Play ball!

Those are two words that pierce the air hundreds of times throughout the year at Lincoln Park.

They were uttered endless times by Marion Elliott to start Babe Ruth games he umpired at Manteca’s oldest community park.

On Tuesday, the Manteca City Council approved a request backed up by a required petition of residents to rename Lincoln Park as Marion Elliott Park.

It is a park that adjoins the Lincoln Elementary School campus where Elliott was the principal for 16 years before retiring in 1995.

And it abuts the Manteca High campus where he graduated from in 1952 and later worked as a vice principal.

Elliott is the quintessential believer in the power of youth sports to build character, drive home the concept of team work, developing a work ethic to reach goals, as well as helping keep young people on track and healthy.

He was Mr. Babe Ruth Baseball in Manteca.

Not only did he help form the first league, but he served in every behind-the-scenes capacity at the local, regional, and national level to do his part to make the youth baseball program work.

He helped provide the City of Manteca with a recreation program as a part-time recreation director from 1958 to 1962. In addition to overseeing youth sports leagues, he started the adult softball league.

Several years into his part-time recreation gig that dovetailed into his teaching career back when school summer vacations coincided with summer, the city built the swimming pool at Lincoln Park.

Lincoln Park, or more correctly Marion Elliott Park given the council action makes it official, is also home to a lighted baseball field, an extensively used picnic shelter, and a large playground equipment befitting of what the park is — a community park.

Before going on, perhaps it should be emphasized that Elliott is far from being all about sports,

He is a man of faith based on his extensive involvement with the Catholic Church.

But more importantly he is a husband and a father.

The 90-year-old epitomizes how the social fabric is strengthened through community involvement.

There is a long list of endeavors and organizations he’s been involved in and none of it was to simply build an impressive resume.

Elliott, for want of better wording, did the grunt work.

He also mentored. And not just in the classroom, as a school administrator, or through his involvement in organized youth sports.

It was a point that City Councilman Mike Morowit shared Tuesday.

Morowit noted when he started as a member of the Manteca Planning Commission, Elliott — who served as a commissioner between 1985 to 2002 — helped keep him on target.

Elliott, when he has to, kept people on task.

He also has a solid sense of humor.

And he won’t hesitate to correct someone’s error and does so in a non-demeaning manner.

That is in addition to doing the jobs not a lot of people want to do but are essential.

In Elliott’s case, it was officiating high school football and basketball as well as umpiring prep baseball. Those are jobs that being the worst out of complete strangers and is directed at the official.

Elliott also is one of the three people who arguably are/were the biggest students of Manteca history.

The others are the late Ken Hafer and the late Evelyn Prouty.

Elliott from 1974 to 2024 compiled the Manteca history and local sports history.

Elliott’s admirers will be paying for new signage at Marion Elliott Park on Powers Avenue across from the fire station.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com