Wilson Matthews stories

[bxw21]

As I was growing up a Razorback fan, I remember people often talking about Coach Matthews as an almost larger than life personality.  I also seem to remember Mr. Mike Irwin telling a few stories about him on the radio (I could be mistaken).  However, I would love to hear any of the stories you may have about the man.  Thanks!

[TOM "tbw1"]

"We don't give a d--m about the whole state of Texas, we're from Ark-in-saw."

"Exuberant in victory, enraged in defeat."  OH on Coach Matthews.

[jusgtohogs]

"We don't give a d--m about the whole state of Texas, we're from Ark-in-saw."

"Exuberant in victory, enraged in defeat."  OH on Coach Matthews.

The tex-song story is one of my all-time favorites

[Mike Irwin]

Wilson scared the crap out of me the first time I met him.

I think it was 1976. I needed some information for a story I was working on. Butch Henry was the SID. He told Wilson I was going to be dropping by to see him. I walked to the door of his office just as he was getting a phone call. He motioned for me to have a seat.

The call was from some guy in Southern Arkansas who wanted Frank to come speak to their Razorback Club. Wilson explained to the man that those type things were done in the off season, never during the season.

The guy kept bugging Wilson trying to get him to make an exception. Wilson was patient at first but finally he lost his temper. His head looked like it was going to explode as he turned the air blue with expletives basically telling the guy to get lost.

I decided it was a good time to leave but before I could get out the door Wilson slammed the phone down and yelled out, Where the #*@% are you going?

I stammered around for a few seconds. Then he started laughing. After that we proceeded to have a very pleasant conversation.

[jdlew]

I went in his office one day and ask about season basketball tickets....he said...forget it...."I got a waiting list a show dog can't jump over"....that was before Bud Walton was built.....

[LZH]

WM used to deer hunt with an old friend of my dad's down here (he played for the Hogs waaaay back when - he's since passed away, too).  I was at this man's house one afternoon and he asked me if I still smoked...at the time I did.  He told me that Matthews had quit smoking years before but still kept a pack of Salems in his Jeep's glove box.  He said that WM always mentioned it was a reminder that quitting was simply a choice.  "He was a horrible pain in the ass, but a fine man."  Now THAT is old school.

[Mike Irwin]

I got this from Clay Henry who got it from Orville.

In the early 60's there was a certain player who was screwing up in practice. Frank told Wilson to take care of it.

Wilson had the kid do bear crawls after practice until he dropped. Some of his teammates hauled the kid to the shower and left him there with cold water running over his head.

After 20 minutes or so he thought he was the only one left in the building but suddenly Wilson stuck his head around the corner and said, HEY, YOU KNOW OLE WILSON LOVES YOU BUT WE PROMISED YOUR MOMMA AND DADDY THAT WE WOULD MAKE A FOOTBALL PLAYER OUT OF YOU. WE'RE NOT GOING TO GO BACK ON THAT PROMISE. WE'RE ALSO NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON YOU AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON FOOTBALL.

From that day on it was said the kid would have run through a brick wall for Wilson Matthews.

I wish I knew his name but I can't remember it.

[ThisTeetsTaken]

I got this from Clay Henry who got it from Orville.

In the early 60's there was a certain player who was screwing up in practice. Frank told Wilson to take care of it.

Wilson had the kid do bear crawls after practice until he dropped. Some of his teammates hauled the kid to the shower and left him there with cold water running over his head.

After 20 minutes or so he thought he was the only one left in the building but suddenly Wilson stuck his head around the corner and said, HEY, YOU KNOW OLE WILSON LOVES YOU BUT WE PROMISED YOUR MOMMA AND DADDY THAT WE WOULD MAKE A FOOTBALL PLAYER OUT OF YOU. WE'RE NOT GOING TO GO BACK ON THAT PROMISE. WE'RE ALSO NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON YOU AND YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GIVE UP ON FOOTBALL.

From that day on it was said the kid would have run through a brick wall for Wilson Matthews.

