Coach Jim Newman, who played basketball at Arizona State from 1956-58 and played a major role as an assistant coach for some of Arizona State's best teams, passed away on July 1 at his home at the age of 83.
He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Harriet, son Jim Jr. and daughter Alison. Services are being held at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church (804 East Compton Boulevard, Compton, California) on Tuesday, July 11 at 11 a.m.
Following two years at Los Angeles Harbor Community College, Newman averaged 15.6 points per game, leading ASU in scoring each season as he earned All-Border Conference honors twice and was named Border Conference MVP in 1958. Recruited by Sun Devil legend Bill Kajikawa, he played on ASU and Coach Ned Wulk's first NCAA Tournament team in 1958.
After 15 seasons as a highly successful high school and junior college coach in Compton, California and one year at New Mexico, Coach Newman returned to Tempe and helped mentor such Sun Devil greats like Byron Scott, Fat Lever, Johnny Nash and Sam Williams. That core led ASU to a 46-11 mark in 1979-80 and 1980-81. The NBA's Syracuse Nationals drafted Newman, but he decided to pursue an administrative and coaching career.
He started his playing career at powerful Los Angeles Jefferson High School. While at Harbor Community College in Los Angeles he earned MVP and All-State honors as a freshman and then set the Harbor single season scoring record, leading the team to its first ever state title.
In his career he was athletic director at Willowbrook Junior High, head of the Cultural Enrichment Program at Compton High School, liaison officer for the Compton Unified School District, and financial aid director and assistant dean of student personnel services at Compton Community College. As a head coach of Compton High's junior varsity squad, his team went 44-1 over two seasons. He also served as a varsity assistant coach on the Compton High team that went undefeated with two national championships (64-0 in 1968 and 1969). As a head coach at Centennial High, Newman led his teams to a record of 38-18 over two seasons.
In his five seasons at Compton Community College that included state tites in 1970 and 1973, Newman notched a 140-24 record. The 1970 team won the title with the second undefeated season in California community college history (33-0).