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Offline Bakes

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New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« on: January 04, 2013, 02:45:58 PM »


JANUARY 4, 2013, 1:43 PM
Q. & A. With Lincoln Phillips

By TOM DUNMORE



Before the first North American Soccer League briefly soared after the signing of Pelé in 1975, some of the most interesting stories in 1970's soccer in the United States were often found in the college game.

This was exemplified by Howard University in Washington. In 1970, Howard University hired Lincoln Phillips as its coach, a young immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago who was then the goalkeeper and coach for the N.A.S.L.'s Washington Darts. Phillips took a Howard team built around students from the Caribbean to unprecedented success, becoming the first historically black college to win the N.C.A.A. Division championship in 1971.

But there was controversy: Howard was stripped of its title by the N.C.A.A. for player-eligibility violations. Many felt that Howard had been unfairly singled out because the largely white college sports hierarchy was uncomfortable with a team of black players winning the national championship. Phillips retooled Howard and won an N.C.A.A. title again in 1974. Tom Dunmore, editor of the XI Quarterly recently spoke with Phillips about his career in the United States and the lasting impact of Howard soccer.


Q. You were born in Trinidad but you made your career as a goalkeeper and coach in North America. How did you come to the United States and get your start in soccer here?

A. I represented Trinidad and Tobago at the 1967 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, where we attended a function hosted by the West Indian Students Association. The Trinidadians there inspired me to use my soccer experience to attend a university in Canada or the U.S. The opportunity to pursue both a professional soccer career and education presented itself when a scout from the Baltimore Bays recommended me to the Bays G.M. Clive Toye, and upon signing I made the key stipulation that the Bays assist in enrolling me into college.

Q. After Baltimore, you moved on to the Washington Darts in the N.A.S.L. You quickly became the player-coach of the team age 29 -- how did that come about, and how did you earn the respect of players who were also your peers?

A. I frequently found myself in leadership roles beginning from the time I was in secondary school in Trinidad. My time in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment as both the physical education officer in charge of developing physical fitness for the service and as captain of the soccer team gave me my first real experience in leading men. So, by the time I earned the opportunity to serve as a player/coach with the Darts, I was ready.

Also, being a goalkeeper provides a player a certain perspective on the game that makes the position uniquely conducive to producing leaders -- more than any other position on the field. Make no mistake, though: on a professional team you're frequently surrounded by other alpha males and my leadership was challenged. This is where education and the ability to deal with people and issues are vital skills for any leader. I always invited any player to sit with me and discuss any aspect of the game, confident that my own understanding of the game was sound as both a player and as someone studying to be an educator. It also helped that I never asked players to do anything that I wouldn't do. Furthermore, being the top goalkeeper in the A.S.L. and N.A.S.L. at the time certainly helped.

Q. Was it a difficult decision to leave the Darts and professional soccer in 1970 and taking on the role of Howard head coach?

A. No, not at all, my decision to coach at the college level at Howard was a no-brainer. My salary on the professional level was miniscule and professional soccer at that time was on its last legs. After helping train the team in 1970, Howard offered me a full-time salary after qualifying for the N.C.A.A. final four in 1970. What made the switch even easier was that I was allowed to go to school free, as I was also pursuing my undergraduate degree. However, this was difficult at times, because I was in a few classes with some of my players. It was a very humbling experience as all of them were A students while I was struggling sometimes with C grades. As a result of such a unique experience, a very serious and lasting bond developed between me and those players that continues to this day.

Q. Howard University won the N.C.A.A. championship in 1971 during your first season in charge -- the first historically black college to do so -- but was then stripped of the title, charged with the use of ineligible players. Forty years later, do you look back at that decision with bitterness?

A. Absolutely not. Fortunately, I usually don't hold grudges. However, I think winning the championship in 1974 brought some catharsis and sense of justice in that we felt that our approach in developing scholar-athletes always followed the spirit of the N.C.A.A. even when we were the targets of some unfair and sometimes hostile situations. Our graduation rate was among the highest in the nation and the players we recruited were very good and serious students. I think over the years, the N.C.A.A. has made better efforts in developing regulations and schools also have compliance officers to help interpret those regulations or situations that may not have a clear cut answer.

Q. Howard found redemption with a second N.C.A.A. title in 1974. What was the key to picking up the pieces after being stripped of the 1971 title?

A. A real sense of purpose and having something to prove was the tip of the proverbial arrow that drove not only the team but the entire Howard University community. There was a sense we were cheated out of a championship and our situation fit in the social milieu at the time with the rise of black consciousness and the community's pride in producing a team that was considered among the best. We wanted to be the best at a sport largely identified and dominated by Europeans.

