Although he only lived 38 years the sports star packed in a dozen car crashes, nearly being run over by his wife, a near death experience and multiple hero-worthy moments on the pitch
Showbiz
Emilia Randall Freelance journalist
13:00, 11 Jan 2025
John Matuszak played Sloth in The Goonies(Image: Warner Bros)
Behind a bad-boy baller and cult classic star lies a quieter, thoughtful man whose life ended after a few wrong turns, leaving behind those who saw him as a “sweetheart”.
One colleague described The Goonies’ John Matuszak as “a very, very good person” who “had a great heart for kids”. So how did he meet his untimely death at just 38 years old? The answer is the same for thousands of Americans. When he became hooked on pills after a football injury he began a life of vodka, Valium and avoiding responsibility like the plague.
Early life
Even Matuszak’s early years were marred by tragedy. He lost two siblings to cystic fibrosis, and his younger sister Dawn also succumbed to the illness in 1991, not long after her brother passed away.
Matuszak was the sole surviving son, with one brother dying at birth and another at just two years old. Sports heroes author John Schulian penned that following the death of his toddler brother, a young Matuszak, around 12 or 13 years old, decided to purchase shoes for the little one’s burial upon hearing his mother weep over the boy’s swollen feet that couldn’t fit into his existing shoes.
Matuszak was fiercely loyal to his family and as per United Press International, he frequently visited his sister during her hospital stays in Milwaukee as she battled her condition. At his own funeral, the officiating pastor highlighted his regular contributions of time to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Matuszak starred alongside now Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan(Image: Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)
The LA Times reported that after the Matuszaks relocated from central Milwaukee to Oak Creek village, Matuszak often returned home from school in tears, bullied by other children who taunted him for being an awkwardly tall “gawky beanpole.”
The beautiful game
Matuszak, to his family, was a gentle giant, but being bullied at young age propelled him into the world of American Football. During his sophomore year at the University of Missouri, where he played reserve tight end on a football scholarship, Matuszak’s stint was cut short, according to the LA Times.
At a frat party, he punched a student for “fondling his date,” then tried to justify it by saying he didn’t mean to hit as hard as he did. But the school wasn’t convinced and stripped him of his scholarship.
But Matuszak rose again at the University of Tampa, becoming an All-American and snagging the No. 1 NFL draft pick in 1973. Now known as “The Tooz” John Matuszak’s second season with the Oilers became a little too big for his boots when he signed up with the Houston Texans of the World Football League while still under contract with the Oilers.
Matuszak then transferred again from the Kansas City Chiefs to the Washington Redskins. But in Washington, his stay was not much longer than two weeks. According to coach George Allen, it was down to “Vodka and Valium,” which he dubbed “the breakfast of champions”. After being shown the door by Washington, Matuszak found himself a free agent and the Oakland Raiders were in a bit of a pickle. They had lost three of their defensive linemen to season-ending injuries and needed a big player to keep them in the game.
The 280 lbs player hopped around multiple teams during his career(Image: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Matuszak, standing at 6’8″ and weighing 280 pounds, fit the bill. “When he arrived,” coach John Madden confessed to ESPN, “I wasn’t about to talk to him about his past. … If you know too much about a guy, you tend to prejudge him, to hold his past against him.”
The risk paid off. In Matuszak’s debut season, the Raiders clinched their first Super Bowl title, with Matuszak playing a significant role in the victory. However, he soon slipped back into his party-hard lifestyle. The Raiders even had to assign a 22-year-old office worker to live with him and keep tabs on him — a role fellow player Pat Toomay dubbed “Keeper of the Tooz.”
In 1981, Matuszak hit the headlines for partying the night before the Raiders’ second Super Bowl win. In 1986, a male dancer accused him of assault and sued him for $1.5 million (the judge ultimately sided with Matuszak).
Trouble in paradise
Matuszak’s wild lifestyle took its toll on his personal life too. While Matuszak was still with the Kansas City Chiefs, he got into such a tiff with his wife that she tried to mow him down with their Cadillac convertible. Author Kevin Cook recounts how Matuszak legged it to a nearby graveyard and cowered behind a tombstone before reconciling in the Chief’s changing room. Matuszak then hit the Chivas Regal and prescription meds hard before keeling over. His teammates couldn’t stir him, and when paramedics rocked up to give CPR, his chest was so massive it was “like hitting a rock wall.”
