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Still on chain gang By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH The routine never changes. Don Matteson arrives at the Turner football complex around 6:15 every home game. Wearing his personalized “Turner Chain Gang” cap, Matteson waits in the old yellow shed where they keep the first-down markers. Three family members will join him soon. On this night, the lucky Mattesons are two of Don’s sons, Donnie and Mark, and his grandson, Josh. The sons wear caps that match their dad’s, and the grandson wears a Turner baseball cap. For the next three hours, they’ll work the Turner-Ottawa game. By moving the chains and positioning them correctly, they’ll tell you, the fan, what down it is and how many yards your team needs for a first down. It’s a thankless job, one that Don Matteson, 75, has handled at Turner for 35 seasons. He loves everything about it, even the obligatory pregame meeting with the line judge, who tells Matteson and his boys what they already know. Rule No. 1: When the play comes toward you, drop the sticks and get out of the way! This is one that all the Mattesons have learned the hard way. There’s nothing like 400 pounds of teenage boy rolling on top of you. Just ask Mark Matteson, who twisted a knee a few years back. Rule No. 2: Now remember, boys, you’re a part of the officiating crew. Stay impartial. The chains are moved on the away team’s sideline, which means the Ottawa players and coaches will be breathing down the Mattesons’ necks. A lesser chain crew may not be able to resist the urge to taunt the opposing team, starting a ruckus on the sideline. But the Mattesons consider themselves one of the finest chain gangs in the city. If nothing else, they’re a veteran crew. Every home game for the past 15 years, at least three of Don’s sons and grandkids have joined him on the sideline. “We always kid ourselves,” Mark Matteson says, “that when we get to be good enough, we’ll go to the college or pro level.” The Matteson boys give up their Friday nights for their dad and grandpa. Don, who has a torn rotator cuff and bad knees, says each year that it might be his last. His boys just shake their head. No way he could leave this behind. “He’s the rock of the whole gang,” says Donnie, the oldest son. “As long as he wants to do it, we’ll stand there and do it with him. We’re supporting him. There’s really no other reason to do it.” ••• Don was 41 years old when he first donned the bright orange vest. It was 1972, and he was the proud father of Donnie, a sophomore lineman who would go on to make all-state as a senior. Don quickly figured out that working the chains provided him with the best seat in the house. He could see every pancake block Donnie cooked up for an opposing defender. Don decided he’d continue to man the sidelines until his youngest son, Mike, graduated in 1981. But a funny thing happened in ’82. The new fathers didn’t seem to want a piece of what Don considered the prize job for Turner dads. “I don’t know why they didn’t want to do it,” Don often says. “For a spectator, it’s the best seat in the house.” And Don wasn’t exactly the type to leave nice folks at Turner hanging. “He’s old-school,” Mike Matteson says. “You do something, you stick with it.” Well, it wouldn’t be long before Don got the whole family involved, which was predictable if you knew Don. Spending time with three sons, and eventually their families, was what made him tick. Those RV fishing trips to the lake with his sons and grandkids were priceless. So, one Friday night, one of Don’s fellow crew members decided he didn’t want to do it any more. Don called Donnie. “Can you fill in?” Don asked. Of course, Donnie would. “Next thing you know,” Donnie says, “it’s a full-time basis.” Eventually, Mark and Mike would get that same call from Dad. What started as a way for Don to get closer to his boys on Friday nights had come full circle by the early ’90s. The Turner chain gang was truly a family affair. The boys’ wives and children would come to the stadium, too, and Don’s wife, Pat, would sit in the same seat, right on the 50-yard line. “It was a family reunion four nights a season,” Mark Matteson says. “Having everyone together, that’s a big thing for him. In fact, to be honest, I see my brothers more during the football season than I do any other time of year. It brings us together.” ••• The Matteson crew makes Friday nights easier for everybody. The refs don’t have to bother explaining the four different roles to the Mattesons. Against Ottawa, Don and Donnie held the end sticks, which are separated by 10 yards of chain links. Josh was in charge of the clip, which helps mark the chains’ place on the field in case a play forces them to move. Mark had the most responsibility because he controlled “the box,” which moves with the ball and shows what down it is. Refs don’t ask much from their chain gang each week. They want to see hustle, because you don’t want the chain gang to slow the pace of the game, but at the same time, they want to see patience. If the box man changes the down before the line judge tells him, it can be confusing to the refs, who might not know what down it is. “It’s really important for those people to be disciplined enough to wait for us to tell them what to do,” says Jim Knight, a football referee for 43 years in Kansas. “The chain gang gives a great seat, but it’s also a lot of responsibility to make a game go smoothly. It’s almost as important as the guy who runs the clock.” The Mattesons’ dependability doesn’t just help the refs. Paul Colwell is the seventh Turner athletic director since Don took the chains in 1972. Colwell doesn’t have to worry about the chains like most other athletic directors, who often find themselves with rookie parents and faculty members come time for kickoff. “Sometimes it’s difficult to get people to run the chains,” says Pembroke Hill athletic director Don Earnest, who held the same job at Turner during 1986-99. “It’s difficult to get consistency with the chains from week to week. You always have different people doing it. At Turner, you never had to worry. They showed up, they were there early, and they made sure everything was right.” Colwell also doesn’t have to worry about paying the Mattesons, like he would a faculty member. Each year, all the Mattesons ask for are new Turner hats. ••• One Friday night, the three Matteson boys were hanging out by the concession stand. A referee approached them and wanted to introduce himself before the game. “I’m Mike Matteson,” the youngest son said, holding out his hand. “I’m Mark Matteson,” the middle son said. “I’m Donnie Matteson,” the oldest son said. The ref looked at them kind of funny. Then Don walked up and put out his hand. “If you tell me your name is Matteson,” the ref said, “I’m going to go over there and jump that fence.” “Adios,” Don Matteson said. Don loves telling that story. Make no mistake, he is proud of what his family has done out there on that sideline. Earnest worked with the Mattesons longer than any other Turner athletic director. And to him, they’re pretty unforgettable. “I’ve been in this for 35 years now,” Earnest says. “Once in a while, you will run across an individual — maybe the announcer, maybe somebody that designs programs for you, maybe a scorekeeper — that’s been associated with the school district for many years. I haven’t run across an entire family that has such dedication.” Don is a man who appreciates tradition. That’s why he asked his grandson, Josh, to join the same lodge as him three years ago. It’s why he loves seeing Josh on the sideline, wearing that neon vest with the rest of the Matteson men on Friday night. It’s a three-generation operation these days. Josh watches his grandpa run up and down the sidelines, and he can’t help but smile. “I kind of learned a lesson,” says Josh, who graduated from Piper in 2000. “You have to spend time with your older folks, because you know, one of these days, you’ll turn around, and they won’t be there.” There will come a day when Don Matteson can’t work the chains for 48 minutes of football, when his bad knees finally give out on him. Luckily, though, Don has already started a tradition that will keep him involved when that day comes. At the start of each game, Don mans the box. After the first play is run, he hands it off to one of his sons. Josh is pretty sure his grandpa will always be up for that. After all, it’s tradition. Every week, Kansas City Star reporter J. Brady McCollough
will take a look at a unique aspect of the high school football
community. To submit a story idea, e-mail McCollough at jmccollough@kcstar.com.
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J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell) |
