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NEWARK, NJ—NJIT has re-christened its on-campus soccer venue as Lubetkin Field at J. Malcolm Simon Stadium, adding the name of the great former coach, director of athletics and physical education, and professor to the facility's title.
Since September 1990, the venue has been known as Dorothy and William Lubetkin Athletic Field (or Lubetkin Field, for short), following a generous gift from their sons, Seymour ('47), Bernard ('49), Charles ('53), and Alvin.
J. Malcolm Simon's name was added this year in a special recognition ceremony held in the NJIT Campus Center in conjunction with the home soccer game played the evening of September 12.
The ceremony had a large turnout that included Mal's wife, Diane, his children, Stephanie, Melanie, and Kenneth and his five grandchildren. Also attending was his mentor, Lou Peragallo, who coached the soccer team at Panzer College, where Mal graduated in 1954 before earning his master's degree from Columbia in 1956.
Numerous former players and colleagues from a career that began in the 1950s at Newark College of Engineering and ended with his retirement in 1993 also attended. Speaking at the ceremony on behalf of his former players was Edward Cruz (NCE, '63), who was a four-year player and later a Hall of Fame Inductee, who is President and CEO of EE Cruz & Company.
Other speakers on behalf of NJIT were: Dr. Robert A. Altenkirch, President; Dr. Charles R. Dees, Jr., Vice President for Advancement; and, Lenny Kaplan, Director of Athletics.
A first-class venue for college soccer, Lubetkin Field at J. Malcolm Simon Stadium is an all-weather facility with 24/7 availability for competition or practice.
Outfitted with SprinTurf artificial grass in the summer of 2004, the facility includes lighting for night contests (upgraded in the summer of 2009), bleacher seating for more than 1,000 spectators, a press box and a scoreboard.
The fully-enclosed facility can take its place alongside any college soccer venue in the Northeast. The home of the Highlanders has been selected to host the first Great West Conference women's soccer championship tournament in November 2009 and it was the site of the three-day ECAC Division II championship in 2005. It has also hosted professional matches, as well key college and high school contests over the years.
J. Malcolm (Mal) Simon first left his mark on Newark College of Engineering athletics more than a half-century ago and no one has remained closer to Highlander athletics in the intervening years in a relationship that continues more than 15 years after his official retirement.
Mal has been along through the institutional transition to New Jersey Institute of Technology and the evolution in athletics from the NAIA to the NCAA and the climb from Division III to Division II, and now to Division I.
He helped shape the image of NCE and later NJIT athletics through 28 seasons as men's soccer coach, during which he compiled 197 wins, 117 losses and 22 ties, winning more than 60 percent of his contests.
In 1960, he led NCE to the NAIA national championship game, where the Highlanders tied Elizabethtown through four overtimes and the teams were declared co-national champions.
A year later, NCE returned to the 1961 national championship game, winning all of its games leading up to a 3-2 loss in the final. That national championship defeat halted a 22-game unbeaten stretch (21-0-1) dating back to the 1960 opener. In those 22 unbeaten games, NCE outscored its opposition, 93-5.
A 5-1-1 record in 1962 gave NCE a combined mark of 27-2-2 from 1960 to 1962.
Beginning his NCE coaching career in 1955, Mal headed up the Highlanders for 28 seasons, coaching through the 1983 season, with a one-season break (1971). He stepped down as coach to become Director of Physical Education and Athletics, along with an appointment to the rank of Professor of Physical Education at NJIT.
In addition to the NAIA national championship game appearances in 1960 and 1961, Simon led NCE to NAIA postseason berths in 1959, 1966, 1970, and 1973.
In 1974, the program moved over to NCAA Division III and Mal led the Highlanders to the national tournament that season, as well. The school, renamed NJIT, returned to the NCAA Division III playoffs in 1975 and 1977 and then earned an ECAC bid, the 10th postseason berth under Simon, in 1982.
Twelve different men earned 17 all-American honors playing at NCE/NJIT under Mal Simon and five went on to play professionally, including Hernan “Chico” Borja, who started for the world famous Cosmos of New York and was a regular on the United States National Team throughout the 1980's.
Author of numerous books and articles on coaching and soccer, Mal Simon was inducted into the NJIT Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and he was winner of the 1982 Panzer College/Montclair State College Alumni Honor Award. Simon also coached NCE freshman basketball for five years and volleyball for eight.
Through all those years as a coach and administrator, Mal Simon, who embodies the ideals of dignity, class and sportsmanship, projected that persona in representing NCE and NJIT among his peers at other institutions.
Beyond all the great wins and championships and the personal awards, Mal Simon influenced the lives of countless young people in his service to NCE and NJIT. It is a testament to those bonds he has built over the years that he remains close to so many of his former students decades after they moved on to the post-college part of their lives.
At the same time, he remains a fervent supporter of NJIT, its mission, its teams and student-athletes, serving the school in an array of advisory roles and attending numerous contests, near and far.
It is no surprise, then that so many of Mal's former players, colleagues and friends were among the 1,610 alumni and friends who contributed to the recently-completed successful Highlander Athletics Campaign that has raised more than $5.4 million.
Although he knew he was to be honored in some way, the field naming recognition was unexpected until the night of the official ceremony. “I was totally surprised, overwhelmed,” Simon recently reflected. “It was very nice to have Bernie Lubetkin there to share the honor.”
Indeed, Simon coached the Highlanders from 1955 to 1965 when the team played its home games at Branch Brook Park and he recalls carrying the flags, nets and balls in a van from campus to the park each day for practices and games.
As AD, he recalls: “We approached the Lubetkins about upgrading the field and I was part of getting them there to help us do it. Eddie Cruz, who played on the national championship team, put in the sod and irrigation (through his construction company).”