I wish I knew his name but I can't remember it.

That episode is a great example of true leadership and explains why people follow leadership.  True leadership is selfless. 

[supersaint]

A thread of coach Jim Washburn stories would make most of the posters here curl up in the fetal position and suck their thumbs. He was awesome.

[Oklahawg]

Wilson Matthews (apparently) lived west of the stadium up the hill. We would be sitting in a parking lot waiting for traffic to clear and he'd come up the hill after the game. Never a smile, always a distant look, but if we were to wave or roll the window down and give a "go hogs!" he'd smile and wave at us, never slowing down.

I had to ask, of course, once as a young-un, "Grandpa, who is that?"

"That is Coach Matthews."

That ended the conversation, like I was to know. I would get the program out and read. Then I did know.

[snoblind]

We sat on row 32 when I was a kid.  One year in the early 70's we got moved up under the press box which my dad didn't like so he called Wilson as soon as he saw the tickets.  Told him my mom couldn't see from that far up.  Wilson called him a liar, but he said would take care of it.  Back on row 32 by the time season started.  Been there ever since.

Dad gave the tickets to me after the Citadel game and said he was never going back, which he didn't.  But he gave the foundation donation every year until he died.  Said he had promised WM he donate.

[JIHawg]

Wilson would walk around practice with a belt in his hand.  After a play, if anyone didn't jump up quickly but laid on the ground, he would give them a whack.

[go hogues]

Dad gave the tickets to me after the Citadel game and said he was never going back, which he didn't.  But he gave the foundation donation every year until he died.  Said he had promised WM he donate.

Now that's some old school thinking right there. How many years after that loss did your dad live?

[moses_007]

Wilson would walk around practice with a belt in his hand.  After a play, if anyone didn't jump up quickly but laid on the ground, he would give them a whack.

I doubt a coach could get by with that these days.

[Mike Irwin]

I doubt a coach could get by with that these days.

Not saying it's not true but I've never heard that about Wilson. I did hear from an ex-player that Bowden Wyatt had some assistants that would do that. I asked the late George Beckett about it. He was on the '54 team. He said," You got to be kidding. Billy Ray Smith was on that team. The first time a coach whacked him with a belt the coach would be looking for some new teeth."

George was a real character. He also was quite open about fact that ex-players are some of the biggest BS'ers on the planet.

[DeltaBoy]

I heard several of these stories over the Years. He was cut out of some Ole School Cloth.

[texas tush hog]

Not saying it's not true but I've never heard that about Wilson. I did hear from an ex-player that Bowden Wyatt had some assistants that would do that. I asked the late George Beckett about it. He was on the '54 team. He said," You got to be kidding. Billy Ray Smith was on that team. The first time a coach whacked him with a belt the coach would be looking for some new teeth."

George was a real character. He also was quite open about fact that ex-players are some of the biggest BS'ers on the planet.

I doubt that story as well, but I will say this, my good friend Paul (Red) Henderson(one of George Bequette's teammates I might add) used to call him Wilson, but most in my day never did. It was always Coach Matthews till the day he died. My wife used to babysit for he and Martha. In 1985 we moved to the upper deck when it was opened. My wife hated it so I called coach and asked to move back to our old seats downstairs. He politely(right) told me "I can't do that." The next day my wife called Martha and the next day coach called and told me we were going back to our old seats and we have been there ever since.

[texas tush hog]

A thread of coach Jim Washburn stories would make most of the posters here curl up in the fetal position and suck their thumbs. He was awesome.

I can vouch for that as well. My daughter was a student trainer for Wash and Louis Campbell and I got to observe practice up close and personal(unlike today) and Wash reminded me a lot of Coach Matthews. My daughter early on told me stories about what an A-hole he was and I told her "honey, that's nothing." After I watched him in action she said " see what I mean." I still said the same thing. That may be why they close practices today. Jim and Sandy are still good friends to this day but he is really a lot tougher in the pros. He and son, Jeremiah are now with the Detroit Lions. Jim is d-line coach(the best in the NFL I might add) and Jeremiah is the O-line coach, I bet that is an interesting combination. Jeremiah seems to be more in the Louis Campbell mode.

