Rick Titus (soccer)

Football player infobox | playername = Rick Titus
|
| fullname = Rick Titus
| nickname = | height = height|ft=6|in=1 | dateofbirth = birth date and age|1969|3|10 | cityofbirth = Mississauga | countryofbirth = Canada | currentclub = Toronto Lynx| clubnumber = 5
position = Defender
| youthyears = | youthclubs = Toronto Varsity Blues
| years = 1988-1995
1997-1998
1999
1999
2000-2001
2002
2003
2004
2004
2004
2005-
2008| clubs = Toronto Italia
Toronto Lynx
Hershey Wildcats
Staten Island Vipers
Vancouver 86ers/Whitecaps
Colorado Rapids
Charleston Battery
Edmonton Aviators
Toronto Lynx
Charleston Battery
Toronto Lynx
→ Toronto FC (loan) | caps(goals) =
49 0(1)
17 0(0)
11 0(0)
44 0(1)
27 0(0)
15 0(0)
06 0(0)
01 0(0)
12 0(0)
61 0(0)
01 0(0) | nationalyears = 2002 | nationalteam = Trinidad and Tobago | nationalcaps(goals) = 4 (0)
manageryears = 2007-
managerclubs = Toronto Lynx (Assistant Coach)
pcupdate = July 25, 2008
ntupdate = September 16, 2006 Rick Titus (born March 10, 1969) is a Trinidadian-Canadian soccer defender who currently is playing for the Toronto Lynx in the USL Premier Development League.

Earlier career

After playing college soccer with the University of Toronto, Titus signed for the Toronto Italia in 1988 of the National Soccer League playing with Italia until 1995. During his time with Italia he played against the likes of Lazio, Inter Milan, A.C. Milan, Benfica, Parma, Cosenza, Palermo, and Cesena. Titus would also see time with Aberdeen in 1994 playing games against Hearts. and Celtic respectively. Titus would go on trial with Dinamo Zagreb, but due to work permit limitations he was never able to secure a spot on a team in Europe due to his lack of National team play or call ups for Canada. In 1997 Titus signed for newly Toronto Lynx of the American A-League. During his time with the Lynx he helped the Lynx make the playoffs for the first time and became a fast and physical defender capable of marking the best strikers out of a match. As well he became a fan favorite, and winning the Toronto Lynx Defensive Player of the Year in 1997, and 1998. After two seasons with the Lynx, he went on to play for the Hershey Wildcats in 1999, but he later be traded midway through the season to Staten Island Vipers for cash and a 1st round draft pick.

On June 13, 2000 Titus signed for the Vancouver Whitecaps, where in his first season he named Vancouver's Defensive Player of the Year, and was awarded All A-League Second Team honours. He resigned with the Caps in 2001 [ [http://www.a-league.com/news/2001/news,2001,0057.shtml Rick Titus To Return...popular All-Star defender is back after playing every minute of every game since joining Vancouver] ] and was named the USL First Division Defender of the Year, and was awarded All A-League First Team honours. His whole two years with the Whitecaps, he played every minute of every game compiling a streak of 50 consecutive games and 4,630 minutes both club records.

Colorado Rapids

Rick's superb man-marking skills caught the eye of Major League Soccer scouts and he signed with the Colorado Rapids as a Discovery Player for the 2002 season. He earned a spot in defense and started all 25 games in which he played. At the end of the season he was awarded the ADT Defensive Player of the Year award, an award voted on by local media, and given to the player deemed to be the best defensive player during the Major League Soccer regular season.

Charleston Battery

After just one season with the Rapids, Titus decided to return to the USL First Division, this time with the Charleston Battery. Rick helped the Battery win their first USL First Division Championship in 2003.

Edmonton Aviators

On April 4, 2004 the Edmonton Aviators signed him to a three year contract [ [http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=1688 Titus Returns To Edmonton] ] . He had a very controversial time with the club, including numerous disagreements with team president Wylie Stafford over the direction the club was heading.

The day before his release he made a full-out attack directed at team management, including head coach Ross Ongaro, as well as a number of his teammates. Titus said, "This has been a Mickey Mouse organization from the beginning. I don't know if they're very serious about winning," told to the Aviators' fan website, AviatorsHangar. He even criticized how the club ran press conferences saying, "A pro team can't train at O'Leary (high school) and we can't have a press conference on the lawn of O'Leary. We had guys coming from playing with Colo-Colo in Chile and we're having a press conference at a high school."

On June 11 after only playing six games, he was released from his contract. The next game Aviators played without Titus, they would end up losing 6-0 versus the Portland Timbers, their biggest loss of the season. Titus would head east to sign with the Toronto Lynx for a second time, while the Aviators would be taken over by the league, eventually folding at the conclusion of the 2004 season.

Return to Toronto and Charleston

On June 19 he returned to play for the Toronto Lynx [ [http://22066.vws.magma.ca/04lynx68.htm TITUS COMING BACK TO TORONTO!] ] . But after spending less than a week with the Lynx he had falling out with management, leading to his release from his contract by mutual consent [ [http://22066.vws.magma.ca/04lynx72.htm TITUS RELEASED] ] .

He returned to Charleston Battery and played against his former club, downing the Lynx by a score of 2-0. This was the first win in a month for the Battery, who had been on a losing streak at that point. With Titus captaining the Battery, they would go on to lose only two of their last 12 games, and would eventually bow out of the U.S. Open Cup in the semi-finals to the Chicago Fire.

Third stint with Toronto

On April 20, 2005 Titus returned to the Lynx for a third playing stint [ [http://22066.vws.magma.ca/05lynx32.htm LYNX RE-SIGN CORE PLAYERS] ] . During the season, the Lynx finished poorly, finishing last and winning just three games. The following season in 2006 Lynx head coach Hubert Busby Jr. left the club, and the Lynx organization re-appointed Duncan Wilde as head coach.

During the 2006 season, Wilde appointed Titus as a vice-captain, and he played a key role in helping the team to a 10 home game undefeated streak, and reaching the Open Canada Cup finals where the Lynx finished runners-up to Ottawa St. Anthony Italia after a 2-0 defeat.

For the first time as a Lynx player, he was awarded the 2006 Toronto Lynx Most Valuable Player award [ [http://22066.vws.magma.ca/06lynx1b.htm Most Valuable Player to Rick Titus] ] , and was also selected into the United Soccer Leagues team of the week on four separate occasions to cap off a stellar 2006 season.

When the 2006 season ended the Lynx organization decided for financial reasons to drop two divisions to the Premier Development League. Titus was one of few seniors players to remain with the Lynx for the 2007 season, where he was named player assistant coach for the Toronto Lynx.

Toronto FC

Titus was signed to the Toronto FC roster for one game against Chivas USA in Major League Soccer. This was due to Toronto missing nine first-team players due to international duty. He was signed along with Chief Scout Tim Regan. Titus was unpaid for his Toronto FC appearance to protect his amateur status [cite news
title=Delicate patchwork disintegrates on TFC
author=Morgan Campbell
url=http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Soccer/article/492246
work=Toronto Star
date=2008-07-08
accessdate=2008-07-09]

National team

Though born in Canada, Rick is of Trinidadian heritage. He played in four Gold Cup qualifier games for the Trinidad and Tobago national team in 2002.

References

External links

* [http://www.lynxsoccer.com/site.html "Lynx Alumni" with a profile of Rick Titus]
* [http://www.charlestonbattery.com/stats_player.asp?pid=679 "List of Charleston Battery players" with a profile of Rick Titus]

Persondata
NAME = Titus, Rick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH = March 10, 1969
PLACE OF BIRTH = Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =