Arnie Ramirez was a pioneer in collegiate soccer here in the United States, and not just because of the success his Long Island University team had on the field.Ramirez gave opportunities to Latino players long before anyone else was interested and able to do so at the collegiate level.
The players and men he has inspired has ranged from Giovanni Savarese, the New York/New Jersey MetroStars scoring legend who is the New York Cosmos Academy director 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," Ramírez said. "They were able to do something with their lives or it would not have happened."
Because LIU is 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," Ramírez 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 to play a game they all loved.
Ramírez 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.
Ramírez 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.
Ramírez 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.
Ramírez 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, Ramírez accrued a 214-145-25 record and four NCAA Division I tournament appearances. He has more than 300 career wins. In 2006, Ramírez 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.
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, most recently 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," Ramírez said. "I did something I loved for more than 40 years. It was a dream. I am so proud my players did so well."
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