'Make The Time Count': Film Pays Tribute To Coach's Imprint On Toms River South Football

TOMS RIVER, NJ — There is a tendency to put sports in its own little box, to treat it as "different" from everyday life. But if you brush away the Xs and Os and push the stats to the side, sports is about so much more than just a game.

That's what you're reminded of when you watch "South Football's Impossible Dream," the documentary by Toms River filmmaker Sandra Levine, which premiered Sunday at Ocean County College's Grunin Center for the Arts.

The film isn't just a sports movie; it's a look back in time, at how a football coach and high school teacher molded lives, and how a game — "The Greatest Game Ever Played At The Jersey Shore" — helped bring the Shore to prominence.

Ron Signorino Sr., that football coach, was joined by family and friends, former players and others who were part of that game on Sunday to see the tribute to Signorino that focused on the end of Toms River South's 19-game winning streak, the November 1969 game against Middletown.

"I'm overwhelmed," Signorino told the audience, and that was before the film aired. Afterward during a meet-and-greet, the coach who took over the football program at Toms River in 1964 was all smiles as he talked with players and other old friends.

The documentary was funded by the Applegate Family Foundation, and was prompted by a request from Brion Applegate, who was inspired by Levine's prior film on Toms River South baseball coach Ken Frank. Applegate played for Signorino.

"It was very challenging," Levine said after the premiere, because of the historical nature of the film. She spent two years working on the project, and had people searching for all kinds of things, from decades-old game footage to audio clips to old photos.

"I asked him to look 'just one more time' several times for a photo of Ron in his Navy uniform," Levine told the audience. Her persistence and her eye and ear for detail yielded a film that gives a glimpse into the early years of the impact of the Garden State Parkway on Ocean County as it tells the story of Signorino and the Toms River-Middletown game.

"You usually see tributes like this when someone has died," said Robin Signorino Stark, the coach's youngest child. "It's awesome."

Her father is the kind of person who's happier deflecting the attention to others, she said, so seeing how much he meant to so many people was really gratifying.

"He's said several times how overwhelmed he is," she said.

Signorino, who coached at Toms River South for 27 years over two stints, from 1964-78 and 1997-2000, also was an assistant coach under legendary Brick Township coach Warren Wolf from 1981-96. He was hired in Toms River initially as a history teacher in addition to being the coach, Robin Signorino Stark said. After a short time as a history teacher, he was forced to swap with a physical education teacher because while Signorino had been teaching from the same history textbook in Pennsylvania, he lacked a history teacher certification in New Jersey, she said.

His biggest lessons, however, were on the football field, his players said.

Rip Scherer, who coached the University of Memphis football team and coached in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns, fondly remembers his days playing for Signorino. He was the quarterback on the 1969 Toms River team and went on to play in college at William & Mary under Lou Holtz, who rose to fame at Notre Dame. Scherer also coached under Joe Paterno at Penn State.

Of all of those experiences, Scherer said playing for Signorino was by far the most challenging, and set the foundation for everything he has done as a coach.

"Attention to detail," he said. "It was relentless. You never got off the hook." But that attention to detail, both in learning and in carrying out the tasks, were the biggest lessons Scherer learned that he then taught to his own players.

Being part of the tribute to Signorino was special, because it was an opportunity to see old friends and reconnect.

"The relationships we formed in high school, the bonds are still there," Scherer said.

"It was very emotional and very satisfying at the same time," said Harry Walters, who played on the 1969 team. "It brought back so many memories."

That was one of the things that surprised Levine while she was making the film, how deeply the men who played for Signorino cherished those memories.

"Most of them still had their helmets and their varsity jackets. They had these big scrapbooks, and they remembered in detail the game," she said.

One of the special parts of the documentary is the snippets of game film from that 1969 game between Toms River, which was No. 1 in the state at the time, and Middletown, which was No. 2, film that was unearthed in a trunk after so many years. Also included in the film is audio of the Toms River-Lakewood football game the following week, with WOBM legend Bob Levy calling the game.

Tony Graham, retired sportswriter from the Asbury Park Press who also worked for WJLK in the early years of his career, said he had just started broadcasting games as that pivotal Toms River season happened.

"It was treated like the Super Bowl," Graham said in the film, recalling the hype in the Press and other newspapers.

He reminisced with Signorino briefly after the premiere, both men enjoying the memories of dozens of games both during Signorino's time at Toms River South and later with Wolf at Brick.

The film also includes photos showing poultry farms that lined Route 9 and aerials of the Parkway long before homes filled the landscape, along with a glimpse at the childhoods spent on Barnegat Bay and along the Toms River, when Toms River and Middletown and Brick each had one high school.

Signorino, who coached with his son, Ron Jr., was captured in the film delivering one of his many speeches to a group of players on the 2021 team, which is coached by his grandson, Matt Martin. Among the many messages Signorino delivered to the current players — messages he delivered for decades — was one that applies to every aspect of life.

"Don't count the minutes," he barked at the players, "Make the minutes count."

In "South Football's Impossible Dream" Levine makes every minute of the hourlong film count.

Levine, who said she was still tweaking small details as late as four days before the premiere, said other screenings of the film are in the works, and she has been invited to present it at the New Jersey Film Festival at Rutgers University in February. The documentary will be screened at 5 p.m. on Feb. 25, and will be available online for viewing for 24 hours that day, Levine said. Those interested in seeing it can purchase a ticket online to see it in person or to view it online that day.

"Doing an hour is 100 times the work" that is involved with the 5- to 6-minute news reports she did for years during her television career, she said.

Details on other in-person screenings are still being sorted out, she said, but said people interested in seeing it will be able to find details on her website.

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