Multi-facet Matt
In the short period of time since posting ‘Mazing, Mercurial Matt Mazza, between here and Facebook, Matt has generated the most comments. I expected that due to the ease of obtaining material beyond my memory.
Commentary ranged from worst to best basketball coach. But, his coaching was only one aspect of the man. And, I suspect coaching was not the most significant part of the man. Steve Corio penned a very poignant illustration of this very point. In Steve’s words:
Oscar, Mazza’s wife was my mother’s cousin. We were always at the family gatherings. All the Mazza brothers were there. It was always loud, fun and lots of food.
I was playing hockey one nite in our backyard rink. I was in the mud room trying to keep warm. I was sad that my stick broke so I could not play. Matt stop by to pick up his wife. He looked at me and asked why are you crying “babies cry,” he said. I told him about the stick.
He told me to man up and go back on the ice and use my skates to hit the puck. So I did. I was about ten years old. About half hour later he showed up again. This big man with a big heart who wanted me to play hockey that nite went out and got me a brand new hockey stick. I will never forget that nite.
Later in my high school days he saw me smoking. I never smoked after that. He let me have it. Matt Mazza way.
“You are making it too easy for him.”
1967 was Trott Vocational’s year as they became the first NFL team to go undefeated while winning the sectional title. They were led by Jesse Buchanan and Wesley Anderson. Jesse set a NFL single game scoring record with 56 points playing against a future Division I ball player.
LaSalle was on its way to its worst record of the 1960s. For the most part, we just weren’t competitive although
we competed. In the third quarter, my freshman brother scored 3 straight baskets against Jesse, forcing Trott to seek a time-out.
As we are walking to the bench, Matt is striding on the court, livid. He blocked my path as the rest of the players continued to the bench. Face to face, he snarled, “You are making it too easy for him.” My sin was penetrating enough to force Jesse to come off Ray and then slipping the pass through.
I guess Matt developed amnesia after that championship season. He used Dennis Rose to make the game easier for me. The two dominant NFL centers that year were guarded by Dennis and held well below their scoring averages. After North Tonawanda’s All-WNY QB made his first NFL basketball start a virtuoso by fouling me out in the third quarter on his way to 28 points, Dennis held him to 11 in the rematch. I know Dennis made the game easier for me along with the other starters.
End of the bench Bob and Matt, Part 2
We looked forward to one road game each year. Niagara-Wheatfield played Sweet Georgia Brown or Keep the Ball Rollin’ during pre-game warm-ups. I know I came out with a little extra spice in my stride. Well, Bob was feeling the music. He asked the ball boy for a volleyball and proceeded to throw it down.
Matt saw. Matt strode. Matt exiled Bob to the bench for the rest of the warm-ups.
Love and Basketball
With Sanaa Lathan, Love and Basketball is a sweet love story. With Matt, girls and basketball didn’t go well together, apparently.
One of the seniors had a girlfriend. One wing of the high school was comprised of the cafeteria (peanut butter cookies flashback) and the auditorium. I watched the senior and sweetheart holding hands walk toward the T. Somehow, the senior was alerted to Matt heading in his direction.
He jettisoned the girlfriend; told her to keep walking; he’d meet her by the music room; and then, he retreated back to the auditorium entrance and crossed through to the music room.
Even My Son
has a Matt story. Matt had a putt-putt course along Colvin Boulevard. He treated my son to a couple of rounds of “golf”, a hot dog and a drink, if we remember correctly. Along the way, Matt threw some praise my way which my son says I “deflected”. And, I know I did.
Request Permission to Shoot, Sir
I played basketball like Matt wanted the game to be played. The second to last game of the season our junior year, we were playing a team that had upset us earlier in the season. It might sound ridiculous to say a loss by a 4-12 team could be an upset, but it was. And, I was upset.
I look back and Matt must have recognized my intolerance for intolerable losses and/or play. They had to be avenged. When those games came along, I would be ready.
So, with 90 seconds left in the first half, with a decent lead, I looked over to Matt. All season long, I had not looked for permission to shoot. And, he understood the look to mean “I’m ready to start putting nails in Lew-Port’s coffin.” In the remaining time, I hit 3 jumpers from beyond the top of the key. And, I wasn’t finished with Lew-Port.
Water faucets, Blackboards, Chairs and Kicked Balls
Lockport brought out something in Matt. Maybe it was their newspaper changing his first name to “always colorful”. One game during the seniors’ reign, Matt used a portable blackboard to smash the water bubbler. Chairs were considered bowling material. I remember (confirmed by another) Matt kicking the basketball into the bleachers opposite our bench. And, he didn’t get a technical foul. Amazing.
In Conclusion
Matt was larger than life. His rough edges were totally overwhelmed by his many acts of kindness. Those acts of kindness even extended to opposing coaches. Senior year, a young coach popped off that he wasn’t impressed with our double digit win in the first game because, as a team, LaSalle played abysmally.
The second game, we demolished them. We start out the third quarter running the “C” play. It was a play that freed Cegles to get his set shot off. We ran the play twice so the young coach could diagram it. The starters came out and the second half was a glorified scrimmage with Matt running our offensive arsenal. The young coach scribbled notes, occasionally asking for a re-run.
The amazing, mercurial Matt Mazza.