Drew University Athletics

The founder of the Drew men's soccer team, the late Bob Bannon has been regarded as one of the finest people associated with athletics in Northern New Jersey. He worked with young people throughout the region, starting youth groups coaching, and officiating.

Bannon came to Drew as part of the Navy's V-12 unit and received a degree in classics in 1948. As a student he played on both the basketball and baseball teams and continued his baseball career in the Cleveland Indians farm system from 1948-50, playing for their minor league teams in Wilkes Barre, Pa., and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Bannon earned a master's degree from Rutgers, which propelled him into a 25-year career teaching English and Latin in the junior schools in Bloomfield. Shortly thereafter, he instituted the soccer program at Drew, serving as the head coach from 1954-68 compiling a 23-16-3 (.583) record. His soccer coaching career also included a stint as the head coach at Bloomfield from 1970-71.