So, the team was more than an athletic program: it became an extension of the civil rights movement in a way only sports can by achieving a set of objective results and debunking myths that doubted our abilities to be disciplined, organized, and intelligent enough to win against the best the country had to offer. I felt if I could include players from West Africa to compliment the players I had from the Caribbean, we would have an explosive and athletic squad that would be difficult to handle. So, a successful recruiting trip to Nigeria and bringing several players back was one of the first steps taken in preparation.

However, I felt the moment where we invited one of our professors, Dr. Dom Basile Matthews, to address the team was when everything fell into place for the staff and players. In that discussion, Dr. Matthews talked about the atlantic slave trade and the triangular trek slave ships took from Europe to Africa to pick up slaves, to the Americas to drop off the slaves and pick up raw materials to then return to Europe for manufacturing. Dr. Matthews explained that our team represented a reversal of that triangular journey our ancestors endured and the players were engaged in what he called a "Triangle of Blackness," designed to win and achieve as the descendants of those who were historically beaten down in a country where the struggle to be respected and relevant continued. It was some fairly heady stuff that blew everyone away.

Q. What do you think the broader significance of a black team -- mainly made-up of foreign students from the Caribbean and Africa -- achieving the success that Howard did in college soccer proved to be?

A. The gift that kept on giving. While there were a smattering of black players at universities across the country, Howard had long been the institution that fielded fantastic teams made up of players from the Caribbean and Africa. Our success in the 1970s brought an additional spotlight on players from those same regions and really sparked a rush of college coaches to those countries looking for players at a rate never seen before. So, our success helped bring additional opportunities for Caribbean and African players.

Though it is hard to imagine when looking at today's game in Europe, black players from Africa and the Caribbean were never considered good enough to play in Europe in the '60s through the '80s. In many ways, North America -- through the N.A.S.L. and college soccer -- provided a haven for talented black players from Africa and the Caribbean. So I believe Howard had a role on the impact black footballers had on the game in this country.



More on Lincoln Phillips

An article on Howard's soccer program appears in the inaugural issue of XI Quarterly. Follow Tom Dunmore on Twitter .

http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/q-a-with-lincoln-phillips/?ref=soccer

« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 06:51:33 AM by Flex »

Offline zuluwarrior

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2013, 11:33:46 PM »
Thanks Bakes, I enjoy the reading about Lincoln tiger Phillips ,I did not know he went to college in the US , thanks for the info Bakes . 
.
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Offline Bakes

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #2 on: January 05, 2013, 01:46:04 AM »
Thanks Bakes, I enjoy the reading about Lincoln tiger Phillips ,I did not know he went to college in the US , thanks for the info Bakes . 

That for the most part is common knowledge Zulu... but I thought his insights into those Howard teams were invaluable.  The reference to the speech by Dom Basile was pore-raising.

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2013, 11:16:52 AM »
Note the gloves Lincoln wearing!

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2013, 09:22:35 PM »
Howard U congratulated by Nixon
Date Published: 1972-01-04
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
Page: 10
The Gleaner was informed yesterday of a message of congratulations from American President Mr. Richard Nixon to the Howard University football coach Lincoln Phillips on his team's victory in the NCAA Championships on Thursday last.

According to a release received from the local United States Information Service (USIS) the message was passed on to Mr. Phillips by the American Embassy. Following is the text of the
message:

"My heartiest congratulations to you and the Howard University soccer team. Your team, your victory yesterday (December 30), the perfect season of fifteen wins and no losses, and your NCAA Championship make Washington very proud.

Ton have made a great season for Washington teams even better.

Good luck in your exhibition games in the West Indies. Washington looks forward to the return of its heroes"!

submitted: Wed, 2009-06-24 00:26 — ttfh

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #5 on: January 05, 2013, 09:31:25 PM »
Aqui: Howard goal-getter
Date Published: 1971-12-30
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
Page: 12
NIMBLE GOAL POACHER centre forward Keith Aqui will be included in the Bisons Soccer squad from Howard University which will arrive at the Palisadoes International Airport tomorrow (New Year's Eve, December 31.)

The Varsity team will be here on a four match stay which will stretch from their arrival date to Sunday, January 9.

Main objective of the visit is to seek schoolboy players to be included in the University's soccer team.

The man who will be scrutinising the performances of local schoolboys with a view to including some on the team will be team-scout Ethiopian Sala Yousif.

The Bisons boast an impressive record in the current National Collegiate competition. Having earned 13 wins in as many starts — scoring 82 goals and conceding only seven.

