Farmington hockey coach Bill Newton
Former players and fellow coaches remember Bill Newton as being a great person, friend and mentor, someone who was much more than just a good hockey coach.
Newton, who guided the Farmington High School team to the Division 3 state championship in 2014, died Saturday, after a long battle with colon cancer.
Joe Majoros, who played three years for Newton, said his coach remained upbeat and presented a positive outlook through a difficult time.
“He was a very unselfish person, in the sense that he was fighting this horrible battle,” Majoros said. “He wasn’t necessarily hiding it from us, but he was making light of it just so we wouldn’t have to worry about him. He always put others before himself.”
Jason Petras, another former player and senior captain on the 2016 team with Majoros, Cam Noseworthy and Jordan Hoke, had a special bond with Newton. His mother, Kim, succumbed to cancer prior to the 2013-14 season, and the Falcons dedicated that campaign to her memory.
Newton revealed he had been battling cancer, too, in the postgame news conference after Farmington won the state title. Petras scored both goals in the 2-1 win over Sault Ste. Marie.
“He was like a dad to me,” Petras said. “He was always there when I needed him. When my mom passed away, he was the first person I called, and he was the first person to come over and make sure I was OK.
“All the guys were super close with coach Bill. The state championship was one of the great things he did for our program. The only thing bigger than the banner he got us was his heart.”
Newton, who was a day shy of his 56th birthday, resigned at the end of last season to deal with his health and to devote more time to his family.
In three seasons as the varsity coach, Newton’s teams compiled a 44-33-4 record and won the school’s only state title in his first year.
With a senior-dominated team in 2013-14, the Falcons won their last seven games, including six in the state tournament, and finished with a 21-10 record.
Newton led the Falcons to a 15-9-1 record last season and a share of the OAA Red Division championship. Farmington, Rochester United and Berkley finished 9-3.
Newton, who replaced Mark Vellucci as head coach in 2013, had been a varsity assistant for four seasons and a JV assistant for two years. He also coached in the Farmington Hills Hockey Association for five years.
“Obviously, it’s a sad day for the high school hockey world,” Vellucci said. “Bill was a great man, a great person and a great coach. He touched a lot of people. When I left the Farmington hockey program, I left it in great hands with Bill. I’m going to miss his friendship, first and foremost.”
Joe Hall is a former Farmington assistant who coached a dozen years with Newton. He remembers Newton, a salesman who represented numerous makers of hockey equipment, as being a generous and giving individual.
“I’d say, ‘Bill, when is that sale going to be?’” Hall said. “The next day, I’d have a brand new pair of gloves on my porch, because he had some in his garage and brought them over. They were top-of-the-line $200 gloves, too.
“He would go up to the tailgate at (Michigan) State (where his brother, Tom, is an assistant hockey coach) and have all the food. He’d invite all the Farmington guys. He’d have 50 to a hundred people come by, and he was feeding all of them.”
While he loved hockey and wanted things to be done right, Newton cared most about his players, according to Hall and Vellucci.
“He taught them life lessons through hockey,” Vellucci said. “The kids became young men under his leadership and guidance.”
“He had a great way with the kids,” Hall said. “He cared more about them and their lives than the hockey. He was more interested in that. On a personal level, he would be a guy I am proud to call a friend. Look up friend in the dictionary, and that was Bill. He cared more about people than wins or losses.”
Majoros, who played on the top offensive line with Petras, echoed those statements in remembering Newton.
“It can’t be said enough how he cared about each and everyone on his team every year,” Majoros said. “I can say I grew as a person and hockey player because of what he did for me, and the same goes for everyone else. At the end of the day, he was the best coach I’ve ever played for.”
Newton grew up playing hockey in Uxbridge, Ontario. He played junior hockey with the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League and later played for the late Ron Mason at Bowling Green.
Newton is survived by wife Colleen; son Chris, a Farmington assistant coach and former player; and daughter Annie.
Funeral arrangements are pending at O’Brien-Sullivan Funeral Home, 41555 Grand River, Novi.
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