Everard Cummings was a brilliant schoolboy footballer who wasted little time in establishing himself as one of the front line players of the 1960's and 1970's as a revolution of soccer systems hit the game in Trinidad and Tobago. But although he has been an advocate for years of "total" football and of the most modern methods, Cummings would have fitted into any system ever played in this country and would have made a national team of any era. As a boy living in the heart of the city he made the Queen's Park Savannah his second home. He entered Fatima College at the time when colleges football had hit a high mark and the magnificent St. Benedict's College side from South Trinidad was rolling over all challengers.

But the South team discovered one thing when they came up against Fatima, and that was; they had to play against twelve men since young Everard played twice as well as anyone else in the Fatima team.

So outstanding was he that Paragon called him into their side in the senior class competition. And at the tender age of 16, Cummings got his chance in the national team. He was an obvious choice in the Trinidad and Tobago colleges team that won the Caribbean championships in 1966 and was just 18 when he played in the national team in the regional qualifying round in the CONCACAF series in Jamaica and Honduras.

By 1974 Cummings was an experienced and well-rounded midfield player as he lined up for the World Cup qualifying matches in Haiti. But as the story goes, Trinidad and Tobago failed to qualify for the finals in West Germany when only one match away, as questionable refereeing in the game against Haiti robbed the country of a chance. Later that year Cummings joined the Mexican league and played in that country for three years. It was his second chance as a professional as he had signed up in 1967-1970 with the Atlanta Chiefs in the North American League. Then in 1970 he signed up for four years with the famous New York Cosmos for whom he became a top player following in the footsteps of the two superstars, Pele and Franz Beckenbauer.

Between 1977 and 1980 Cummings was a member of the touring Phoenix side, and the Caribbean All Stars pros. His ambition to play pro soccer at a high level was truly realised, as he was the most successful player in this realm to emerge from Trinidad and Tobago. With his playing days as a first class professional coming to a close, Cummings turned his eyes to coaching. His rise in this regard was not as swift to the heights as he climbed as a player, but his ideas and beliefs were always progressive and he gradually made his way up the ladder. As Trinidad and Tobago mounted their challenge towards the World Cup in Italy in 1990, Cummings arrived positively as a first class coach and was appointed as the man to take the national side to the finals. His moves did not at once satisfy everyone, but he stuck to his "guns" and the march on to Italy almost came to fruition when the Strike Squad missed out on the Finals when they lost 1-0 to the United States before a packed Hasely Crawford Stadium on November 19, 1989.
(T&T Sports Hall of Fame bio)