Chief goal-getter is the Trinidadian Aqui, with 25 goals. Of Aqui, it is said that he is an "acrobatic player" with terrific force and cunning. Himself and compatriot ALVIN HENDERSON, who scored 21 goals are invitees on the All-American team.

Howard will play their first match on Sunday at Mona Bowl against a UWI team, their second engagement will be on Monday against Combined St. Elizabeth and Manchester at Mandeville, their third is yet to be decided, but the final match of the tour will be against an All Schools team on Saturday, January 8 starting 4 p.m. at the National Stadium.

The full Howard aggregation comprises William Aboke Cole (Sierra Leone), Alfred Desmond (Tobago), Aqui (Trinidad), Ian Bain (Trinidad), Ronald Daly (Guyana), Mori Diane (Guinea), Anthony Donkwu (Nigeria), Elrod Ferriera (Trinidad), Zewdu Haplemariam (Ethiopia), Henderson (Trinidad), Edward Holder (Trinidad), Billy Jones (Sierra Leon), Anthony Martin, Trevor Mitchell (Trinidad), Onadeko Olusegun, Charles Pyne (Nigeria), Dillon Robinson (Bermuda), Odemichael Selassie (Ethiopia), Donald Simmons, Stanfield Smith (Bermuda), Andy Terrel (Westchester), Samuel Teteh (Ghana), Michael Tomlinson (Jamaica), Steve Waldron, Winston Yaliery (Trinidad), and Juan Zenzano (Bolivia).

submitted: Mon, 2008-07-21 18:29 — ttfh

Offline Bakes

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #6 on: January 05, 2013, 11:22:10 PM »
Wheyy... nice find TT.  Just looking at that roster of players, talk about an international flavor.  Great that these fellas got to get a good education at Howard in the process as well.  Not one American listed... unless that fella from "Westchester" is American.

Offline Deeks

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #7 on: January 05, 2013, 11:48:49 PM »
Wheyy... nice find TT.  Just looking at that roster of players, talk about an international flavor.  Great that these fellas got to get a good education at Howard in the process as well.  Not one American listed... unless that fella from "Westchester" is American.


Bakes, Andy Terrell was the lone American on the Howard team then. He was a goalkeeper. I don't think he started much. Ebony mag. had run a clip on HU after the champiomship,and I remember seeing photo of him. I don't know if he was from Wester Chester, PA or NY. When I started at HU in 77, the soccer team had about 2 or 3 Black Americans. By junior year the team had about 6 mostly fringe players. I remember one kid from Columbia, MD where LP was living. His name was Glen Cadenhead, I think. This kid was way before his time. He had skills. Good first touch. Passed the ball well and had a good shot. The only issue was his physique. On the small side. But he was outstanding for a Black American soccer player at that time.  The others that I remember was Jimmy Samsom from NC and Alvin Guillen, good gk, from VA. Carl Bonner from Chicago. They played regularly on the team.
« Last Edit: January 05, 2013, 11:58:41 PM by Deeks »

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #8 on: January 06, 2013, 12:35:49 AM »
HU awaits Penn State on road to soccer title
Date Published: 1971-11-27
Source: Baltimore Afro-American
Page: D5
Howard University hopes to take the last remaining step in regional play here tomorrow (Saturday) enroute to the championship bracket of the national collegiate soccer playoffs.

The Bisons defeated Navy, 2-0 on Tuesday to qualify for a quarter-final birth against Penn State. The Nittany Lions upset Pennsylvania Monday to qualify as Howard's opponent.

By winning over Penn State, coach Ted Chambers' outfit can move into the semi-finals and finals of the NCAA tournament at Miami's Orange Bowl, Dec. 29-31.

Howard, the fifth-ranked team in the nation, has talentloads of it in a freshman and sophomore-dominated lineup. Only one player on the squad is from the United States.

Aqui is one of three top-notch forwards from Trinidad; the others are Alvin Henderson, like Aqui an All-American, and Ian Bain, a freshman.

Henderson, also a sophomore on the inside, scored the first goal against Navy at 7:46 of the first quarter.

Stationed on the left side, he took a pass from Aqui, who was in the middle, and sent a low 15-yarder past Tim Dantzig, Navy's Plebs goalie who played an outstanding game, making several incredible stops among his 10 saves.

It is Henderson's 19th goal.

Aqui scored the clincher at 6:17 of the third quarter when a Navy fullback failed to clear out a poor corner kick which bounced in front of the goal mouth.

