IN PRAISE OF ARNIE

Long-time soccer coach Ramirez to be inducted into Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame on Sunday

Arnie Ramirez: "I may not be a millionaire, but I have so many friends in soccer." (Photo by Michael Lewis)

Many successful coaches have trophies in their office or in a special trophy case that define or highlight their coaching career and success.

Arnie Ramirez's trophies are not inanimate objects. They are the living and breathing human beings -- players and the various people he has touched in almost half a century of soccer, most of it in coaching.

The Costa Rican-born Ramirez was a pioneer as a Hispanic who was given the opportunity to attend college and be successful. He then paid it back a hundredfold or so, helping to open the door for so many other Hispanic players, whether they have come from the inner city or immigrants.

"I may not be a millionaire, but I have so many friends in soccer," he said.

So many friends that when anyone makes news in soccer - the U.S. or international - Ramirez will post a photo of them that he has taken.

Arnie Ramirez (right) and former Mexican national head coach Juan Carlos Osorio (Michael Lewis photo)

Born in Costa Rica, Ramirez immigrated with his parents to the United States -- specifically New York -- quite specifically Washington Heights in Manhattan. In fact, he remembers the exact date he came to the USA -- July 26, 1955.

"Well, it was a big day for us," Ramirez said.

Ramirez, who will be inducted into the Eastern New York Soccer Hall of Fame on Sunday, is a proud citizen of both countries and has visited his Central American home on a regular basis.

"Costa Rica gave me the love for the game," Ramirez told this writer in an interview several years ago. "I was born there. I love Costa Rica. The United States gave me the opportunity to become what I needed to be -- a good educator. I was able to coach here and help other Latinos."

The players and men he has touched has ranged from Giovanni Savarese, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars scoring legend who directed the New York Cosmos to three North American Soccer League championships and the Portland Timbers to a pair of MLS Cup finals, and Jorge Acosta, Maicol Antelo, Roger Chavez, Mickey Kydes, Walter Bustamante, Richard Chinapoo and Martin Alvarez, among others who went on to play professionally in the United States or abroad.

"A lot of the kids were from the city like me -- with a scholarship," Ramirez said. "They were able to do something with their lives or it would not have happened."

Because LIU was an inner-city college in Brooklyn, it wasn't easy convincing American-born players to attend the school.

"I had to get kids from other countries," Ramirez said. "The really good players didn't want to go to LIU or Brooklyn."

Which made LIU a unique school well before it’s time.

"Most teams didn't have Latino players," he added. "They thought they were undisciplined. I gave them a chance."

A chance for an education and play some beautiful soccer in the beautiful game.

Ramirez was an offensive-minded coach.

"I told my players, 'When I'm on the bench, I want to enjoy myself. I want to watch beautiful soccer,' " he said.

Ramirez said he did not care about the size of the player, "as long as they were comfortable with the ball. We had a lot of midgets. We had a lot of little guys."

And the Blackbirds wound up with a lot of wins.

Ramirez has lived a life most coaches would love to boast on his resume. He either has played, coached or administered at every level -- from youth to high school to college to amateur to professional to international.

Name a role and he has done it.

Ramirez is best known as the Long Island University men's coach for 19 years. He certainly left his mark, helping Latinos home and abroad get an education and have a better life. For the record, Ramirez accrued a 214-145-25 record and four NCAA Division I tournament appearances. He has more than 300 career wins. In 2006, Ramirez was inducted into the LIU Sports Hall of Fame.

But that was only part of the equation. He was the technical director and coach of the Puerto national team during qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. In fact, Puerto Rico kicked off the qualifying competition in the Dominican Republic. The "locker room" his team had in Santo Domingo was so sub-standard that Ramirez was forced to use oranges in plastic cups to show his team the formation he wanted it to use.

Arnie Ramirez puts together the formation of the Puerto Rico national team with oranges and plastic cups prior to the very first 1994 World Cup qualifying match in 1992 (Michael Lewis Photo)

He was the liaison for the Bolivian team during that competition in the United States.

He was liaison for the Mexico team during the 1996 Summer Olympics in the USA.

He also was director of Pele Soccer Camps, coach of Inka S.C., an amateur soccer team based in New York City, the women's soccer coach at Ramapo State and the coach of various youth soccer teams and clubs in the metropolitan area.

What a soccer life.

"I was fortunate," Ramirez said. "I did something I loved for more than 40 years. It was a dream. I am so proud my players did so well."

With Ramirez, it was never about him. It always comes back to his players.

On Sunday, it will be about Arnie Ramirez