At soccer game, remembrance for a fallen player
By Karen Zraick (New York Times)As teams from St. Lucia and Jamaica took to an athletic field in East New York, Brooklyn, for the final match of an international soccer tournament on Sunday, players and fans alike found that their thoughts were on a player who was not there.
The player, Phillip Tisson, 28, had propelled St. Lucia into the finals with a goal against St. Kitts/Nevis just a week earlier on the same field. Hours after that, he was dead from a gunshot wound.
In the bleachers, which were filled to capacity on a clear day, fans and friends wore T-shirts bearing his image. Before them, players darted back and forth on the field before the game. Soca music blared from speakers, and vendors dished out stewed codfish and rice and beans.
By the locker room, Mr. Tisson’s father, Phillip Alcee, 61, cheered the team on, wearing a blue St. Lucian flag around his neck like a cape. He had been ebullient when he arrived, greeting each player to wish them luck as they changed into their uniforms. He greeted reporters and well-wishers. Only when he had a chance to reflect did he grow solemn.
His son had grown up with his mother in a small town called Canaries, while Mr. Alcee left for Maryland in 1989, trading a job as a police officer to become a janitor. They stayed in touch, Mr. Alcee said. His son told him of a recent stint playing soccer in St. Croix, and they saw each other after Mr. Tisson arrived in New York in June.
“This was his goal, to be a sportsman,” Mr. Alcee said.
He was silent for a few moments as the St. Lucian national anthem came over the loudspeakers and the crowd cheered. He began to cry.
“He died coming here to play sports,” he said. “I’m proud of him.”
Mr. Tisson had gone to celebrate at a Utica Avenue nightclub, accompanied by several teammates. Hours later, he left the club and got into a car with four women. Then a gunman approached and shot him in the head.
His teammates spent the week mourning, training and searching for answers. He was, by all accounts, a peaceful man. The motive in the case remains unclear, and there have been no arrests. Rewards totaling $12,000 have been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
“Everybody was talking about him,” said Thadeus Joseph, the scout who had arranged for Mr. Tisson’s trip to New York.
“It’s a great loss,” he said, noting that Mr. Tisson had also played on St. Lucia’s national team in World Cup qualifiers. “He was one of the best strikers for our team and in the tournament. I just saw his brilliance, the way he controlled the ball.”
The tournament, in its 19th year, is known as a chance for Caribbean players to showcase their skills in front of a crowd that normally includes a sprinkling of professional and university scouts. Last year, a number of Jamaican players left with contracts in Europe.
Norbert Radjpaul, the manager of the Jamaican team and secretary of the Caribbean Cup, had taken note of Mr. Tisson’s performance. Two Sundays ago, he spoke to him about arranging a tryout for a professional team in Jamaica, he said.
Frederick Ballantyne, the president of the Caribbean Cup, ranked Mr. Tisson in the top 10 of the 288 players competing. With four goals in the competition, Mr. Tisson was largely responsible for St. Lucia’s surprise surge, Mr. Ballantyne said. St. Lucia had never won the tournament.
Three police detectives arrived at the field, which is used by Thomas Jefferson High School, and shook hands with Mr. Alcee.
“Let’s hope you guys win today,” one detective said. “And then we have another win soon with the Police Department. We all want that.”
As in the game the previous Sunday, only one goal was scored at the conclusion of a hard-fought game; this time it was Jamaica’s.
“They played excellent,” Merlyn Hippolyte, 45, a cousin of Mr. Tisson’s, said of St. Lucia’s effort. “They had courage. They did their best for Tisson.”
Phillip Alcee, the father of the recently killed soccer player, Phillip Tisson, visited the
St. Lucia team locker room on Sunday
