Pace Mannion is Nico Mannion’s Father- Facts about his bio, career, and family

Pace Mannion is a man with so much experience in both basketball and on television game shows. The retired professional basketball player had played in the National Basketball Association(NBA) and also in the Italian league. Mannion is not the only basketball player in his family, the talented Nico Mannion a professional basketball player, is his son. Nico was one of the top high school prospects in his entire class of 2019.

Aside from playing basketball, Pace Mannion has worked as a studio analyst for the Utah jazz television pre-and post-game shows. The NBA veteran played six seasons in the NBA for six teams from 1983 to 1993.

Who Is Pace Mannion?

Pace Shewan Mannion was born on September 22, 1960, in Salt Lake City Utah. His father, Jack Mannion was the top high school player in Utah in 1956. His grandfather was an English immigrant who had moved to Salt Lake City to work as a copper miner. Mannion attended Chaparral High School in Las Vegas, Paradise Nevada, and also attended the University of Utah from 1979 to 1983.

Pace Mannion’s professional career

The veteran basketball player began his career when he was selected 43^rd overall by the Golden State Warriors in the 1983 NBA draft. After playing for the Golden State Warriors for a year, he signed a multi-year contract with Utah Jazz where he played from 1984-1987. Then in September 1986, Mannion signed a contract with the New Jersey Nets.

After playing with the New Jersey Nets, the 6 feet 7 inches’ former basketball player was signed to Milwaukee Bucks from 1987-1988. Pace Mannion left Milwaukee Bucks and moved to Detroit Pistons and the Atlanta Hawks before the last team he played for which was Pallacanestro Cantu from 1989-1993. All through his career, he had 660 points, 231 assists, and 259 rebounds. He was a first-team Western Athletic Conference selection and he played with stars such as Tom Chambers and Danny Vranes at Utah. He was the WAC Player of the Year (1983) and First-team All-WAC (1983).

Some students of Rice University at Wiess College started the Pace Mannion Fan Club in 1983 after they saw him tripped over his own feet while he was taking a breakaway layup during the NCAA playoffs. The fan club was always there to cheer him up at his games. During his active years, he played the shooting guard and the jersey numbers 20, 18, 3, 12, and 5.

Pace Mannion was a media personality in Salt Lake for some years. He was an analyst on Jazz television for some time.

Pace Mannion’s Family

Mannion was born in an athletic family. His father, Jack Mannion played in the North-South All-Star Classic in Kentucky with some of the American top players. During his college career, Jack Mannion averaged 4.8 points and 7.2 rebounds at Utah in 1957. He passed his athletic genes to his son, Pace Mannion, and his grandson, Nico Mannion. While Jack was at Brigham High School he earned both All-American and All-State in basketball. He still holds the school scoring title of 50 points in one game. He was also a coach at Rancho High School and also Valley High School.

Pace Mannion’s father was inducted into the Nevada interscholastic activities Hall of Fame, the football coaches’ Hall of Fame and he is also an honorary member of the Southern Nevada Officials’ Associations and a member of the Brigham Young University Varsity Club.

His mother, Terry Mannion, taught English, Political Science, and Geography in Midvale Junior High in Salt Lake City in 1959. She later became a counselor at Valley High School.

Pace Mannion himself is married to an athlete. His wife, Gaia Bianchi is also a former professional athlete. She started playing volleyball professionally at the tender age of 14. She had an illustrious professional career. She also played for the Italian National Volleyball team. It is not only Mannion’s family that has athletic genes his wife’s family is also from a sporty family. Gaia’s mother was a high jumper for Italy’s national junior team and her brother also played soccer.

Among Mannion’s children, one has chosen to follow his footprints.  Nico Mannion is the third generation basketball player in the family. He and his son were drafted by the golden state warriors 37 years apart. Nico made history when he appeared on July 1, 2018, and scored nine points in 29 minutes in an 81-66 loss to the Netherlands at his debut for the senior Italian national team at the European qualifiers for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. He became the fourth-youngest player in team history at the age of 17. Nico Mannion was selected the 48^th overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in the 2020 NBA draft on November 27, 2020.

His other son, Pace Mannion PJ. is an artist. Mannion Jr. used to draw tiny circles on pieces of paper to save himself from boredom when he was young. The habit grew into sketching pictures from comic books and magazines. He is now well known around the Salt Lake valley for his paintings of famous stars and music legends.

Complete Profile of Pace Mannion