Former Dallas Tornado player Bobby Moffat remembers being at Ron Newman's house one night in the early 1970s when Newman's phone rung unexpectedly.
Much to the dismay of Newman's wife, who had just prepared a lovely chicken dinner, Newman broke away from his hungry family and Moffat to take the call. Newman never ended up eating his dinner that night, because once he hung up from the 30-minute conversation, he left the house: He had been asked to do a last-minute speaking engagement about soccer, and whenever an opportunity to promote the sport arose, Newman was undoubtedly going to take it.