Newman Ready to Serve His Team

The dream was born beneath a brightly lit Christmas tree in a cozy San Clemente home.

Five-year-old Dylan Newman, dressed in an oversized Joe Theismann Washington Redskin uniform, sat wide-eyed and grinning in a sea of crumbled wrapping paper and unopened presents.

He held a toy airplane in one hand, buzzing through his teeth as he mock-flew it through the air, complete with loop-de-loops, dips and flips.

A football sat on the floor next to him. When the plane needed to refuel, he would pick up the football and race though the house doing his best Theismann impersonation.

Newman wanted someday to fly a plane, maybe follow his father’s footsteps into the Air Force or even become an astronaut. He also wanted to play football, as a child, in high school and college, perhaps beyond.

A part of that dream became reality 4 1/2 years ago when Newman, who played football at San Clemente High, earned an appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy.

He made the Air Force football team and, now in his senior year, will start at receiver for the 17th-ranked Falcons when they play Washington in the Oahu Bowl in Honolulu at 5:30 p.m..

On Christmas.

“I wanted to play Division I football and I’ve been interested in flying jets ever since I was a little kid,” Newman said. “Coming here, I was able to fulfill both dreams.”

Aim High

Those close to Newman were never in doubt about his ability to attain his dreams. He was an all-star catcher in Little League, and won the South Coast League wrestling title in his weight class three times.

When he decided to take up body boarding, he won the first tournament he entered. He took up taekwondo as a 17-year-old and returned home from his first tournament with a black eye and a first-place trophy as tall as he was.

“He always accomplished the things he set out to do,” said Gene Newman, Dylan’s father. “He always set goals. Some would think they were lofty, but he’d always accomplish them.”

Dylan’s latest conquest is skiing. With the Air Force Academy nestled just outside the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, Newman frequents such resorts as Vail, Copper Mountain and Steamboat. After four years, he’s already an expert.

“Skiing is a new thing,” mother Cindy said. “Of course he goes on the hardest, fastest, scariest runs. That’s just like him though, he has to push the envelope as much as he can.”

Newman’s dream of playing Division I football almost didn’t come true. As a high school senior, the 6-1, 170-pound Newman was considered too small to play at a major college.

“I always thought I could play Division I football,” Newman said. “I didn’t let the stereotype of my size get to me. They said I wasn’t big enough or fast enough, but I didn’t listen to them and the coaches here believed in me.”

When Air Force showed interest, Newman was sold immediately. But despite an honor-roll grade-point average and his standing as senior class president, Newman wasn’t accepted right away because of his SAT scores.

Another setback, another time for Newman to display his tenacity. He enrolled at the Academy Prep School, made excellent grades and was accepted into the Air Force Academy the next year.

San Clemente Coach Mark McElroy, who remains close with his former player, remembers all the scrambling it took to get Newman into the Academy.

“It was his dream and his desire,” McElroy said. “And he wouldn’t let the dream die.”

Newman is the second-leading receiver for Air Force this season, with 21 receptions for 458 yards and a team-high four touchdowns. Pretty good numbers for an option-based team that has run the ball 648 times and passed just 153.

“He’s the perfect type of receiver for them,” McElroy said. “He has good hands, he loves contact and he has a lot of heart.”

Newman said he had to learn to accept that his receiving numbers wouldn’t be as gaudy as others around the country because of the Air Force offense, but he has gladly traded the receiving yardage for victories.

Full Throttle

The Falcons won the first WAC title in school history this year and with a victory over Washington on Christmas, they have a chance at a top-10 final ranking.

“In Division I football, you have to be much more of a team player instead of an individual player,” Newman said. “If it takes me blocking all game to get the win, I’ll be as happy as if I catch 10 passes and score three touchdowns.

“If a running back runs by me making a block, I know he knows he scored because of my block. I know if I catch a pass, it’s because the line was blocking, maybe the running back picked up a blitz and the quarterback threw the ball where it needed to be. We know where credit is due.”

Recently selected the top athlete at the Air Force Academy, Newman will graduate in June. He will be a football coach for the junior varsity team at Air Force before heading to pilot training in early 2000.

Newman, who has flown gliders and been in fighter planes, will then get a chance to complete his dream by flying his own jet.

One that makes its own buzzing noise.