Lincoln "Tiger" Phillips, considered this country's leading goalkeeper in football during the 1960s, was born and grew up on Bengal Street in St James.
"I remember living in St. James, Bengal Street," he recalls. "We lived in a shack, a shanty town, five to a bed. And my mother was very strong; sometimes when the rain fell she would stay up with a basin catching the water from falling on our heads. I thought that was great. We played all the time.
In our days, when cricket season came around and you didn’t play cricket you were an outcast. We all played, cricket, football, basketball and so on. One of the problems that I had was that in that little area in St James I was an allrounder. I was the worst little player in football, bastketball, everything."
Despite these earlier shortcomings, Lincoln went on to enjoy great success in soccer on youth, college, and professional levels. He led the Trinidad & Tobago national team to a bronze medal in the Pan American Games in 1967, then moved on to an outstanding professional career in the United States of America as a player and coach, holding three records in the Guiness Book of Records for ten years.
Lincoln also coached the Howard University soccer team to a NCAA Division I Championship in 1974. He is a certified United States Soccer Federation "A" License coach and was a staff member of the USSF National Coaching Schools. He also lectures internationally as a member of the FIFA board of coaches. As President of Lincoln Phillips Soccer School, Inc., he has touched the lives of thousands of young soccer players.
Having lived in the United States for 27 years, the former Howard University goalkeeper and American professional, on his appointment as technical director to the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation (TTFF) in 2004, said his greatest contribution will be in developing coaches and players. "The game of football is about players. If we have no players...if we don't develop the players, we have no game," he commented. He went on: "I must state that a major dream of mine was for Trinidad and Tobago to get to the World Cup. But the fulfillment of this dream is not about Lincoln Phillips. Neither is it about administrators, coaches and players. The achievement of this dream is about Trinidad and Tobago. This is about history. This is about legacy. With this I pledge my readiness and commitment for the fight of this cause. With assurances from the TTFF, this is an endeavor I have dreamt about and for which I feel much pride and excitement to be involved. I have always aspired to come back and coach at national level. I always thought the call would come.” Lincoln received his early education at Burke's College (1954-57) and Queen's Royal College (QRC) (1958-59), before going on to Howard University, Washington DC, USA where he obtained his BS and MS in Physical Education.
During his career as a goalkeeper with local clubs he appeared between the uprights for Providence (1957), Queen's Royal College (1958-59), Maple (1960-63), and Trinidad and Tobago Regiment (1964-67). Foreign clubs he has represented include Baltimore Bays (USA) 1968, 1972-73, Washington Darts (USA) 1969-71, and Baltimore Comets (USA), 1974-75.
Lincoln coached the Howard University (Washington DC, USA) soccer team from 1970 to 1980 and won two NCAA Division I Championships in 1971 and 1974 by defeating St Louis University of Missouri 3-2 and 2-1 (4OT), respectively. In 1996, he published the book "Soccer Goalkeeping: The Last Line of Defense, the First Line of Attack,". He has had experience as a goalkeeper coach for United States Senior and Olympic Men's teams and also served as assistant coach to the US Under 14, Under 17 and Under 20 teams. He was also the director of coaching for Prince Williams Soccer Club in Northern Virginia and Premier Development League (PDL) team, Chesapeake Athletic FC—owned by his son, Sheldon, however, the high point of Lincoln’s coaching career was with the United States national team as an assistant coach in 1992 and 1993, under famous Yugoslav coach Bora Milutinovic, as the host nation prepared for the 1994 World Cup finals. Milutinovic is the only coach to lead five different countries to the World Cup.
Lincoln reckons that the experience gained with the US senior and Olympic team technical staff—when the Americans faced opponents such as Brazil, Italy, Germany, Portugal and England—will serve him well in the top local coaching job. “I have coached and been a part of soccer at the highest level,” he said. “I know what it takes to win... I have been a winner all my life.”
Revealing what motivated him to become a goalkeeper Lincoln recalled, "Maple had a goalkeeper named Hugh Sealy. We used to call him the Black Panther. I didn't like Maple. I didn’t like Maple at all. I lived in St. James and that’s where Malvern players came from, so I supported Malvern. But there was something about Hugh Sealy that just blew my mind. He was like a tiger or panther in a cage. One you just captured. He would shake and do flips, and I liked that. The first time I got a chance to play in primary school I had a white shirt dyed all black. My mother got a flour bag, boiled it so that all the letters would come out, dyed it in black, black socks, black pair of socks on my hand. I was the Black Panther." later, playing for QRC in the First Division fans thought him a fairly good goalkeeper. But then, according to him, a wonderful stranger walked into his life. A man called Pa Aleong.
"Pa Aleong saw me and said: 'Young man you’re dropping balls on the left. You’re a good goalkeeper, but if you catch the balls cleanly enough on the left side you’d be a better ’keeper.' At that time I didn’t use to think about being a good goalkeeper, I just used to play. Pa would work with me from six o’clock in the morning at Pompeii Savannah, King George V Park, kicking balls to my left, just working, working.
"Another guy that influenced me a lot was Joey Gonsalves. I would be in goal many times and know something was not right. So I would go to St. Mary’s Ground and tell him how a couple goals were scoring on me from the post. He said don’t ever let a goal score on the first post. The first post is yours; don’t ever let them score on the first post." Cax Baptiste, another of the country's finest goalkeepers, once said to him: "You’re the first, second and third best ’keeper in this country.” People would meet him on the street and compliment him on his 'keeping ability. He remembers one person telling him: “Anytime anybody kicks a shot at you tell yourself: 'wherever you put it I’m going to get it.' And when you make the save give the crowd a little roll, give the crowd a little roll.” "So I used to do a little extra thing, and make a little flip," he admitted.
And so it was that at age 10 or 12, sitting behind the goal post and watching Hugh Sealy perform became the genesis for creating this country and one of the world's most recognised goalkeepers.