Morgantown, W.Va., Mayor Jim Manilla has friendly wager with other Big 12 mayors
Manilla, the mayor of Morgantown, W.Va., issued a challenge to the mayors of Waco, Texas; Manhattan, Kan.; Fort Worth, Texas; Norman; and Lawrence, Kan. — all the Big 12 cities with universities whose football teams play 2012 games at West Virginia.
“I put a challenge out to all the mayors, that whoever lost the game would have to wear the team shirt at the next council meeting,” Manilla said in a telephone interview with The Oklahoman.
“The reason I’m doing it is to reach out. This is the inaugural year for West Virginia to be in the Big 12, and I thought that would be a good gesture to do that.
“I’m not faring too well right now.”
Manilla won the first such bet when the Mountaineers beat Baylor in a 70-63 shootout on Sept. 29. But since then, West Virginia has lost back-to-back home games to Kansas State and TCU.
He wore a purple K-State shirt at Morgantown’s Oct. 30 city council meeting. A few days later, on Nov. 3, West Virginia lost in overtime at home to TCU.
“I haven’t got their shirt, but supposedly it’s on the way,” Manilla said. “I need to wear it at the next council meeting.”
Manilla said the challenge has been issued to and accepted by Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal.
Before the Mountaineers’ first Big 12 home game, Manilla had several West Virginia shirts made locally by SustainU, a Morgantown company that makes clothing from 100-percent American recycled products.
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