Dick Howard

Howard made one appearance for Chester in the English Football League Fourth Division during 1965–66. During this time, he received a diploma in physical education from the Chester College of Education in 1965. He moved to Canada and played for the Hamilton Primos of the National Soccer League in 1967, making it to the championship finals before losing to Windsor Teutonia. Later that year he played several matches for the Rochester Lancers in the American Soccer League before playing in the inaugural season of the North American Soccer League for the Detroit Cougars in 1968. When the team folded at the end of that season he returned to Rochester which were now playing in the American Soccer League by that time. The Lancers joined the NASL in 1970 where he was a member of the team that won the championship that year. Howard graduated from the nearby State University of New York at Brockport with a degree in physical education. He was acquired from the Lancers by the Toronto Metros in 1971 and played in Toronto through the 1974 season. He was also a member of the Canadian national team during 1974 FIFA World Cup qualification. In 1977, he was named to the Rochester Lancers Team of the Decade.

From 1972 to 1986 he was director of athletics and head of physical education at Crescent School, a prominent private school in Toronto. During this time he served on the coaching staff of Canadian national youth teams and in 1981 was assistant coach of the World Cup team for 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification, as the team came within one goal of qualifying for the 1982 World Cup. Howard was appointed technical director of the Canadian Soccer Association from 1986 to 1992 and also served as Canada's first National Goalkeeping Coach. He attained a unique treble in 1986 as the first person in Canadian soccer history to have played, managed and coached in the national program. In 1987, he was appointed by FIFA to conduct a coaching course in Kuwait and since that time has conducted more than 100 FIFA courses and projects around the world as the longest-serving FIFA coaching instructor in North America. In addition Howard was a member of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee from 1998 until 2012 and served as Chairman of the CONCACAF Coaching Committee from 2001 until 2012. An author of two books on the game "Shutouts and Saves", a goalkeeping manual, and "Soccer - Diving headers, selling a dummy, and everything else about the game" with noted artist Ben Wicks. This in addition to producing numerous coaching manuals and video tapes for the Canadian Soccer Association, CONCACAF and FIFA. He also wrote a weekly soccer column for the Toronto Sun newspaper from 1994 to…