Elliot ‘Morie’ Millington, ex-SVG national soccer captain, coach dies in NY

Elliot “Morie” Millington, who skippered and coached the St. Vincent and the Grenadines national football (soccer) team and led the nation to second place in the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) championship in 1979, died in New York on Monday, July 17, 2023. He was 68.

Millington’s older of two sons, Reinaldo Millington, 40, named after the Brazilian soccer star, told Caribbean Life that his father died at Mt. Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan.

He said Millington was on dialysis for kidney disease and that he had kidney transplantation last September.

“Apparently, he wasn’t feeling his normal self, and you could tell something was wrong,” Reinaldo said. “They [medical practitioners] said his white blood cells were low.”

“He went in [hospitalized] on Saturday [Jul. 15] and died Monday morning,” he added. “We’re coping, trying to hang in there and stay positive. But it’s painful. It’s definitely not easy.”

Millington was one of three brothers who represented St. Vincent and the Grenadines as national soccer players. The others were Kenwyn “Targie” and Oswald “Sheen” Millington.

Oswald told Caribbean Life: “It hurts, but I know he was down.

“The only problem is my mother [Janet Millington, who lives in Mississauga, outside Toronto, Canada], who will be 99 on Oct. 27, St. Vincent and the Grenadines Independence Day,” he said. “But she’s in good spirits. It’s [Millington’s death] hurting her, but she’s in good spirits.

“He [Morie Millington] had kidney problem, but an infection threw him down,” Oswald continued.

Millington, who was also a plumber by profession, grew up in Sion Hill, a popular village overlooking capital Kingstown,

He was the 6th of 10 children, including eight boys, of the prominent Sion Hill plumber, his father, the late Sydney Millington and mother, Janet Millington, currently residing in Canada with daughter Silma.

In his formative years, Millington received his elementary education at the Sion Hill Government School and his secondary education at the Emmanuel High School, Kingstown.

After leaving secondary school, Millington joined the family firm of plumbing.

Then, after his father’s death, Millington, for many years, was employed at the Public Works Department, on Halifax Street, Kingstown, as a plumber.

“Then football [soccer] duties of one form or the other came calling,” said Frank Montgomery “Monty” Clarke, fellow Sion Hillian and former Counsellor at the St. Vincent Grenadines Embassy in Washington, D.C., in his tribute.

Like another iconic Sion Hillian, the late Lloyd “Manager” Lewis, whose service to cricket was renowned, Clarke said Millington’s duty to soccer “traversed several pathways – village-wise and nationally.”

Clarke said Millington’s was “notorious for his football [soccer] exploits and easy-going style.

“So, this iconic son of the Sion Hill community had emerged and evolved into a national human resource on things football,” he told Caribbean Life.  

In 1974, Millington became the vice-captain of the first Under 20 team selected to participate in the inaugural Cable & Wireless Caribbean Football Youth tournament.

His captain then was Alexander “Pete” Morris, who became a national soccer star, along with his brother Stanley “Luxie” Morris [former national soccer captain and extant sports ambassador] and Desmond “Des” Morris.

After making his senior national football team debut in 1976, Millington was elevated to captain in 1977 until 1988.

Then, after his playing days, he was appointed National Senior Team Coach in 1989 until 1992.

Subsequently, Millington’s family settled in the Corona section of Queens.

Clarke said Millington had mentored an “innumerable amount of young footballers in Sion Hill and beyond.”

He said this was done using the facilities of the Sion Hill United Cultural and Sports Club, at the Sion Hill Playing Field, during annual football tournaments.

“For the many years, he was at the helm of football in Sion Hill,” the former diplomat said. “Morie was a national treasure and a football standout of the Millingtons’ brood – an extract from a national sporting family from Sion Hill (football, cricket and netball).

“A phenomenon, Sion Hill residents of my generation and younger were privileged to have witnessed his work ethic, and be a part of, from the 2nd half of the 20th century,” he added. “There would always be the debate as to which of the brothers were the best at football, but we would defer that conversation for another time.

