Bob Newman

Athlete Class of 1960

Bob Newman arrived a Southwest as a freshman and was an integral part of the cross country and track teams for the next four years adding to the legacy of Hall of Fame coach, Al Halley.

He was a member of the 1957 team, which finished second in the State after tying for the City championship and winning the Region meet. The following year the team started the season by running a perfect score of 15 against St. Louis Park. They finished second in the Region and third in the State.

In their junior summer, Bob and Tom McCue won the two-man ten-mile Postal Competition in which Bob set a new age group record. The team carried momentum and experience over to the next fall. Under the leadership of Captains Tom McCue and Bob Newman, they developed as the season went on culminating in a State Championship for the team and an individual title for Bob in a time of 9:13.

The State meet was held after a 27-inch snow storm had been plowed off of the course with a wind of 17 mph and temp of nine degrees. Captain McCue recalls that “somebody stepped on Bob’s foot going off the starting line and knocked his shoe off. He ran the entire race minus one shoe and won. That was the theme we used for his campaign for class president a couple of weeks later.”

It is also rumored that on one occasion he forgot his team running shorts but won the event in his sweat pants.

To cap off a terrific senior year, Bob was elected Class President and won the Mile championship in the 1960 State Track meet.

Bob went off to Dartmouth College where he ran the mile and two-mile events. After three years at Dartmouth, he transferred to the U of MN Medical school and received his MD in Radiology.

Bob is currently living in California and has two sons.