Cheating Is Encouraged by Mike Siani

Author:Mike Siani
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sports Publishing
Published: 2015-09-08T04:00:00+00:00

Larger Than Life

My first reaction was disbelief. After all, how could such a huge, strong man succumb to a simple heart attack? He was in perfect physical condition and could have still invoked fear in opposing NFL quarterbacks.

But yet it was true. Big John Matuszak was dead at age thirty-eight.

It’s difficult to speculate what killed John Matuszak. As it stands now, the county coroner’s office is conducting tests to find answers.

Perhaps it was those years of hard living that had finally caught up to him. I’d known John for almost twenty years, first meeting him while playing against Tampa University my senior year at Villanova, then as an opponent and teammate in the NFL.

John was larger than life. He was an intimidator and, at 6’ 9”, 290 pounds, he was physically bigger than any man I had met or seen.

His mere presence attracted immediate attention, but he seemed to love the fame and notoriety, and perhaps that’s why he chose Hollywood to live in and acting as his vocation after football.

But there was another side of Tooz. It was almost as though he were two different people.

The other Tooz was always the last player out of the stadium parking lot after a game because he could never say no to anyone seeking his autograph.

I can recall talking to John in Reno aout today’s pro athletes earning huge sums of money and then charging kids for their autographs. I listened to the anger in his voice as he vehemently objected to the practice—he insisted pro players owe it to fans to oblige them with such a small token.

The other Tooz was a man who would go just about anywhere to appear at a charity event. He would travel for hours from Oakland to places like Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, or Fresno to speak at Pee-Wee football dinners or Boy Scout luncheons. There were seldom any fees involved.

My most vivid memory of John Matuszak is of the Sunday night after we had just beaten the Vikings in Super Bowl XI, and were winding down from the greatest party ever thrown by Al Davis. It was 5 a.m. and I was walking through the lobby of the Newport Beach Marriott with a friend of mine, Dan Bruscella. There was Tooz—still signing autographs.

I introduced Dan to John and asked if he would sign a football for him. He obliged by signing the ball. The next thing I knew, Tooz makes like Kenny Stabler and sends Danny deep down the middle of the lobby for a bomb. He hit Danny with a perfect spiral, just missing a crystal chandelier by inches, in full stride in front of the elevator for an imaginary touchdown. Then John proceeded to high-five anyone still left in the lobby. As I got into the elevator, I turned and saw Tooz had gone back to signing more autographs.

JIM OTTO: DOUBLE-O

“Double-O,” as he was called, was a 6’ 2”, 255-pound center out of Miami (FL). Otto joined the newly founded Oakland Raiders in 1960 and, for the next fifteen seasons, was the only starting center the Raiders ever had.

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