Ollie Matson was a force to be reckoned with (Duke Wilson/YouTube).
There are a few football players stories of battles with CTE that keep me up at night. Ollie Matson, John Mackey, Aaron Hernandez, Mike Webster, and Vincent Jackson, to name a few As a sports injury epidemiologist, I study a lot and see more. Some of their stories bring a tear to my eye.
I feel compelled to speak about Ollie Matson. It’s difficult to come up with a title that is a summation of any part of his life. He was a beloved family man, the “Godfather” of nicknames, a hall of famer, and a man robbed of his dignity in his final years. I will do my best to honor Ollie Matson’s legacy in its entirety.
Ollie Matson’s Origin Story
Ollie Genoa Matson II was born on May 1, 1930, in Trinity, Texas, to his mother and father, Gertrude and Oliver Matson. Baby Ollie was a twin; he also had a sister, Ocie Matson. Mrs. Matson was a school teacher, and Mr. Matson was a railroad brakeman. Learn more about that fascinating occupation on the railroad tracks here.
The twins’ parents were not meant to be, and they divorced when the children were still young. Gertrude would move to Houston with Ollie and Ocie during their junior high years. She then remarried and moved to San Francisco, where the twins would attend high school.
In the Bay Area, Ollie would make a name for himself. Inspired by a semi-professional football player uncle, the teen would take an interest in sports himself. As in, he took George Washington High School by storm. Matson was a fast kid, and it didn’t take long for his coach to see his incredible speed and potential as a halfback and an end. Ollie would break his ankle as a freshman during his first year on the gridiron, but that did little to dampen the talent within.
On the advice of his coach, Matson would do track and field in the off-season to stay conditioned. He didn’t just do a little run and jump, though. The fastest teen on cleats set a scholastic record for the quarter mile his senior year and very nearly succeeded in qualifying for the US Olympics. Ollie was a record-breaker. He set a city-wide record as a running back with 102 points in seven games. Was there something the teen couldn’t do? Not really.
Ollie Matson’s Collegiate Career
Did the young man quit sports after high school? Not a chance! Matson would attend San Francisco City College. His first year, his team was undefeated, and he scored 19 touchdowns, setting yet another record. He was also named All-America Junior College Halfback.
Unsurprisingly, all the big-name colleges were hoping their milkshake would bring him to their yard. But he chose the University of San Francisco because he liked the vibe. In 1951, Ollie was once again on an undefeated team, and he led the nation in rushing yards and scoring and was named an All-American defensive back. He would also become Kappa Alpha Psi in college (we see you, Divine Nine).
The 1951 Dons were a force to be reckoned with; eight of the members would go to the NFL. Four were inducted into the HOF: Dick Stanfel, Bob St. Clair (read my article on him here), Gino Marchetti, and of course Matson himself.
In a kerfuffle of ignorance, the team won their way to the Orange Bowl but were not allowed to go. They would be formally invited if and only if their two black players didn’t play. Gino Marchetti said it best: “No, we ain’t going to go without Burl and Ollie.” The Dons ended up forfeiting the game and quietly calling the bowl out on its bulls… bigotry.
Ollie Matson Goes Pro… almost
Matson was the third overall pick in the 1952 draft, selected by the Chicago Cardinals. On what most Olympians would consider a whim, Ollie decided he wanted to go to the Olympics before he settled down with the NFL. After not doing any track and field training for several years, Matson would savant his way into the 1952 Summer Olympics.
If you’re shocked by his lack of preparation, so was his track team coach, who said he would never get in. Ollie brought him back a bronze medal for the 400-meter run and a silver medal for the 1,600-meter relay.
After a quick game of ball at the College All-Star Game that same year, he decided he was ready to go to the NFL.
Ollie Matson Actually Goes Pro
The football pro appeared to have a pattern in high school and the NFL… he had to break a bone and play through it his first year. This time, it was his wrist. A man of all positions, Ollie was the fastest running back of his time. As well as an incredible defensive back, pass receiver, and kick returner.
His career was postponed again in 1953, this time to serve his country. He was the MVP of the Army team that year. Matson had his best career year with the Cardinals in 1956, held back by the ineptitude of the team as a whole.
His coach, Frank Ivy, said the opposing team was so afraid of Ollie Matson, regardless of the position he played on any snap. Ivy claimed they would “double team him if he were sitting up in the grandstand eating hot dogs, just to make sure.”
In 1957, Matson was the sixth-most prolific running back in the NFL. He had 577 yards in 134 carries and six touchdowns. He also had 20 catches for 451 yards and three touchdowns from passes he caught.
