Legendary Sockers Coach Ron Newman Passes Away

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Credit: San Diego Sockers

Ron Newman, who was the coach for the San Diego Sockers from 1980-1993, passed away on Monday after a long illness.

He led the Sockers to 10 championships and oversaw some of the best indoor soccer teams the league had ever seen.

While Newman began as an outdoor coach, he is most widely known for his accomplishments as an indoor coach, including introducing the sixth attacker, the super power play, and streamlined substitution techniques that are still used to this day.

It was these additions to his game plan that led to his multiple championship runs and the bewilderment of the MISL Baltimore squad in 1983. Newman’s teams were some of the finest that have ever played in San Diego, as well as in the world of indoor soccer, and were made up of current Hall of Famers such as Zoltan Toth, Julie Veee, Brian Quinn, and even the “Lord of all Indoors”, Steve Zungul.

While Newman was a player for a short while, he will always be remembered as a coach. He began coaching in the late 1960’s and became the coach for the Sockers in 1980. It was with San Diego that he began his tinkering with new ideas, taking tips from the NHL and morphing them into plays for indoor soccer. If it were not for Newman, indoor soccer wouldn’t be the fast-paced thrill that it is today, as players wouldn’t be constantly jumping in and out of the game and wings wouldn’t fly down the field.

This style of offense brought a passion that the sport had never seen, and it was certainly a hit with San Diego. Game after game, tickets would sell like hot cakes and the Sports Arena would be as loud and electric as a football game in Qualcomm Stadium. Come playoff time, the Sockers were a must-see that consistently sold out and brought passion and fun to the city of San Diego.

All of this wouldn’t be possible without coach Ron Newman.

His accomplishments earned him a spot in the indoor soccer Hall of Fame as well as the Breitbart Hall of Fame in San Diego. We at the East Village Times send our most heartfelt condolences to the Newman family.

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