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #9 on: January 06, 2013, 12:36:39 AM »
hree members of Howard University named to 1959 All-Southern Soccer Team
Date Published: 1959-12-26
Source: Baltimore Afro-American
Page: 15
Three members of Howard University's D.C. Soccer Association championship squad were named to the 1959 All-Southern Soccer Team announced last week by Duke University. They are McDonald Gibbs, inside right; Alex Romeo, outside left; and Peter Hezekiah, right halfback.

Gibbs, who is a repeater from last year's All-Southern team, also was named to the 1958 All-American squad. He is a senior from Trinidad, West Indies. Hezekiah, another Trinidadian, is a junior; while Romeo, a native of Bermuda is a freshman.

THREE OTHER Bisons received honorable mention on this year's team, which included players from 14 colleges in the Maryland-Virginia-North Carolina area. They were Carlton Hinds of Port-au-Spain, W.I., outside right; Winston Cooke of Jamaica, left half-back, and Victor Henry of Trinidad, right fullback.

[excerpt]

Prior to LP but History none the less.

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #10 on: January 06, 2013, 12:37:28 AM »

Keith Aqui of Howard's NCAA champions was one of two All-Americans from hi school (the other was Alvin Henderson).

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #11 on: January 06, 2013, 12:38:06 AM »
Penn State vs Howard
Date Published: 1971-12-03
Source: Daily Collegian
BACKGROUND -- Penn State's soccer team travels to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to meet Howard, the nation's fifth-ranked outfit.

The winner advances to the national tournament in Miami Beach set for Dec. 28.

GAME TIME -- 1 p.m. at Howard University's field.

1971 RECORDS -- Penn State, 9-2-1; Howard, 12-0 including a 3-0 win over Navy Tuesday. Penn State defeated Navy 2-1 earlier in the year.

SPEED -- Penn State normally is the fastest team on the field but this may change tomorrow. Howard also deals in speed. The home team plays a physical game combined with the solid passing skills normally identified with a squad composed of foreigners.

SCORING THREATS -- Two Trinidad All-Americans, Alvin Henderson and Keith Aqui, lead Howard's attack. Henderson has 16 goals and Aqui 12.

Andy Rymarczuk leads Penn State with 14 goals and Chis Bahr is second with 12.

PREDICTION -- Penn State halfback Gary Kline wonders why nobody believes in the Lions' squad. After beating Navy and Penn, the dis-believers are rapidly diminishing, something Kline should be glad to hear.

Though Howard is a strong favorite, we'll take Penn State in a high-scoring game. How does 4-3 sound?

P.S. -- The Lions return to Rec Hall at approximately 8:45 tomorrow night.--TN

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2013, 12:38:39 AM »
Lion booters demolished by Howard, 8-0
Author: Ray McAllister
Date Published: 1971-12-06
Source: Daily Collegian
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Howard University rudely shattered a dream Saturday, romping over Penn State's soccer team, 8-0, and eliminating the Lions from the NCAA playoffs.

The Bisons (13-0) were held scoreless through the first period but erupted for four goals in the second and the romp was on. Howard now advances to the NCAA semifinals to be played December 28 in Miami Beach.

The setting was a curious one or a national quarter-final match. Howard's field sloped away at their sideline and was nearly stripped bare of grass. Its team did not show up until 1:05, five minutes after the scheduled starting time.

When it did show, Howard proved capable of some exceptional soccer. The first quarter, however, saw the Lions more than hold their own as neither team could gain a decided advantage.

"I think if we had scored in that first quarter it might have been a different game," said State's Jim Taylor.

"But," he added, "we didn't."

The Bisons took the scoring initiative early in the second quarter, when All-American Keith Aqui took a pass from Alvin Henderson, another All-American, and bumped out State's Tom Kehan. Aqui then beat goalie Gary MacMath for the score.

"I guess that cheap goal, which was really a defensive mistake, hurt us," said Taylor.

In addition to that early goal, the Lions were also hurt by Howard's speed and ball handling ability.

"They were all really fast and they all could handle the ball well," said Andy Rymarczuk, the Lions' leading scorer this season. "That's what hurt us."

Taylor concurred. "They all seemed so fast and quick," he said. "It didn't seem to matter who it was that was running by you."

The Bisons knocked in three more goals that period, two coming off the foot of Henderson. The Lions, who had not given up more than three goals in any game this season, had surrendered four in one quarter.

"We just ran them into the ground, that's all," said Henderson afterwards. "After those first goals, it was easy for us to score."

Howard seemed to let down very little in the second half, despite having a four-goal lead.

"They just broke it open in the second half," said Rymarczuk. "They just put it all together and beat us."

Aqui seemed to lead the all-foreign squad. In addition to garnering three goals and two assists Saturday, he also demonstrated superb speed and ball-handling throughout the game.