Ollie Matson Can’t Do It All
And that got him fired. The Chicago Cardinals traded him to the Rams in 1959 (for nine players!) because he just wasn’t winning the games all by himself. The Rams thought that he would win their games for them too, but he couldn’t swim through the sea of incompetence. Matson became their scapegoat and would be traded to the Lions in 1963.
Ollie Matson would finish his NFL career as an Eagle from 1964 to 1966. He would retire with 12,884 combined yards (second only to Jim Brown) and 73 touchdowns. Matson was a seven-time all-pro and six-time pro bowler and was enshrined in the HOF in 1972 (his first year of eligibility). He was also in the Eagles Hall of Fame and the Arizona Cardinals Ring of Honor.
Ollie Matson Post-Pros
Matson would do a little of this and that after he retired from the NFL. He was a scout for the Philadelphia Eagles. The former NFL star did some coaching at the high school level and also for San Diego State University. In 1989, the 69-year-old hung up his cleats after being an event supervisor for the LA Coliseum for 10 years.
A pro on and off the field, Ollie Matson showed America what love is. After meeting his future wife, Mary L. Paige, when he was 15 at a Baptist Church social, he married her nine years later, in 1954. Ollie was proud of his athletic accomplishments, but he was even more proud of his marriage. He was quoted saying, “It’s all about marriage. That’s the key right there. That’s what makes everything else feel so nice.”
Mary and Ollie would have four children: Lisa, Barbara, Ollie III, and Bruce. Matson was an incredible family man. Ocie’s son, Art Thompson III, remembered his uncle Ollie fondly. Art would remember his uncle as the BBQ expert, the sage advice giver, the bestower of nicknames like “Spoon,” and a music enthusiast. Matson also ran every day and was an active member of the NFL Alumni Association.
Uncle Ollie Matson
Ollie the Second may have inspired every young man in his family, but they never dared to play his number in any sport. This includes Ollie III, who inherited his athletic prowess and used it for professional basketball.
Art Thompson III recalls exercising with his uncle on the track in the weeks before training camp; he also remembers famous players like Dick “Night Train” Lane coming over and seeing his uncle kick cans in the Rams training camp. Art was in awe of the utter reverence and respect with which his uncle treated his grandmother. He wanted to treat his mom just the same.
A funny memory Thompson had was when he and the other children swarmed Uncle Ollie on the field after a victory. Leaving the field, a mean teen steamrolled little Bruce into the mud. Was Matson worried about that? Nope. He was too busy telling his son he was going to get a licking for getting his white pants dirty. That’s a man who understands how much of a pain laundry is. No wonder Mary kept him around.
Uncle Ollie was also responsible for Art Thompson III becoming a sports writer. Not endowed with the same athleticism as his uncle and cousin, Matson would tell him that he knew the game so well that maybe he should try writing about it. And so Art did. His career speaks for itself.
Ollie Matson’s Slow Decline
Football is a game so cruel, and so relentless in how it punishes people for daring to play it. Football gives some people a good licking, and beats others down with a lightning rod. The sport is not a respecter of persons, and duels out punishments with no sense of justice. Despite being an amazing husband, father, and uncle, as well as an incredible athlete, football wouldn’t allow Ollie Matson to age gracefully.
In his 50s, he was already developing dementia. He couldn’t drive; he would get lost in places he had been driving for years, unable to find his way home. Ollie couldn’t discern a $10 bill from a $100 bill; he would clean all four of the family’s cars every day and barbeque chicken every morning at 6:30 AM.
The family was losing the man they loved while he was right in front of them. This makes Matson’s continued contributions to the workforce more impressive.
Matson’s neurodegenerative decline, particularly at such a young age, was attributed by his family and doctors to the repeated concussions he sustained. His post-mortem diagnosis of CTE backed this theory up.
Ollie III pointed out that his family was paying over $4500 monthly for his father’s care. He was indignant that the NFL was dragging its feet in helping the families struggling to stay financially afloat while caring for their ailing former football player.
Ollie Matson’s Final Years
Uncle Ollie would be confined to a wheelchair for the last five years of his life, mostly bedridden towards the end. He was also unable to speak for the last four years of his life. Although Art Thompson swears his uncle would communicate with his eyes, shining bright until his last breath. I know what he means; I remember my own uncle’s struggle with dementia and how his personality would still shine through. Reminding me that the man I loved was still in there.
Ollie Matson II would die at age 80 in 2011. Finally free of a 30-year battle with the heartless disease that is dementia. May his suffering not be in vain. RIP Ollie Matson, you were too good for this world, and it is a worse place for no longer having you in it. 33