Oh, by the way, Jim and Sandy treated my daughter like one of their own after that first year, the players treated her the same way.

[Mike Irwin]

Maybe I was getting George confused with the historical Thomas Becket but I must be getting really old to misspell his name like that. It's not like I didn't cover two of his sons and one of his grandsons. When you spell a name hundreds of times you'd think you'd remember how to do it.

[texas tush hog]

Maybe I was getting George confused with the historical Thomas Becket but I must be getting really old to misspell his name like that. It's not like I didn't cover two of his sons and one of his grandsons. When you spell a name hundreds of times you'd think you'd remember how to do it.

Hey, Mike, it is hell getting old, but it beats the alternative

[johnsonswitch]

There is a painting of WM in the office section of the south end of the stadium.
Only people who work in the stadium ever get to see it.
Someone should post a pic of it here for the older fans.

I'd do it myself but I no longer work in the stadium.

--JS

[rusvegashog]

Some of you old timers need to get at it, we need more stories like these. Didn't even know who Wilson Mathews was, but so far this has been a thoroughly entertaining thread. I need more way back stories of cussing, whipping and crab crawling. The one about how he worked that boy to death and then told him he would never give up on him, ain't gonna lie choked me up just a  little bit. Man times sure have changed.

[snoblind]

Now that's some old school thinking right there. How many years after that loss did your dad live?

5

[DeltaBoy]

The Tall Tell I heard about Coach Matthews was he meet a boy who was not on his recruiting tour who told him I will walk to the Hill if the Hogs will let me try and play.   Coach was so impressed he sent the kid a letter when to show up and the kid walked and hitch hiked to Nam and got his change to try and play and he got on the team.   That one been told in the Delta for years.

[OLDHOG]

Never played for him, but played in that era. OLD SCHOOL to the max. Couldn't get by with that today. Too many feelings would be hurt. Very well respected coach. 

[ArkansasBread3]

I used to fish with him, him and my grandfather were best friends.. Funny guy, that was full of stories

[rusvegashog]

I used to fish with him, him and my grandfather were best friends.. Funny guy, that was full of stories

All right then come on with it.. :razorback:

[ArkansasBread3]

All right then come on with it.. :razorback:

Well most of the time it was G-rated, it was about 18 years ago and I was a youngster. I would just nod my head and laugh because I did not understand a lot of what they were talking about, except when they brought up sports but that was not very often. Definitely would be some choice language when he would miss a bite. Caught a lot of crappy though. Danny ford would often go with them but I was not allowed to go when all three of them went.

[rusvegashog]

His bio is very impressive 33 game win streak, 10 state championships in 11 years at Little Rock Central, didn't lose a game in the state of Arkansas for like 6 years. His 1957 team was ranked #1 nationally. He's from just down the road here in Atkins and played at my Alma Mater ATU. He's definitely from before my time, but I've always enjoyed listening to stories from the old days. Lived a full life it seems, not to mention he was also a WW2 Veteran.

[jethro]

All right then come on with it.. :razorback:

Tsk, tsk.  A Russellville guy should know more about him.  Too close to you to not know.  I met him when I was a pup.  My dad and my dad's coach (who became my neighbor when I grew up and married) knew him.  I didn't realize of course who he was being a kid of about 5-6. 

[Mike Irwin]

Some of you have been around long enough to remember that Houston Nutt came to Arkansas throwing the football all over the place. The problem was he didn't have Clint Stoerner or Anthony Lucas after the '99 season.

The Hogs were in danger of not going to a bowl game in 2000 but when Robby Hampton got hurt and Nutt had to run the ball with Fred Talley and Brandon Holmes they rebounded just enough to make it to the Vegas Bowl. By the time the bowl practices started Hampton had recovered and Nutt switched back to his passing game to face UNLV.

The game was a disaster. The next morning Nutt was late to a scheduled press conference. The word we got was that he was with Frank Broyles.