In a twist of fate, it was Paul Wiggin, the Chief’s boss, who ended up saving him by pounding his chest in the ambulance until he spluttered back to life. And just a week after Matuszak was discharged from hospital, Wiggin shipped him off to the Washington Redskins.
(Image: Alamy Stock Photo)
This was not the athlete’s only motoring disaster, far from it. He revealed in his tell-all autobiography “Cruisin’ with the Tooz” that he was in six car crashes that led to convictions. The LA Times reports that for each incident, Matuszak had a ready excuse, from dodging a kid in the street to being oblivious to the marijuana in his car.
His ex-fiancee Stephanie Cozart once pointed out his refusal to own up to his actions, saying: “It was never his fault. And it never had anything to do with the fact that he was high.”
In 1987, Matuszak’s was in another crash, but instead of the usual insurance swap, the towering figure chose to punch the other driver and flee. He admitted guilt but still shrugged off blame, telling a reporter, “Some guy purposely caused an accident. “
According to the LA Times, an incident occurred where Matuszak got into a semi-joking argument with assistant coach Terry Robiskie, a former teammate. The situation escalated, and Matuszak slapped Robiskie, grabbed him, and shook him. Robiskie was 70 pounds lighter than Matuszak. In response, Robiskie violently grabbed a metal crutch and broke it over Matuszak’s head. Rather than disciplining those involved, the Raiders chose to commemorate the incident by displaying the broken crutch on the wall with the label “Biskie’s Tooz Pick.”
A big heart
Despite this, Mike Ornstein, the Raiders office worker assigned to manage Matuszak, recalled his softer side: “He was a very, very good person and he had a great heart for kids. ” Matuszak frequently visited sick children, once giving his football jersey and helmet to a cancer patient at Children’s Hospital and visiting the boy daily for nearly a month. Locals remembered him pushing aside the town’s mayor to sign an autograph for a child, and his Goonies castmates described him as a “sweetheart.”
“John was really nice to me and it was fun to work with him,” reminisced Jeff Cohen, who played Chunk in the iconic film. “But it’s funny, when I was a teenager and I would start to watch the old NFL films and they would have films of John playing for the Raiders … he would just terrify people on the field, which was totally shocking to me. I knew him as Sloth, the nice, lovable giant.”
(Image: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
After an injury sidelined him, Matuszak missed the 1982 season and then hung up his boots to chase acting dreams, spending hours at a time in the makeup chair to portray Sloth in “The Goonies” which saw him shoot to fame when it came out in 1985.
After sustaining an injury Matuszak was given a prescription that tragically led to his death in 1989. Post-mortem findings prompted his parents to reveal their son’s battle with chronic back pain, managing it with both prescribed and illegal drugs. “At the proper time, we will have things to say about substance abuse and the scoundrels in the medical profession who recklessly dispense prescription drugs and the parasites of society who distribute illicit drugs from back alleys to fashionable condominiums,” they disclosed.
But his years of heavy partying and drug misuse had also pushed him too far down a treacherous path. His fiancee at the time, Stephanie Cozart, saw him promise to get sober several times only to bail on rehab programs. She recounted to the LA Times in their 1989 homage how he ditched a one-month stint halfway at Cedars-Sinai’s CareUnit, dashing off for a doctor’s script.
He later attempted support through Cocaine Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous. In a 1989 tribute by the LA Times for the late football star, she recalled his numerous attempts at rehab, only to leave before completing the programme. At Cedars-Sinai’s CareUnit, he left halfway through a one-month stint and headed directly to a doctor’s office in an attempt to secure a prescription.
He later joined Cocaine Anonymous (CA), followed by Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). On June 17, 1989, he tragically overdosed on Darvocet, a mix of Tylenol and a painkiller named propoxyphene. Despite being considered a “mild narcotic” and less addictive than similar drugs, it was likely prescribed to Matuszak due to his history of substance abuse. Tragically, he may have taken too much because it was deemed “mild. ” His cause of death was recorded as “acute propoxyphene intoxication.”
The New York Times reported that the coroner’s report also cited bronchial pneumonia and an enlarged heart as contributing factors to his death, the latter often linked with steroid abuse.
For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.