When West Ham United supporter Lewis Hilton was released by Exeter City at the age of 16, he could never have predicted how his football career would play out.
Told he was too small to make it as a professional, Newquay-born Hilton enrolled at Hartpury College in Gloucestershire, which runs its own sports academies to help teenage hopefuls gain university scholarships or second chances at professional clubs.
In Hilton’s case, he won a scholarship to Young Harris College in the American state of Georgia, where he played four seasons for the Mountain Lions, won a number of individual awards and graduated with a degree in business and public policy.
In the summers of 2014 and 2015, he and Mountain Lions teammate Paco Craig, who came through West Ham’s Academy of Football, also turned out for Florida-based club Ocala Stampede in the amateur Premier Development League.
In 2016, he turned professional with third-tier USL outfit Charlotte Independence. After two seasons in North Carolina, he moved up to second-tier USL Championship side Saint Louis FC in Missouri, who he helped to the US Open Cup quarter-finals in 2019.
At the end of that year, Hilton joined Tampa Bay Rowdies, also of the USL Championship, and moved back to Florida. He is now in his fifth season at the club once captained by his boyhood hero Joe Cole, and has played every minute of their season to date, as the Rowdies challenge for their first Eastern Conference regular season championship since 2021.
Next January, he will marry his fiancée Lindsey, a Rowdies supporter, but before then Hilton had the opportunity to welcome his boyhood club to Tampa Bay, as West Ham based themselves in the area for their two-week pre-season Sunshine State Tour.
With the Hammers training at the Rowdies’ facility, Hilton was able to meet the player he has modelled his own game on, Mark Noble, chatted with new Head Coach Julen Lopetegui, swapped shirts with Aaron Cresswell, and sat down to chat to whufc.com about his incredible career…
Lewis, let’s start with why you’re a West Ham fan, as Newquay is not a Hammers hotbed!
“No, I know! So, my Mum and Dad were both born and raised in London, and my Dad was a big West Ham fan, so that's where that comes from. They moved down to Cornwall two years before I was born in Newquay and I lived there until I was 16 and moved away, but I’ve been a West Ham fan my whole life.”
It must have been tough to get to games, too!?
“Yeah, I was playing in the Academy at Plymouth, so I couldn’t get to many, but when we were in the Championship, we went to some away games in the South West, as there are more teams down that way, like Plymouth and Bristol City. I couldn’t get to many games, but I followed the team’s fortunes religiously.”
Who were your Hammers heroes growing up?
“Joe Cole was the main one, because he was 17 when I was getting into football. Watching Match of the Day and seeing him doing tricks and flicks, he was someone I loved, then he went on and did the same thing for England in World Cups. So, for him to then come and play for the Rowdies, I played against him when I was with Charlotte, got his shirt after the game and had a chat with him and told him I’m a West Ham fan. It was surreal! Joe has been out a few times to visit with his family since I joined the Rowdies as he’s stayed friends with a lot of people at the club, and I’ve been lucky enough to go out for lunch with him and get to know him and ask him all sorts of stories about West Ham and his career. For me, it’s a dream, and I still feel like a little kid being around players like him.”
Talking of Charlotte, we visited North Carolina in the summer of 2016 and played a pre-season match against Carolina Railhawks…
“I went to that game! One of my Charlotte teammates had played for Carolina Railhawks, so he was friends with a lot of players on their team, so I asked him to get one of their lads to get Mark Noble’s shirt and sign it, and he did! I then met Mark when he came to one of the training sessions this week and we had a chat, which was brilliant!”
Going back to your own career, how did you end up in the US?
“After being released by Exeter, I went to Hartpury College and that was probably as close as I could get to a professional setup, and I was chasing my dream. I obviously wanted to sign somewhere in England at 18, but the opportunities weren’t there as physically, I was a late developer, so I came to America to pursue my dream here. I did three-and-a-half years at Young Harris College and they were the best years of my life. It’s unbelievable living every day with your best mates and playing footie! I obviously didn’t plan it that way, but to have the experiences I’ve had and gain a degree and continue playing football, and to become a professional, I’m sure grateful for the journey that I’ve been on. And the strange thing is that my roommate at Young Harris was Paco Craig, who was a former West Ham youth-team captain and who is now playing for North Carolina FC in the same league as the Rowdies!”
You’ve played professionally for over eight years now, with over half of that with the Rowdies, so you must love it here?
“This is my fifth season at the club and it’s just been unbelievable, to be fair. At this level, it's probably in the top three clubs in the league in terms of facilities, as a place to live, how the club takes care of us players, and just everything about the club has been brilliant. The staff since I've been here have been great, and we've been lucky enough to be a good team on the pitch as well, so it's been a really successful five years and I have loved every minute of it. Obviously, the history of American soccer isn't huge, but the Rowdies is a big part of it as one of those well-known names in US soccer, so it's a privilege to play for this club.”
You’re third in the USL Eastern Conference, but travel all over the country, so it must be incredible?
“We play everyone in the Eastern Conference home and away, and everyone in the Western Conference once, so we travel. We’re off to Monterey in California this coming weekend, then we go to Phoenix in Arizona the week after that. Obviously the football is the focus, but I’ll always be grateful for the lifestyle and how lucky we are to travel around and see these places. It’s an unbelievable life to have.”
There are former Hammers in the American leagues, and obviously some big names have come here too. Have you faced any of them?
“Yes, I played against Sebastian Lletget a couple of months ago when we faced FC Dallas in the Open Cup. They beat us 2-1, but it was a good game. I’ve also had opportunities to play against Didier Drogba when he was with Phoenix, and Alexandre Pato when he was with Orlando City. Growing up, if someone had said I’d play against some of these names, that’s what I was dreaming of. When I look back at my age-group at Exeter, only a few of them have gone on to have professional careers – Jack Stephens is at Southampton and Ollie Watkins was a couple of years below me and played-up the age-groups – so I am proud of what I’ve gone on to achieve.”
Getting back to West Ham, do you watch our games on TV?
“Yes, these last four or five seasons have probably been the most successful I’ve seen in my lifetime, winning a trophy and playing in Europe, so watching that has been unbelievable. Saturday mornings is my favourite time of the week as the first game is at 7.30am, then we have all the games at 10am, then another one at 12.30pm. It’s usually gameday for us and we kick-off at 7.30pm, so I wake up, have a cup of coffee, watch all the Premier League games, then prepare for my own game!”
Have you noticed that more people know West Ham in the US, because of that recent success?
“Oh yeah, of course the success of the club and playing in Europe and being up there in the Premier League table, more people recognise the name, plus the game is growing so much and the coverage on television here is so good. MLS and even our league are blowing up, and the World Cup is coming in a couple of years’ time, so it’s a great place to be, and in terms of West Ham you see how good things have been recently.”
Last question, then, how nice is it that West Ham have come to the city and club you now call home?
“It’s surreal! When I found out, I thought someone was winding me up! I know a lot of Premier League clubs come to the US, for West Ham to be coming to Tampa of all the cities in the country is unbelievable. I’ve been to a few training sessions, but unfortunately I won’t be able to come to the game on Saturday as we’re on the road, but it’s been a real treat to come to training and meet the players. It’s brilliant.”