“He was a simple but serious and engaging individual, always willing to give advice to the youngsters. girl or boy, voluntarily or otherwise,” Clarke continued. “So, when word of his passing trickled out last Monday morning, Jul. 17, it was received as a ‘ton of bricks’ by Vincentians at home and in the Diaspora.

“Disappointments abound on top of Sion Hill,” he said. “Despite his pre-existing health challenges, the people were optimistically rooting for him.”

In April 2016, the Brooklyn-based Friends of Sion Hill conferred its Lifetime Achievement Award on Millington.

At the time, the group said that Millington was in the vanguard of placing Sion Hill “on the map in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ Soccer World.”

He received a standing ovation before and after he was conferred with the award at the gala, black-tie, inaugural Award Ceremony and Dance at the Friends of Crown Heights Education Center in Brooklyn.

“This award is not just for sports [but as] a brother, father-figure,” said Osborne “Sheen” Millington in presenting his brother with the award before standing-room-only patrons.

“I love you, and I will always be anywhere you want me to be,” added Osborne, who also represented the nation in football, in the mid-field and striking positions, from 1976-83, under Millington’s captaincy.

In accepting the honor, Millington said that, when he joined Sion Hill’s Somerset B team in 1972, then the powerhouse A team a year later, under the captaincy of the late William Muckett, he vowed to change the long-held belief, in many quarters, that the “Village on the Hill” was only renowned for its track stars.

He complimented the Almighty “and everybody who surrounded me” for ensuring that the Sion Hill Football Club reached the pinnacle of the nation’s football and for captaining and coaching the national team.

“I said I was destined for it [coach],” said Millington, who was also instrumental in the formation of the Sion Hill Football League. “Yes, I was. I simply did the best I could.

“Sion Hill has set the pace,” he added. “I’m very happy for this award.”

At the time, Venold Coombs, former president of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Football Federation, described Millington as “the epitome of grace, class, industry, dignity, discipline and commitment, who bestrode the football arena like a colossus.”

“His incomparable work ethics was always on display – whether it was for his beloved club, Sion Hill (later Pepsi Sion Hill) or the Men’s National Team,” Coombs said.

Earl “Caba” Bennett, current president of the Sion Hill Sports and Cultural Club, described Millington in the souvenir journal as “a living legend,” adding that Millington had “proven that good and great can reside in the same person and that one can also be famous and great at the same time.

“Such is the greatness of the man who is known endearingly as ‘Morey,’ ‘boss,’ ‘general’ and ‘coach’, among other sobriquets,” said Bennett, who gave the Vote-of-Thanks at the gala ceremony.

In introductory remarks, Colin Bramble told the sell-out patrons that, “without Morie’s influence, I would not have been a great soccer player, or the man I am today.

“Morie, you’re a great role model to me and others alike,” said Bramble before pausing and breaking down in tears. “After all, you’re a great hero.”

In his tribute, then Sports Minister Cecil “Ces” McKie said Millington “distinguished himself as a midfield maestro, technically gifted and blessed with skills, with chest and head, and was referred to as one of the best headers of the ball in SVG.”

Besides his mother, Janet; sister, Silma and three other sisters; brother, Oswald and Kenwyn; wife, Felicia; sons, Reinaldo and Shorne; daughters, Nichola and Tenisha, Millington is survived by siblings, in order of seniority: Irvin, Bonny “Knights”, Edgerton “Edge”, Bernard “Nardie”, Marva and Garfield “Gary”.

A number of former stars in the Vincentian soccer fraternity, such as Raymond “Ballie” Ballantyne and Derek Dupont, were present at the award ceremony for Millington.

Funeral service will be held on Sat., Aug. 5 at Millington’s church home, Faith Deliverance Church of God, 5601 Flatlands Ave., Brooklyn, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Viewing will be from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Vincentian the Rev. Dr. Neithe Soleyn is the church’s pastor.

His body will be laid to rest the next day at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Queens.

“As you can observe of the children, Morie is the first to strike out,” Clarke said. “So, we can say he died too soon.”