Newark, particularly the Ironbound, and the adjacent West Hudson towns on the Passaic, Harrison and Kearny, have a long tradition of soccer.[14][15] Kearny's nickname, "Soccer Town USA" is inspired by the era that begin in the mid-1870s, when thousands of Scottish and Irish immigrants settled there after two Scottish companies, Clark Thread Company and Nairn Linoleum, opened.[16][17] The Newark Portuguese was one of many teams.[15]
The Newark Bears were a minor-league professional baseball franchise that were part of the independent Atlantic League (which also includes the Somerset Patriots and the Camden Riversharks).[18] They played at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium, a 6,200-seat ballpark that is also home to local college baseball teams.[19][20] Both the stadium and team have struggled financially.[21] In November 2013, the future of the team became uncertain as they were unable to commit to a 2014 season and folded shortly thereafter.[22] In 2019, the stadium was demolished to make way for a new development called Riverfront Square.[23][24]
In the modern football era, the Meadowlands was home to the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League from 1983-85. The USFL was a challenger to the NFL, and featured many of the top professional football players and several future Pro Football Hall of Famers. The Generals roster included Heisman Trophy winners Herschel Walker and Doug Flutie. Despite a disappointing 6-12 inaugural season in 1983, the Generals finished 11-7 and 14-4 the following two seasons, losing in the playoffs to the eventual champion Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars both years. Giants Stadium hosted the 1985 USFL Championship Game, which became the final USFL game ever when the league folded before the start of the 1986 season.
The New York/New Jersey Knights were the metro area's entry in the World League of American Football, a developmental league introduced by the NFL in 1991. The league featured ten teams in five countries, including three in Europe. The team drew respectable crowds in their two-year stay in New Jersey, including a Giants Stadium crowd of 41,219 against the London Monarchs in 1992. The league took a hiatus in 1993, and when it returned its six franchises were all located in Europe.
The Meadowlands also hosted a trio of short-lived teams in other nationwide professional leagues since, including the New York/New Jersey Hitmen of the original XFL (2001), the New York Sentinels of the United Football League (2009), and the New York Guardians of the second incarnation of the XFL (2020). The original XFL folded after one season, and its successor shut down due to COVID and has yet to return.
The UFC held UFC 78 on November 17, 2007, one of the first events to take place at the new arena.[47] It also played host to UFC 111, which took place on March 27, 2010.[48] On March 19, 2011, it hosted UFC 128,[49] and hosted UFC 159 on April 27, 2013.
Until the 1920s the Newark Armory was a major venue for boxing.[52][53][54] The Laurel Garden, in the Central Ward, operated as a sports venue from the 1920s until its closing, hosted numerous boxing and wrestling matches,[55] and was also important music venue.[56] Newark produced many fighters during The Golden Age of the American Jewish Boxer.[57][58] In the 1930s many Jewish prizefighters once in the employ of crime boss Longie Zwillman became part of the Minuteman, a group dedicated to preventing Nazi activities in the city.[59]Day of the Fight, the first picture directed by Stanley Kubrick, shows Irish-American middleweightWalter Cartier during the height of his career, on the day of a fight with Bobby James, which took place on April 17, 1950, at Laurel Garden.[60] One of the last bouts in Laurel Garden-era was on May 30, 1953, in which Joey Giardello defeated middleweight Hurley Sandler in a nationally televised event.[61]
Gymnastics
The AT&T American Cup, an annual elite senior level international gymnastics competition, was held at Prudential Center in 2016 and 2017.[62]
St. Benedict's had the top-ranked high school soccer team in the nation by ESPN/Rise in 1990, 1997–98, 2001, 2005–06 and 2011.[72][73]
Numerous alumni of the soccer program at St. Benedict's have become world-renowned players.[74]
Statues
In 2009, a 22 ft (6.7 m) stainless steel sculpture of a hockey player was installed at Championship Plaza at Prudential Center.[75][76] A bronze statue, created by sculptor Thomas Jay Warren,[77] was dedicated to the memory of Althea Gibson in Branch Brook Park in March 2012[78][79] "I hope that I have accomplished just one thing," she once wrote, "that I have been a credit to tennis, and to my country."[80] "By all measures," reads the inscription "Althea Gibson certainly attained that goal."[81] In June 2012, a life-size bronze statue of Roberto Clemente was also unveiled in the park.[82]The Salute, created by Jon Krawczyk, is a statue of the longtime New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur was installed at Prudential Center in 2016.[83]
^Hernandez, Raymond. "World Cup Hits Home In Soccer Town, U.S.A."The New York Times June 26, 1994. Accessed September 12, 2013. "In a nation that has not yet shared the world's enthusiasm for soccer, Kearny (pronounced CAR-nee) is certainly an anomaly. The town has two local soccer historians. On Kearny Avenue, the main strip, a sign proclaims: 'Welcome to Kearny. Soccer Town, U.S.A.'"
^Mayer, Ronald A. (1994), The 1937 Newark Bears: A Baseball Legend, Rutgers University Press, ISBN9780813521534, Jacob Ruppert, owner of the New York Yankees, purchased the team from the newspaper publisher Paul Block in 1931. Mayer traces the Bears' exciting first five seasons under Ruppert and the building of a farm system that eventually produced the great Yankee...sprinkled with some of the great names of the American pastime: Ed Barrow, Paul Kritchell, Al Mamaux, Red Rolfe, Babe Ruth, Shag Shaughnessey, Bob Shawkey, and George Weiss.
^Mazzeo, Mike. "Chris Christie: No love lost for Nets", ESPN New York, April 24, 2012. Accessed June 26, 2012. "The New Jersey Nets are playing their final game in New Jersey on Monday night and leaving for Brooklyn at the end of this season, but the governor of New Jersey isn't about to get all nostalgic over it."
^Hogrogian, John (1985). "The Staten Island Stapletons"(PDF). Coffin Corner. 7 (6). Professional Football Researchers Association: 1–9. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2010-11-27.
^Grover, Warren (2003), Nazis in Newark, Transaction Books, ISBN9781412829465, S. William Kalb, a physician who led the Newark Division of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, and Nat Arno, a prizefighter and gang member who led the Minutemen. Together they forged an alliance against Nazism, employing propaganda, public relations, and physical assaults. Among the extraordinary events that resulted were Jewish prizefighters who had protected Newark crime boss Longie Zwillman's bootleg whiskey shipments – turning their attention to stopping the Nazis after Prohibition ended in 1933.
^"Pennington (1) at St. Benedict's (4), Prep A Tournament, Final Round – Boys Soccer", Trenton Times, November 6, 2011. Accessed December 5, 2011. "With the victory, St. Benedict's completed a perfect 24-0 campaign and will finish as the No. 1 ranked team in the country for the seventh time in school history and first time since 2006. The title is the 23rd straight Prep A crown and 25th overall state title for St. Benedict's, which will carry a 36-game winning streak into next year.... St. Benedict's, which was guaranteed the ESPN/Rise No. 1 spot in the national rankings with a victory, also won national championships in 1990, '97, '98, 2001, '05 and '06."