Nutt finally arrived. He had that same wild look in his eyes that he had the day Damien Williams left the team prior to the start of practices for the Capitol One bowl in 2006. In other words something had scared the fool out of him.

I was later told that Frank told Nutt if he wanted to keep slinging the football all over the field he'd better get him a new quarterback, some better receivers and some linemen who could pass block. It was at this point that Arkansas became a running team.

The following August I was standing in the shade of the Walker Indoor practice field talking to Wilson Matthews while the team went through an afternoon practice. Frank walked up and started telling Wilson about his issues with Nutt's offense.

The conversation went like this:

Frank: I told Houston, 'You got yourself too far behind too many times. By the 4th quarter you had no choice but to throw it on every down and you became one dimensional. You got to keep it close enough by the 4th quarter than you have options.

Wilson: You told him that?

Frank: Yeah, you know. What did we used to say? If we were within 7 points in the 4th quarter we had a chance to win. We won a lot of game like that too, didn't we?

Wilson: We did, but it's not 1965 anymore. These days coaches have to deal with something we never had to worry about.

Frank: What are you talking about?

Wilson: Entertainment. In our time all we had to do was win. 7-0, 3-0, it didn't matter. If we won the fans walked out of that stadium happy. It's not that way anymore. If a man brings his family up from Little Rock and he's going to spend two or three hundred dollars on the trip he wants us to win and entertain him to boot.

Frank: (After several seconds of silence) Well Wilson....I always thought winnin' was entertainin'.

[rusvegashog]

Tsk, tsk.  A Russellville guy should know more about him.  Too close to you to not know.  I met him when I was a pup.  My dad and my dad's coach (who became my neighbor when I grew up and married) knew him.  I didn't realize of course who he was being a kid of about 5-6.

Yeah I'm Definately lagging for sure. Did some research and found out he was from just up the road. I'm actually from Newton County but have been in Or around Russellville since 1994. I enjoy learning more about the Hogs and lineages. Ill never claim to know nearly what many on here do when it comes to the Hogs, but I do enjoy learning and hearing stories from the Razorbacks past. It seems to me story telling is becoming a lost art as the older generation passes.

[rusvegashog]

Some of you have been around long enough to remember that Houston Nutt came to Arkansas throwing the football all over the place. The problem was he didn't have Clint Stoerner or Anthony Lucas after the '99 season.

The Hogs were in danger of not going to a bowl game in 2000 but when Robby Hampton got hurt and Nutt had to run the ball with Fred Talley and Brandon Holmes they rebounded just enough to make it to the Vegas Bowl. By the time the bowl practices started Hampton had recovered and Nutt switched back to his passing game to face UNLV.

The game was a disaster. The next morning Nutt was late to a scheduled press conference. The word we got was that he was with Frank Broyles.

Nutt finally arrived. He had that same wild look in his eyes that he had the day Damien Williams left the team prior to the start of practices for the Capitol One bowl in 2006. In other words something had scared the fool out of him.

I was later told that Frank told Nutt if he wanted to keep slinging the football all over the field he'd better get him a new quarterback, some better receivers and some linemen who could pass block. It was at this point that Arkansas became a running team.

The following August I was standing in the shade of the Walker Indoor practice field talking to Wilson Matthews while the team went through an afternoon practice. Frank walked up and started telling Wilson about his issues with Nutt's offense.

The conversation went like this:

Frank: I told Houston, 'You got yourself too far behind too many times. By the 4th quarter you had no choice but to throw it on every down and you became one dimensional. You got to keep it close enough by the 4th quarter than you have options.

Wilson: You told him that?

Frank: Yeah, you know. What did we used to say? If we were within 7 points in the 4th quarter we had a chance to win. We won a lot of game like that too, didn't we?

Wilson: We did, but it's not 1965 anymore. These days coaches have to deal with something we never had to worry about.

Frank: What are you talking about?