"He was especially fast," said Taylor. "No one else I've played could get by you that fast. He's the best I've played against."

Aqui was just one part of a well-balanced team, however, as the Lions emphasized.

"Their whole team is good," said Rymarczuk. "They're the best we've seen, they're much better than Penn." Penn was a 2-1 victim of the Lions in Tuesday's match, a match which sent State to the quarterfinals.

"Yes, they're good enough to go all the way," said Rymarczuk, in reference to the Bisons' chances at the Orange Bowl.

Taylor, however, said, "They're definitely better than Penn, but I think they'll probably get beaten."

For Taylor, as well as for seniors Joe Griffin, Nick Szumylo and Brent Buddenhagen, it was the last collegiate soccer game.

"I think it was a great season," said Taylor. "We made it to the tournament and were one of the top eight teams in the country, so I still feel it was a great season."

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2013, 12:39:45 AM »
Howard finally gets soccer recognition, gains NCAA finals
Author: Jonathan Rand
Date Published: 1971-12-29
Source: Miami News
Page: 1B,3B
Howard University had just reached within one game of its first National Collegiate Athletic Association soccer championship and a 71-year-old man said he felt like a nervous wreck.

Ted Chambers, former Howard athletic director and now a Soccer assistant, smiled softly and said, "I'm still pinching myself when I look back to those days when we used to play in cow pastures, with improvised goal-posts. And nobody would be watching."

About 3,000 people were watching last night in the Orange Bowl as Howard outside right forward Ian Bain took a pass from inside left Alvin Henderson and scored with 10:36 left to play for a 1-0 victory over Harvard in the first of two semifinal games. St. Louis University (17-0), winner of eight of the last 12 NCAA tourneys, gained the tomorrow night final against Howard (14-0) with a 3-2 victory over the University of San Francisco when Mike Seerey scored his second goal to break a 2-2 fourth-period tie.

Chambers revived a dormant Howard soccer program in 1947. As coach he realized an immediate problem — finding someone to play.

A small, predominately black school, Howard was avoided by all but the most obscure schools.

"We had to go way up north to find teams to play — Vermont, Massachusetts, then eastern Pennsylvania, and well, now, the color line has moved all the way down to Miami," Chambers said.

Howard moved down to the Orange Bowl with shut-out victories in each of the first three rounds of the 24-team tournament. Last year, the team's first under coach Lincoln Phillips, the Bisons were eliminated in the semi-finals by UCLA.

Although victories over major U.S. soccer schools are of little relevance to Howard's foreign-born players, Chambers says he relishes each one.

"We haven't played these big schools. They refer to us as upstarts. We're not prestigious enough.

"We've been trying to get Harvard on our schedule for the last four years," he said. "Why won't they play us? Because we're good and we're black.

"Some teams come right out and tell us we're too good for them. Others tell us they have traditional rivals they're committed to and that the distance to travel is too far. That's Harvard. But now we've got a chance at every one of these guys and we're gonna get 'em all."

Howard's chances have never been better, due largely to the arrival of Phillips, a former goalie and coach in the North American Soccer League. "The guys respected me because I was a professional," he said. "Howard always had the talent. I was able to get it together."

A main source of togetherness is Trinidad, where Phillips once coached. Eight of his 20 players, including Alvin Henderson and Keith Acqui are from Trinidad, with Caribbean and African players filling out of the roster. This year Howard has its first American player, third-string goalie Andy Terrell, who did not make the trip to Miami.

Phillips says good American soccer players need not be as common as the American buffalo.

Before the second semifinal game he said, "If I don't win it, I'd like to see St. Louis. They're mostly American players. Maybe then we can get rid of this myth in America that only foreigners can play soccer. I'm thinking of the future of soccer. Of course, I want to win very badly."

So does a 71-year-old former coach, for whom the future is finally now.

Howard          0 0 0 1—1
Harvard         0 0 0 0—0
HOWARD—Bain (Henderson assist), 10:37 fourth.

St. Louis       1 0 1 1—3
San Francisco   1 0 0 1—2
STL—Seery (Draude assist), 14:21 first.
SF—Robustoff (Lelaure assist), 7:21 first.
STL—Counce (Seerey assist), 6:22 third.
SF—Robustoff (Hellman assist), 18:22 fourth.
STL—Seerey (Draude assist), 5:19 fourth.

Offline Deeks

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2013, 12:40:49 AM »
Guys,  I think Howard had won NAIA title. I need to research that to verify.

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2013, 12:44:21 AM »
Did Howard U. win a tainted crown?
Author: Ray McAllister
Date Published: 1972-01-26
Source: Daily Collegian
(Second of a two-part series on developments which rose out of the recent collegiate soccer coaches convention in St. Louis.)

