Former DeKalb County coaching great Eric Mance passed away this past weekend. He is shown here coaching the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions the 2007 Class 5A state semifinals against Centennial.

DeKalb County lost one of its basketball coaching legends this past weekend as Eric Mance, a 28-year coaching veteran in DeKalb County passed away unexpectedly.

During his 28-year stint in DeKalb County, the Albany, GA native, compiled a 487-257 (.655) mark in coaching stints at Briarcliff, Gordon, Lithonia and Martin Luther King Jr. High Schools.

His 33-year coaching record was an impressive 547-294 including his 60-37 record at Americus High School prior to arriving in DeKalb.

Another DeKalb coaching legend with over 500 career wins, Dr. Phil McCrary, looked to Mance as a great coach, mentor and friend.

“Eric was the epitome of a teaching coach who knew how to get his kids to play,” McCrary said. “He was also a great mentor to many of the younger coaches in DeKalb. He was always willing to share information, win or lose. It is a hard pill to swallow to lose such a great person, mentor, friend and coach.”

During his 28 seasons in DeKalb County he had just six losing seasons, six state semifinal appearances and two state championship game appearances.

He compiled a 292-112 record at Lithonia which included a pair of Class 3A state tournament championship appearances in 1994 and 2000 in which the Bulldogs fell to Marist in both contests. He also reached the state semifinals in 1993 and 1999. His Bulldogs put together eight 20-win seasons in his 15-year tenure including best records of 27-4 in both 1994 and 1999.

Mance took on the big job of starting the Martin Luther King Jr. boys’ basketball program in 2002. He coached the Lions for eight seasons and had just one losing season in a span he took his team to a pair of Final Four appearances.

“Eric wanted to win and he did, but teaching his players to be productive, successful citizens was his quest,” said McCrary. “He taught them to value themselves and their teammates.”

The 2005 squad went to the Class 3A Final Four and after moving up to the largest classification (5A) guided his Lions into the Final Four before losing to Centennial in a tight 60-54 contest.

He retired in 2009, but still worked as a stadium manager at North DeKalb Stadium for several years while also attending basketball games in DeKalb and supporting coaches he had battled on the court for many seasons.

The Albany native was inducted into the Albany Sports Hall of Fame in 2003. He was a standout basketball player at Albany High where he was part of integration after playing football and basketball at Monroe during his sophomore year.

He would go on to play basketball at Valdosta State University and earn his BBA in Business Education. He would attain a Masters of Education in Physical Education from Georgia Southwestern College.

He started his coaching career as an assistant varsity coach at Irwin County High School from 1975 to 1977 before taking the job at Americus.