MALE ATHLETE OF THE YEAR: Kentwood’s Manthou did it all on and off the court

He grew up with basketball dreams.

Tennis?

That always has been the second choice of Max Manthou. Yet, when Manthou graduates from Kentwood High next week, the 18 year old will do so as one of the greatest high school tennis players the state of Washington has ever seen.

“I would love to be a basketball player. I just don’t have the physical form for it,” said Manthou, who will play tennis on scholarship at the University of Washington in the fall.

At 5-foot-8 and 160 pounds, the kid who’s nicknamed Little Big Man likely was correct in his self-assessment.

Tennis, on the other hand, has proven to be a vastly different story. Two weeks ago, the strong and wiry Manthou became the first Class 4A singles player in state history to capture four straight championships. But Manthou wasn’t just done there as his fourth title helped the Conquerors secure the team crown as well.

Add in the state boys basketball that Manthou helped the Conquerors win in March, and he will leave Kentwood High with six championships.

Today, Manthou can add one more accolade to his long list of accomplishments as he has been chosen as the Kent Reporter’s Male Athlete of the Year.

“He is the most dominant tennis player for a period of time that I have ever seen,” said Thomas Jefferson’s Andrew Buchan, who has coached tennis for more than 20 years. “On the court, he uses his intelligence and speed. He’s incredibly quick. He doesn’t make mistakes, and he knows how to step up his game.”

In the high school ranks, Manthou’s game was top-notch from start to finish. He graduated with an unblemished 76-0 overall singles record.

That record includes winning 32-of-32 sets at the state level. In fact, during Manthou’s four years of mastery, he lost just one set, that coming against Kentridge standout Matt Overland.

Manthou knocked off Overland for state title No. 3 in 2009, but the two remain good friends and hold deep respect for one another.

Overland can speak of Manthou’s talent first-hand.

“He doesn’t have one strength that really stands out,” Overland explained. “He’s just really consistent and really fast. He also tricks you. He truly does trick you and sets up (opponents) like no player I have ever played against.”

So while Manthou might not stand out physically, he has few rivals intellectually. In fact, he will graduate from Kentwood with a 3.93 grade-point average and enroll at the UW in the fall with 45 college credits, a product of earning the top score possible on five separate advanced-placement tests during his sophomore and junior years.

“It’s very rare that we see a kid like that. Very rare,” Kentwood athletic director JoAnne Daughtry said.

It’s even more rare to win six titles. But Manthou did, yet there was a time when six titles, much less excelling in any athletic endeavor, was in question.

When Manthou was 8 years old, a cyst was discovered on his right femur that created a hole across the bone.

“If you don’t take care of it, it can severely impact the growth plate. It could have been a serious, serious problem,” said Frank Manthou, Max’s dad. “The pediatrician said he had only seen something like that twice in 25 years.”

After the discovery, Manthou spent six weeks in a cast that ran from his ankle to his armpit.

“Looking back now, it was close to being catastrophic,” said Max, who is the No. 2-ranked senior in the Northwest according to TennisRecruiting.com. “At the time, I really couldn’t wrap my mind around it.”

Had the cyst been left untreated, all those tennis titles might not have happened.

Interestingly, as much success as Manthou has enjoyed on the tennis court, his fondest memory of all remains on the basketball court, where he came off the bench to average 1.4 points per game for the Conquerors.

“The day we won was probably the best moment of my life,” said Max, whose favorite basketball player is Nate Robinson. “I hate to say it, but it was just better (than winning at tennis). I was able to share the excitement and the victory with a bunch of guys … plus our season was very tumultuous, up and down, and topsy-turvy.

“We went through a lot. It was really special.”

Despite seeing sparse minutes throughout the season, Manthou, who was one of three co-captains, made an indelible impact on Kentwood’s run to the championship.

That impact was never felt more clearly than on Jan. 19, after a 72-56 loss to Auburn Riverside. The defeat dropped the Conquerors to 6-8 overall, and just 6-5 in league play. While Kentwood certainly had more talent than most teams in the South Puget Sound League North Division, the loss put the Conquerors in danger of sliding out of the playoff picture.

Like he does with his opponents on the tennis court, Manthou took control of the situation. Not used to losing and emotionally spent from the lackluster play the Conquerors were bringing to the court, Manthou called a team meeting.

“He called himself out and he called me out,” said star Joshua Smith. “It was the first time I had ever been called out by another teammate. It opened my eyes. After that, I became a lot more serious.”

The meeting proved to be the turning point of the season for the Conquerors. Kentwood went on to win 14 of its next 16 games, culminating in the state championship.

“(Max) said a couple things, and I think they were the right things to say to the team at the time. I think the guys realized that he was right,” said Michael Angelidis, who stepped down as head coach after guiding the Conquerors to the state title. “I think from that point on, the team played at a different level. Max was critical to us having the type of year that we had. Without Max, we would not have achieved what we did.”

Which would have left the Little Big Man a little short on having his big hoop dream come true. But it came true.

So did his big dreams on the tennis court.

Even if that sport was his second choice.