A Legend has passed: Joe Newton RIP 1929-2017

Sad news. What a coach!

(I feel fortunate to see him speak about a decade ago.)

Hayseed Coach

That is too bad, great coach, great leader. RIP

Mr. Joe Newton passed away today at the age of 90, having entered hospice care 2 weeks ago. High-school XC would not be the same without him.

Sad, sad news. One of the truly greatest coaches, at any level of competition.

A coaching legend is gone. RIP, Mr. Newton.

One of the greats! Thank you, Joe!

Sad to hear. Joe has to be up there with the greatest distance coaches in history. My first coach was mentored by Joe and our program would of never of been as good without his help. His York teams set the standard without a doubt. Great guy, great coach, great motivator. I'll never forget talking to him at State.

RIP Joe

I didn't run for him. I never even met him. But everybody knew him. This man was a grandfather of all of us and built one of the greatest programs in our country's history. There are so many things about how he conducted himself that made him like a cross country coaching messiah. There was a certain aspect of his candor, his nuances and the way he could keep the boys in line despite what things like DPI and parents said. What Joe said went. How he commanded his team wasn't simply for cross country or for winning it was more toward characterizing the boys and cultivating dominant values from them to carry over into the rest of their lives. Clearly this man touched many people's lives and he himself was larger than life. RIP man.

https://youtu.be/0r_txmKY-ag

RIP

Does anyone know if the video of the speech he gave at Nike headquarters can be found? I'm sure it was posted on letsrun years ago, but there doesn't seem to be any sign of it on the Internet.

At Mr. Newton's retirement celebration this past year people came in from all over the world to wish him well. I have a picture of my son, who is now coaching at a high school in the same district in IL that York is in, with Coach N and with Don Sage, and with Marius Bakken, who came all the way from Norway for just the celebration. I was privileged to know him for many years, to know that his influence on my kids was immense, and to know that his sense of integrity was beyond reproach-no matter what others thought about how he coached or how his runners ran. I have nothing but respect for him, and know that high-school XC in the US would not be the same without him. 28 state titles in IL in 50+ years- and no other team has, I think, more than 5.

RIP. Pre Internet their roster size, workouts and results were mythical.

RIP Mr. Newton.

I had the honor to shake his hand and talk to him at the Illinois state cross country meet when I was a middle schooler. Seeing the atmosphere that he helped create in Illinois helped inspire myself and many other runners. He truly is The Godfather of Illinois XC and High School XC in general.

Coach Newton dared average boys to be great and good runners to achieve excellence. Like someone else said, cross-country would not be the same without him-

RIP

"When an old man dies a library is burned down."

You talk about your pioneers who led the way this man was all of that.

If you ran 1:54/4:15/9:20 in high school you can bet your bottom dollar you would not

be able to if it weren't for this guy!

greenliner wrote:

Mr. Joe Newton passed away today at the age of 90, having entered hospice care 2 weeks ago. High-school XC would not be the same without him.

Once again the facts given are wrong on Joe Newton. He was 88 not 90.

He did win 28 state cc titles, 20 national cc titles, and 1 state track & field title.

If I'm wrong on the above please correct me.

88

RIP. Incredible motivator. Hard working and dedicated. Many years later still have great memories of time in the program. Appreciate him more the older I get. Unlikely his success will be repeated.

An inspiration to help mold teenagers become great people.

RIP, coach.