Hall of Fame coach Matthews battled depression
BY VICKI HALL, POSTMEDIA NEWS SEPTEMBER 15, 2011 8:06 PM
CALGARY — Don Matthews touched down in Calgary for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame weekend with one final game plan to execute.
As a headliner of the 2011 class of inductees, Matthews is determined to use his last moments in the public spotlight for a greater purpose — namely to cast a bright light on anxiety disorders and depression.
“It’s not something you should be ashamed of,” the 72-year-old says. “If you get the measles, you don’t hide the fact you get the measles. It’s just something that happens.
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”
The impassioned plea from Matthews comes in the aftermath of three tragic deaths this summer in the hockey world. New York Rangers enforcer Derek Boogaard died in May from an overdose of prescription painkillers. On Aug. 15, the body of Winnipeg Jets pugilist Rick Rypien was discovered in his Crowsnest Pass, Alta., home. RCMP called the death “sudden and non-suspicious.”
On Aug. 31, recently retired enforcer Wade Belak took his own life at a posh hotel/condominium in downtown Toronto.
Both Rypien and Belak were known to suffer from depression.
“I’m really sad for those hockey players,” Matthews says. “There was a form of depression that I had. I didn’t have it certainly to the extent that I had suicidal tendencies.
“But there was depression involved with my anxiety.”
Known simply as The Don in football circles, Matthews will be inducted into Hall of Fame on Friday along side players Terry Vaughn, Danny McManus, Joe Montford, Ken Lehmann and Chris Flynn. Gino Fracas will be inducted posthumously with Matthews in the builders’ category.
The Hall is located in Hamilton, but the bust unveiling and induction unveiling will take place in Calgary this year.
Through 22 years with B.C., Baltimore, Saskatchewan, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal, Matthews reached the Grey Cup nine times. With his high-risk, high-reward philosophy, he won a record five championships as a CFL head coach.
His 231 victories as a head coach rank second all-time behind only the venerable Wally Buono, of the B.C. Lions.
Matthews is the keynote speaker at Friday’s Hall of Fame breakfast, and he plans to give a candid account of the severe anxiety that plagued the final years of his storied coaching career.
“I didn’t want to be in public anymore,” he says. “I didn’t want to got to the store and buy a loaf of bread. I didn’t want to leave the house in the morning. I had to force myself to go out of the house in the morning just to go to work.
“And as soon as work was over, I was sprinting to the house just wanting to be left alone.”
The inner-turmoil is a direct opposite of the confident swagger Matthews displayed both on and off the field. Larger than life, the popular coach sparred with the media and told off-colour jokes. He rode a Harley, rarely took off his patented Oakley sunglasses and dated women half his age.
“Don just has a knack for relating with a group of 20-something males,” Jim Popp, general manager of the Montreal Alouettes, said back in 2003. “He knows what makes them tick.”
In October 2006, Matthews’ tenure as a head coach in Montreal ended abruptly. The team cited undisclosed health reasons. The Montreal Gazette reported at the time that Matthews was fired.
“I went to (owner) Bob Wetenhall seven weeks before I finally retired and told him I couldn’t do it anymore,” Matthews says. “He asked me if I would just finish the season and do the best I could. I went for seven more weeks, and I could not do it.”
From there, Matthews disappeared from the public eye for almost two years.
“I lived out in the country,” he says. “I lived by myself with my dog. Isolation — that’s how it was with me.”
In 2008, Matthews came out of retirement for a brief, and unsuccessful, stint with the Toronto Argonauts. At the end of the season, he retired for good.
These days, Matthews lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Stephanie and her seven-year-old son.
Anxiety and depression no longer keep him apart from society and the ones he loves.
“They got the right medication balance,” he says. “I think it’s something that happens in your brain. Because now, it’s under control. I feel really, really good.”
With football behind him, family is what matters.
“My wife is the best thing that ever happened to me,” he says.
“She makes every single day of my life better. And her son, he’s a great little boy. He’s given me a chance to re-live a lot of the things I missed when I went to Canada.”
Matthews has three adult sons who attended college on football scholarships. The eldest, Mike, had a cup of coffee with the San Diego Chargers.
“I only saw them play one or two times a piece,” he said. “So I missed out, but I’m getting another chance with my grandchildren and Stephanie’s little boy.
“Right now, I’m enjoying my life.”
Calgary Herald
vhall@calgaryherald.com
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Some Love him, some hate him, I ALWAYS LOVED THE DON !
He brought the Cup back to Montreal after a 25 years hiatus in 2002, I wasn't there when Als honored him vs ESKS (yeah i'm kicking myself for that), the guy HAS SWAGGER ! Not like the cheap imitation they are trying to pull in Winnipeg this year !
THANK YOU DON for EVERYTHING YOU DID FOR THE ALS & CFL !