Just two days before Nebraska and Alabama met for the supremacy of college football, the Orange Bowl hosted another battle for number one. On Poly-Turf, Howard University took the 1971 NCAA soccer championship by tripping up defending champion St. Louis, 3-2. The Bisons, let it be know won on no fluke: they were a powerful team. But there is strong evidence they should not have been on the field to begin with.

Howard, it seems, has come under recent attack for the suspected ineligibility of its players.

"Ther is a rule limiting the age of an athlete from a foreign country," said Penn State coach Herb Schmidt. "But, like any rule, it has loopholes."

A foreign player over the age 19, the rule says, loses one year of eligibility for each year he has played with an unsanctioned soccer club. Under no circumstances is a foreign athlete allowed to be over 24.

Of course, it is not always an easy task to prove a player has been on an unsanctioned club, as Schmidt can attest. He was to receive an article listing the clubs for which Howard's All-American, Keith Aqui, palyed while at home in Trinidad. But it proved to be somewhat less conclusive than he expected.

"The article wasn't quite what I had hoped for," Schmidt said. "It merely indicated that Aqui is 26."

Aqui's age in itself is enough to have Howard declared ineligible but there are quite a few otheres on the team who also are believed over-age. All of this brings up a rather interesting question. Why hasn't the NCAA -- the same NCAA which disqualified Villanova's basketball team when Howard Porter inked his signature on a contract -- done anything yet or has even looked into the situation? And will it ever do anything at all?

Said Schmidt in reply: "If it was football, I would say yes; if it was basketball, yes; but soccer, no.

"The thinking of athletic directors is that there is no money in soccer," he said. "That means there is no 'dirty money,' no gambling, no betting and so forth. So they don't look into it.

"You have to remember, we're dealing with what, in the minds of many, is just aminor sport," he said.

Schmidt refrained from specifically mentioning Howard at the recent coaches meeting, although others there didn't.

"We're in a difficult position, as are the other schools that played Howard, in that it's very easy to look like sour grapes," he said.

Schmidt was referring to his team's 8-0 disaster at the hands of the Bisons in December's quarter-final match. Penn State played gutty ball but was just totally outmanned, that's all. Schmidt could have blocked off his goal with a concrete wall and Howard would have still managed three or four goals. They were that good.

But it seems unfortunate that an NCAA quarter-final match was held on a sloping field nearly stripped bare of grass and that the host team did not show until five minutes after the scheduled start time. The goalposts, which, by NCAA rules, had to be square, were round.

Howard's off-the-field behavior is curious, too. For instance it sent in its annual NCAA dues only after being assured its tournament berth. And the team just returned home from scrimmaging the Jamaican Olympic team, a team which coincidentally, will be one of those fighting the U.S. in pre-Olympic soccer eliminations.

The NCAA, though, has remained silent through it all. One reason most frequently mentioned for this silence is Howard's being primarily black (Figures in Sports Illustrated put the white enrollment under five percent). Cries of racism would erupt before the NCAA could get its first sentence out.

"I think this is a natural fear at this time," said Schmidt. "You have to be careful what you say.

"But I font' feel this is a black-white issue," he continued. "It could have been German boys, it could have been English boys."

Schmidt is right, of course: it is not a race issue at all. The NCAA therefore must begin getting touch with schools and the schools must begin getting touch with themselves.

"In the four years I've been here I've had seven kids wanting to play soccer who were deemed ineligible but who were close to being eligible than many of those we played against," said Schmidt.

One of those seven made the unfortunate mistake of playing in a summer recreation league between his junior and senior years.

"He had the integrity to tell me, not wanting to get Penn State in trouble," said Schmidt. "we took the story to the NCAA and they said 'ineligible'."

Lest the absurdities continue, the NCAA will have to take a good look at intercollegiate soccer. The coaches, with their limiting foreign players, showed they are concerned with development of American soccer.

"The issue is what is best for soccer," said Schmidt. "That means it's go to be governed and logically, I think, the NCAA should do the governing."

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #16 on: January 06, 2013, 12:44:28 AM »
Bisons Kick Their Way To Top
Date Published: 1973-01
Source: Ebony
Page: 42-52
West Indies wiz coaches Howard U. soccer squad to championship

IN 1969, when Howard University sought to improve its soccer team by hiring Trinidad soccer pro Lincoln Phillips as coach, the news didn't stir a ripple. The possibility that Howard would become a national soccer threat seemed as far removed as that of the Redskins' making it to the Super Bowl. Fat Chance. St. Louis University was just beginning what soon would become a long string of 40-plus straight victories and San Francisco State and the University of Maryland were by popular consensus the top contenders.

