Elizabeth Phillips was born in Cleveland, Ohio and moved to New York City with her son in 1969 soon she realized that she needed some exercise and joined the Vanderbilt YMCA. They had an exercise class where they began running around the gym floor for 1 mile. The instructor encouraged her to run longer after the class and encouraged her to enter the Mini Marathon for Women (6 miles) in Central Park. Never competing in an event before it was a new and great experience for her. It changed her life. She was hooked!!! She joined the New York Road Runners Club and started to run in other races. When she wasn’t running, she was helping helping at races were she learned her how to time and score and then did what she needed to become an “official” official. Her officiating progressed to all of the top meets in the city including the Millrose Games, Vitalis meet, USATF Indoor Championship, Bishop Loughlin Championships, High School events, PSAL, College and developmental meets at the Armory and Randall’s Island track. The highlight for Elizabeth was to be one of the 12 women selected to officiate at the 1986 Olympic Games in Los Angeles where she served as Referee of the first ever Women’s Olympic Marathon where Joan Benoit won. Her other major contribution to the sport was in 1979 when she was elected as the first President of the Metropolitan Athletic Congress.