mims-Manoa football camp will encourage the city’s youth to eventually make an impact on the Harding program.
“It’ll add to wanting to be a Raider,” Richardson said. “Wanting to be a part of this beautiful facility and just being a part of something big in the city.”
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