Phillips had other ideas. I his first full season, he lead the Howard Bisons into their first National Collegiate Athletic Assn. semi-finals, where they fought aggressively before bowing to a close 4-3 against UCLA. The following year, Phillips coached the Bisons toward an impressive 13-game winning streak and into another semi-finals. But this time, the ending went a little differently. After a hard-fought contest with Harvard, the Bisons met the St. Louis Billikens, eight-time NCAA victors, who by this time had extended their winning streak to 44. Both teams went into the finals undefeated, and the contest began to take on greater significance. The St. Louis team was white, predominately American and heavily favored to win. While not a popular sport throughout the country, soccer is a favorite son in St. Louis. The city has a grassroots organization, and some 25,000 youngsters from high school down to kindergarten play the game regularly, providing a steady source for talent.

Howard University's soccer team, on the other hand, was relatively unknown, black and composed entirely of foreigners. It went into the game with seven starters from Trinidad, two from Bermuda, one from Guinea and one from Ghana and its most notable achievement was winning the small college National Athletic Intercollegiate Assn. championship in 1961. What's more, Howard was without its star forward, Keith Acqui, who with Alvin Henderson and Ian Bain had been the thrust of the Howard offense. Acqui who racked up 25 goals coming into the semi-finals (a feat comparable to scoring 25 touchdowns in football), was sidelined with fever and ordered to bed.

In the finals, St. Louis moved against the Bisons with a well-coordinated attack that gave all the indications of a slow, methodical victory. At half time, Howard was barely able to tie it 2-2. Then Acqui entered the game. "Acqui came to me with tears in his eyes and said he wanted to play," says Coach Phillips. "I knew he should not have played, but I just couldn't tell him no. Once he got on the field, St. Louis changed their attack. They put two and three men to guard him, which left an extra two of our men free." Like in a Hollywood movie script, the game changed dramatically and Howard won 3-2.

With the NCAA championship trophy came a score of other honors. Howard became the first predominately black institution to win an NCAA title, the only team to win both the NAIA and NCAA titles and the first championship team in any sport, professional or collegiate, the D.C. area had produced in more than 25 years. Duly impressed, President Richard M. Nixon conveyed his personal congratulations.

Preparing Howard to win the national championship wasn't as difficult as one might believe, according to Coach Phillips. "Howard always had good talent," says Phillips. "They just needed someone to pull it together." Before he arrived, he says, "people just came out and played. There had been very little organization, no real training program, no regular coach and no serious practice." The lean, angular West Indian is being modest about his own credentials. He has been playing the game since childhood. He not only played for Trinidad's championship national soccer team but its championship basketball team as well. In 1968, he became the first black soccer coach for a U.S. team and led the Washington Darts to their first American Soccer League title. Along with his coaching duties at Howard, he was also goalie-coach for the Baltimore Bays soccer team during the summer.

Phillips was persuaded to join Howard's staff by James (Ted) Chambers, Howard's grand old man of sport and the founder of its present soccer program. "When I first came to Howard as head coach back in 1944," says Chambers, "few West Indians turned out for the football team and even fewer maintained an interest. I realized a large segment of the student body had no interest in an important part of collegiate life—athletics." Chambers, now 72, has always stressed the importance of athletics—not only for improving the body but for developing discipline, character and mental alertness. In 1945, with $500 borrowed from the football budget, he scrounged about for suits and shoes and equipment to start a soccer team. By 1947, the Howard Bisons were playing competitively and in 1961 under Chambers' leadership won their first major trophy, the NAIA title.

Shortly after Howard won the NCAA title and later the Soccer Southern Invitational Tournament at West Virginia University this year, rumors circulated that the team violated NCAA eligibility standards by recruiting professionals, that it had players whose academic average was below the 1.6 NCAA requirement and that it included too many foreigners.

In early October, the NCAA launched a formal investigation. "The lowest average they could find was a 2.35," said Leo Miles, Howard athletic director. "Most of the members of the soccer team also work part-time jobs and are enrolled in professional programs. Three of the leading scorers will finish their four year requirements in three years and at least 90 per cent of all past team members have gone to grad school. "Foreign boys just look like professionals," chuckles Chambers. "They come here primarily to get that degree and make that money."

"Soccer has always been dominated by white Europeans," adds Coach Phillips and the local schools are a little jealous. I thing the coach of Navy (U.S. Naval Academy) is just trying to get us out of competition. He's already said it was unfair to have foreigners on an American team. Not long ago, the NCAA heard a motion to limit the number of foreigners on a soccer team—despite the fact that Maryland won the NCAA soccer championship with all foreigners, as did San Francisco and Michigan. They were all white foreigners. They just want to pass rules to limit us." Howard has the largest foreign student population of any school in the U.S., more then 1,700 from 72 nations.

