Robert Donald Newman (October 14, 1936-November 9, 2022) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for

Washington State Cougars football The Washington State Cougars football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Washington State University, located in Pullman, Washington. The team competes at the NCAA Division I level in the FBS and is a member of the Pac-12 ...

team from 1956 to 1958 and was a 2nd round draft pick by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

in 1958. Newman was born and raised in the California Bay area. He was highly recruited coming out of high school and chose to go to

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. At WSU, Newman played quarterback, defensive back, punter and placekicker. He had school recording setting seasons in 1956 and 1957. In 1956, he ranked second behind

John Brodie John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a ...

among NCAA major college players with 1,240 passing yards and led the nation in total offense. . In 10 games during the 1957 season, he completed 104 of 188 passes for 1,391 passing yards and 13 touchdowns, and he also compiled 1,444 yards of

total offense Total offense, also called total yards, is a gridiron football statistic representing the total number of yards rushing and yards passing by a player or team. Total offense differs from yards from scrimmage, which gives credit for passing yardage ...

. He again led the NCAA major colleges that year in total offense and passing efficiency and ranked second in passing yards. He also led the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

in 1957 in pass completions (104), pass completion percentage (55.3%), and passing touchdowns (13). Newman was unanimously selected as a first-team player on the Associated Press' 1957 All-Pacific Coast Conference football team and was named to the All-West Coast team by the AP. That season he also played in the East/West Shrine game. In 1958, he also played baseball for WSU. Newman was drafted by the

in 1958, but chose to return to Washington State for his final season. He suffered an injury that season that cut hit playing and prevented him from making the 49ers roster in 1959. In September 1960, he signed with the Oakland Raiders but never played in the NFL. When his football career was over, he went to work for Sears Roebuck & Company where he was employed for more than 30 years. He worked numerous jobs for the company before becoming store manager in Eugene, OR in 1977 where he stayed until his retirement in 1992. He and his wife retired to Creswell, OR. He was inducted into the Washington State Hall of Fame in 2011.

References

American football quarterbacks Washington State Cougars football players 1936 births 2022 deaths Place of birth missing {{quarterback-stub

See also

References