Editor’s note: This is part of a series of stories on Manteca High graduates and faculty members as the school gears up for its centennial celebration this fall.

It has been almost four decades since Mark Condit graduated from Manteca High School.

And even though both of his children are almost done with their education at the same school that their parents attended, Condit doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

He’ll still be there at sporting events supporting the athletes and the families that he’s gotten to know over the years and come to appreciate as part of a special legacy group at the city’s namesake high school.

There is just something different, he says, about the way things run at Manteca High School.

“You see the same old-timers and faces, and you also see the little brothers and sisters of the kids that you know,” Condit said. “And over the years of sitting in the stands and traveling to places – Oakdale, Kimball – you get to be a part of a big, extended family.

“There are so many different generations of people that you get to be friends with, and it’s always been that way with Manteca High.”

Now an administrator for the San Joaquin County Office of Education, Condit went to high school with the woman who would become his wife – Kristen. Next year their youngest child will graduate from the same high school they did before moving on to college.

So, for the next year, Condit will be doing all of the same things that he always does – showing up at sporting events and taking pictures and sharing them on the Manteca High Athletics social media accounts as the public relations chairperson for the athletic boosters organization.

While many people fade away when their children graduate, Condit doesn’t think that will be the case and he looks around at others who came before him who still show up at events even though they no longer have any familial or occupational ties to the school that they either once attended, worked at, or send their kids to.

Seeing those people coming back even when there is nothing tying them to Manteca High is a tradition.

“I don’t know anything any different – that’s just the way it is at Manteca High School,” Condit said. “The coaches that were coaches when I was in high school – they all still go to events.

“Steve Winter, Mike Henry, Bob Lee, Mick Founts – they’re all still there at events. Some of them have grandkids there. There are so many different generations and layers of staff and kids and parents and grandparents – it’s great.”

And Condit isn’t the only one to recognize that Manteca High has something that is unique and special.

When former head football coach Eric Reis announced that he was going to be stepping away from the program that he helped build into a dynasty, coaches from throughout the State of California began applying to take his place – willing and ready to move to Manteca in order to continue the winning ways.

Seeing the roped-off sections of the field where boosters and parents unite gives Condit hope that the traditions that he has come to love and appreciate will remain regardless of the players that are on the field at the time.

At the end of the day, he said, it’s all about the kids – and he feels blessed to have gotten to know them over the years and hopes to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

“One of the great things about this school is that there continues to be wave-after-wave of really cool kids,” Condit said. “I wonder what will happen when Karson graduates next year, but I want to stay involved and want to keep knowing those kids.

“I want to keep coming through the doors of Winter Gym and be a part of what other people see at Manteca High. You hear other people talking about this as a ‘destination’ school, and I love being a part of that.”

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.