John Matuszak
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| Position: | Defensive end | ||||||||
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| Date of birth: | October 25, 1950 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Oak Creek, Wisconsin | ||||||||
| Date of death: | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. | ||||||||
| Place of death: | Los Angeles, California | ||||||||
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| College: | Tampa | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1973 / Round: 1 / Pick: 1 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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John Daniel "Tooz" Matuszak (October 25, 1950 – June 17, 1989) was an American football defensive end in the National Football League who later became an actor. He was the first draft pick of 1973 and played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders until he retired after winning his second Super Bowl in 1981. Matuszak participated in the 1978 World's Strongest Man competition, where he placed ninth. As an actor, he played the deformed Sloth in the 1985 movie The Goonies and Tonda in Caveman. His biography, Cruisin' with the Tooz, written with Steve Delsohn was published in 1987. He had a premature death caused by an accidental propoxyphene overdose.[1] There were also traces of cocaine found in the blood stream.[2]
Football career
Matuszak, drafted by the Houston Oilers of the NFL, was the first draft pick of 1973. In addition to his contract with the Oilers, he joined the Houston Texans of the World Football League, but played a total of seven plays before a restraining order that was served to him during a game that barred him from playing for two teams at the same time. Matuszak said he had no plans to play in that game but requested to play after seeing 25 or so men looking for him on the sidelines. He didn't know what was happening at the time and wanted to avoid confrontation. The Oilers, displeased that he tried joining the WFL, traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played until 1975. Then he found himself with the Raiders in 1976 after being released in pre-season by the Washington Redskins. He helped the Raiders win two Super Bowls (XI and XV) before retiring after spending the entire 1982 season on injured reserve.
His football career was often overshadowed by his even more famous (or infamous) partying and seemingly endless use of drugs. In his autobiography, he stated that he took many painkillers as well as other narcotics while playing professional football. Because of this, an article written for Sports Illustrated's website in January 2005 named him one of the top five all-time "bad boys" of the NFL.[3] Although his performances made him one of the best Raider defenders of all time, his volatile actions contributed to him not being popular with teammates (Matt Millen told reporters on several occasions how he disliked Matuszak and found him to be phony) and not being one of Al Davis's favorite post-retirement players, and after an ugly incident where Matuszak violently assaulted assistant coach Terry Robiskie due to Matuszak hearing a false rumor that the team was going to trade away star tight end Todd Christensen, he was banned from ever setting foot in the Raiders' HQ again.
Acting
Matuszak became a fairly successful actor in the 1980s, making appearances in movies and on television, often portraying football players or gentle giants. His first major role was in the 1979 movie North Dallas Forty as a football player. He appeared in the movies Caveman, The Ice Pirates, One Man Force, and One Crazy Summer but is frequently remembered as deformed captive Sloth in The Goonies, the make-up for which took five hours to apply.[4] Matuszak's character Sloth wears an Oakland Raiders shirt in some scenes. He had numerous guest appearances in TV shows such as Perfect Strangers, M*A*S*H, The Dukes of Hazzard, Hunter, Silver Spoons, The A-Team, 1st & Ten, Miami Vice and Cheers.
References
- John Matuszak and Steve Delsohn. Cruisin' with the Tooz. 1987. ISBN 0-531-15055-0.
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- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/28/sports/matuszak-s-death-caused-by-accidental-overdose.html
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Sports Illustrated article on the 'top five' NFL Bad Boys
- ↑ Internet Movie Database link for John Mutaszak
- Pages with reference errors
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- NFL player with pastexecutive parameter
- 1950 births
- 1989 deaths
- American people of Polish descent
- Sportspeople from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- Players of American football from Wisconsin
- American football defensive ends
- American football defensive tackles
- Missouri Tigers football players
- Tampa Spartans football players
- National Football League first overall draft picks
- Houston Oilers players
- Kansas City Chiefs players
- Oakland Raiders players
- American strength athletes
- American male film actors
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- Drug-related deaths in California
- Houston Texans (WFL) players
- 20th-century American male actors
- Super Bowl champions
- Washington Redskins players
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