"The simple facts," adds Phillips, a former Trinidad Army physical education instructor, "are that you will play well if you prepare well. My boys practice 1½ hours a day, every day."

Phillips quietly enjoys the controversy, and swells with pride when some of the local teams openly admit that they dropped Howard from its schedule because it is "too good." "I like Howard," says Phillips. "I intend to stay here for a while because there are so many people saying black people can't be champions. It's an uphill battle. But I always revel in the going."

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #17 on: January 06, 2013, 12:45:38 AM »


The 1974 Howard squad
Date Published: 1974
Source: Sports Illustrated

truetrini

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #18 on: January 06, 2013, 12:46:12 AM »
HU soccer team national champ
Date Published: 1974-12-14
Source: Baltimore Afro-American
Page: 10
Howard University, deprived of the fruits of her accomplishment three years ago, became the first predominately black College to win a major national title Saturday by downing perennial soccer champion St. Louis in a fourth overtime.

Other National Collegiate Athletic Association crowns have been acquired by sister schools, but all previously were in the college division category. The Bison feat was achieved at the NCAA's Division 1 (university) level.

The victory was trebly sweet because (1) it was recorded on the opposing team's home grounds; (2) it registered the first big college win, and (3) it firmed up a claim that was taken away in 1971 at Miami.

Howard's Kenneth Illodigwe hit a goal post once, missed an open net, then scored on a 10-yard bullet shot in front of the net in the fourth overtime to seal the victory.

The No. 1-ranked Bisons, completing a perfect season with their 19th straight win, gained the title that was denied them in 1971 for suing ineligible players.

They beat St. Louis, 3-2, that year, but the courts later ruled the law which forced them to forfeit the title was unconstitutional.

Ayomi Bamiro put the game into overtime when he headed in a goal for Howard with 27 minutes left. Tunde Balogun set up the score by dribbling in from the corner and lofting a high shot in front of the goal.

Howard, comprised mostly of kickers from Jamaica, Trinidad and Nigeria, had the best scoring chances in the overtime periods, hitting a goal post and the cross bar and twice missing open nets.

In the second overtime, Illodigwe, a freshman from Nigeria, kicked a shot off the goal post and he booted one a yard over an empty net in the third overtime.

But with 28 seconds gone in the fourth sudden death session, he took a pass from Richard Day and kicked it into the net past goalie Rob Vallero.

The loss dropped the Billikens' record to 18-3-1 and took away their bid to become the first team to win the championship three consecutive years.

St. Louis scored only 2:12 into the game and nursed its 1-0 lead until Bamiro tied it. A head shot by the Billikens' Kevin Hadlan bounced in front of the goal and Done Droege shot the ball into the right corner while Bison Goalie Trevor Leiba was out of position from an earlier shot.

Earlier in the day, Hartwick College captured third place after defeating UCLA 3-1.

Offline Deeks

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #19 on: January 06, 2013, 12:49:51 AM »
Guys,  I think Howard had won NAIA title. I need to research that to verify.

Yep, they did. 1961.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NAIA_national_men's_soccer_championship

Offline Bakes

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #20 on: January 06, 2013, 10:41:09 AM »
Deeks was Andy Terrell white?  Dean Cadenhead still living and coaching in the DC area btw.  Ah think LP out in Columbia too, coaching at Loyola.

Offline Deeks

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Re: New York Times Excerpt- Q&A With Lincoln Phillips
« Reply #21 on: January 06, 2013, 05:09:22 PM »
Deeks was Andy Terrell white?  Dean Cadenhead still living and coaching in the DC area btw.  Ah think LP out in Columbia too, coaching at Loyola.

Andy is black. What we will call a "redman" in Trini. In the photo, in the back row with the biggest afro, he is the 7th from your right counting from LP. To Andy's right is Ian Bain, the captain of the squad. 2nd row, 2nd from right is Keith Lookloy. Front row, 3rd from right is Neil Williams, former Saints terror man. Missing is Trevor Leiba who was the starting keeper on that squad.

As for Cadenhead, I read or heard that he was back in Columbia coaching. That is great. Bakes, he was promising player at that time. Also he did not stay his 4 yrs at HU. He left and went to Cattawba College in NC(I think). As far as LP, I am not sure if he is coaching or not.
« Last Edit: January 06, 2013, 06:27:34 PM by Deeks »

 

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