Tim Howard's Courage

Tim Cahill & Tim Howard, 2010

Think of Tim Howard on the field as starting goalkeeper, either for the US Men's National Team or his pro club Everton FC. A pillar of strength, right?  Shouting orders to defenders, charging into the crowd to grab a corner kick out of the air, diving to make a punching one-handed save on a hard shot.  You would not think that this is a guy that lives daily with an incurable disorder, one that he was diagnosed with when he was 10 years old. 

From that young age, he was teased by other kids for the body twitches, the ticks of the head, or sounds that he would make that are the major symptoms of the condition he has, something known as Tourette Syndrome. Playing soccer and basketball were Tim's escape from feeling sorry for himself or worrying about trying to hide what he had been born with. On the field, it didn't matter, he learned to focus in the moment of the game. When talking to a group of kids who also have Tourette's, Howard recently said, ""Mentally it took a toll. Not just from other kids who didn't know better and would make fun of it. It took a toll trying to hide it, and so I stopped trying to hide it. And when I stopped, I learned I could manage it, especially when I was on the field. It was the place I could go where nothing else mattered, just me and the ball. It was my sanctuary."

 

At the age of 20, Howard was voted MLS Goalkeeper of the Year. 2 years later, Manchester United paid $4 million to get him traded to their club. Even after proving his abilities, adults who should know better still made fun of him. Writers at newspapers in England thought Manchester's Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, had lost his mind: they wrote articles that called Howard "disabled", "retarded", and even worse things. Living in a foreign country, being insulted in newspapers, how did Howard respond?  He focused on his job, and was named Goalkeeper of the Year for the English Premier League in 2004, and became the first American to win the British FA Cup.  Those who had been taunting him started to shut up.

While Sir Alex still maintains a friendship with Howard and Howard has kept his house in the Manchester area, Ferguson had brought in Dutch star keeper Edwin Van Der Sar before the start of the 2005-2006 season.  So Howard was loaned to Everton FC in 2006, and signed a permanent contract there in 2007. In the 2008-2009 season, Howard set the Everton club record for the most clean sheets (shutouts) for an entire season. With season after season now of outstanding performances for Everton, Howard is often cited as one of the top keepers now in the Premier League. Tim Mulqueen, a longtime goalkeeping coach for US national and U-20 teams and a friend of Howard's, sums it up well, "With all his great ability, the best thing about Tim is that he has the heart of a champion. No matter what happens, he'll fight through it." 

This post was written by Brian Herbert.