Manual BoodyOne of the most popular and most highly respected media people to ever be associated with high school activities, Manual Boody served the high school youth of Colorado for 30 years. He joined the Rocky Mountain News in 1948 and covered the prep beat from then until he retired in 1978.
One of his editors, the late Bob Collins, said of Boody, "He was just the very best reporter of high school sports a newspaper ever had. It was a labor of love for him."
Boody heightened the awareness of high school sports and athletes throughout the state. Besides all the games and matches he covered, his clip file was filled with stories about coaching changes, scholarships accepted and other breaking news on the high school beat. He kept voluminous files and notebooks on prep sports and was known by his colleagues as a major resource on records and accomplishments.
Neither did Boody limit his scope to the more established sports of baseball, football and basketball. He campaigned long and hard to establish wrestling as a high school sport in Colorado.
"It has been a great association between myself and the CHSAA all these years, starting with Glenn Wilson and growing with Ray Ball and now Bob Ottewill," Boody said. "The cooperation and relationship has always been great."
He became a fixture at high school banquets, and lent a "bigtime" atmosphere to local games across the state. His all-star teams were recognized as authentic and reliable because he had been there to see the students perform and had a network of coaching sources to buttress his judgement. But just as important to him were the players whose skills left them a step behind the all-star level. His all-star teams always included long honorable mention sections because he just hated to see a player not get some credit for accomplishments.
