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The South Orange-owned, Maplewood-located field named for legendary soccer player and coach Gene Chyzowych has a new sign.
“Several signs later we hope this one will be around a very long time,” wrote Gene Chyzowych Jr. on Facebook. “Thank you to alumni, students, faculty, friends and family for your support. If anyone is near the area and has some landscaping suggestions for around the sign and entrance to the field please let me know.”
Gene Chyzowych, who created the Cougar Soccer Club with his brother Walter, coached the Columbia High School boys soccer team for 50 seasons before retiring in September 2013. He also coached CHS Girls Volleyball for 11 undefeated seasons.
Chyzowych passed away in May 2014 after a long battle with cancer. His obituary noted Chyzowych was an “engaging, dedicated and inspiring teacher and coach who devoted his life to every player and student he met.” Chyzowych’s impact on soccer reverberated well beyond Maplewood and South Orange as he worked to popularize the sport and help it reach new members of the public. (Read Chyzowych’s full obituary, first published May 12, 2014 in the Star-Ledger, below.)
With the new sign in place at the field — located at 29 W Parker Ave, Maplewood — Chyzowych Jr. is taking suggestions via Facebook for beautification. Suggestions thus far include ground-to-sign lighting, Belgian blocks and black river rock, sponsored brick pavers and plantings. Many encouraged Chyzowych Jr. to create a gofundme page. Village Green will update this story with a link should a fundraising page be created.
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Related story:
Gene Chyzowych remembered as New Jersey soccer pioneer, NJ.com, May 12, 2014
Read Chyzowych’s obituary here:
Eugene Chyzowych, known by so many as “Coach C,” the engaging, dedicated and inspiring teacher and coach who devoted his life to every player and student he met, died Saturday, May 10, 2014, with his family at his side, following a long battle with cancer. Gene Chyzowych was 79.
A resident of West Orange, N.J., Gene was a former professional soccer player, served as head coach of the U.S. Men’s Soccer National team and Olympic team, and was a long-time high school soccer coach with one of the top records in the country.
Gene was born on Jan. 27, 1935, in Ukraine, and fled from war-torn Europe to the United States with his parents and two brothers at the age of 13.
A soccer player from the start, Gene became a standout at Philadelphia’s North Catholic High School and at Temple University, where he graduated in 1963. He went on to play professionally in the U.S. and Canada. He later coached in the American Professional Soccer League and served as U.S. National and Olympic team coach in 1973-1974.
He also served as president of the American Soccer League.
During those early years of soccer in the United States, Gene, along with his late brother, Walter Chyzowych, helped shape the U.S. soccer program.
Together, Gene and Walt started the All American Soccer Camp & Coaching School, one of the first such sport-specific camps in the U.S. in the early ’60s. His energy, enthusiasm, and love of soccer influenced tens of thousands of youngsters and aspiring coaches.
In 1963, Gene became a teacher and head boys soccer coach at Columbia High School in Maplewood, N.J., where he would go on to coach and teach thousands of students over the next 51 years. When Gene retired in 2013, he had amassed a record of 757 victories, which ranks third in the nation all-time high school win list.
He captured four New Jersey state championships, 24 conference titles, 16 state sectional crowns, and produced hundreds of All-Americans, All-State and All-Conference players in high school and college, many of whom have gone on to become college and high school soccer coaches.
Gene also coached the Columbia girls volleyball team, compiling a 227-0 career record and an 11-year winning streak, likewise producing numerous championship and lauded athletes.
Among the countless awards and honors bestowed upon Gene, he was most proud of his 2009 induction into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and being the 2014 recipient of the Walt Chyzowych Lifetime Achievement Award.
He is survived by the love of his life, his wife of 50 years, Anna; son, Eugene Jr.; son, Michael; daughter-in-law, Nicole; grandchildren, Thomas and Julia, and his brother, Ihor.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the St. Barnabas Cancer Center/Oncology Services at Saint Barnabas Medical Center Foundation, 95 Old Short Hills Rd., West Orange, N.J. 07052, saintbarnabasfoundation.org.
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