Wilson: Entertainment. In our time all we had to do was win. 7-0, 3-0, it didn't matter. If we won the fans walked out of that stadium happy. It's not that way anymore. If a man brings his family up from Little Rock and he's going to spend two or three hundred dollars on the trip he wants us to win and entertain him to boot.

Frank: (After several seconds of silence) Well Wilson....I always thought winnin' was entertainin'.

That's what I'm talking about that's a good bit of history right there. I do remember Nutt passing the ball quite a bit more early on. Did he not pass the ball quite a bit at Boise. Ill look it up. My memory isn't serving me well. As a child I was a die hard OU fan tony Casilas, Brian Bozworth and so on. We moved to Arkansas in 1985 from Tulsa when I was 9 (mike anderson and other TU players use to come to our baseball practices and help out), but it wasn't till around the time Switzer left Oklahoma and Houston took pthe job at Arkansas and a young tailback by the name of Madre Hill took Arkansas by storm did my allegiance start to change. I loved coach Nutt as a kid I totally bought into the ra ra. I always liked the idea of the home town boy all grown up getting his dream job. I still do, I'm all about our state and home grown products. Sounds to me as though Coach Mathews was much more progressive than Coach Broyles or at the very least recognized as much the needs of the times. I know because things did not end well with Coach Nutt a lot of folks have bitter feelings not me only regret for what it did to the program as a whole. Just hasn't been any stability since. I believe that that is changing. Thank u for the story.

[DeltaBoy]

Some of you have been around long enough to remember that Houston Nutt came to Arkansas throwing the football all over the place. The problem was he didn't have Clint Stoerner or Anthony Lucas after the '99 season.

The Hogs were in danger of not going to a bowl game in 2000 but when Robby Hampton got hurt and Nutt had to run the ball with Fred Talley and Brandon Holmes they rebounded just enough to make it to the Vegas Bowl. By the time the bowl practices started Hampton had recovered and Nutt switched back to his passing game to face UNLV.

The game was a disaster. The next morning Nutt was late to a scheduled press conference. The word we got was that he was with Frank Broyles.

Nutt finally arrived. He had that same wild look in his eyes that he had the day Damien Williams left the team prior to the start of practices for the Capitol One bowl in 2006. In other words something had scared the fool out of him.

I was later told that Frank told Nutt if he wanted to keep slinging the football all over the field he'd better get him a new quarterback, some better receivers and some linemen who could pass block. It was at this point that Arkansas became a running team.

The following August I was standing in the shade of the Walker Indoor practice field talking to Wilson Matthews while the team went through an afternoon practice. Frank walked up and started telling Wilson about his issues with Nutt's offense.

The conversation went like this:

Frank: I told Houston, 'You got yourself too far behind too many times. By the 4th quarter you had no choice but to throw it on every down and you became one dimensional. You got to keep it close enough by the 4th quarter than you have options.

Wilson: You told him that?

Frank: Yeah, you know. What did we used to say? If we were within 7 points in the 4th quarter we had a chance to win. We won a lot of game like that too, didn't we?

Wilson: We did, but it's not 1965 anymore. These days coaches have to deal with something we never had to worry about.

Frank: What are you talking about?

Wilson: Entertainment. In our time all we had to do was win. 7-0, 3-0, it didn't matter. If we won the fans walked out of that stadium happy. It's not that way anymore. If a man brings his family up from Little Rock and he's going to spend two or three hundred dollars on the trip he wants us to win and entertain him to boot.

Frank: (After several seconds of silence) Well Wilson....I always thought winnin' was entertainin'.

That is the Greatest Truth to be told here since I joined.  Coach Matthews hit it on the head and the same issue has crept down to the HS and even the Pew Wee Ranks.  Just Win Baby doesn't cut it anymore!

[JIHawg]

Mike-that post is so good it deserves its own thread.

[OLDHOG]

Yea, good post Mike. Very true and a shame. Winning is just not enough. Ask Ken Hatfield. Just sayin.

[old hog]

Some great stories of "old school". Oh how times have changed, and not necessarily for the better.

[fieldturf]

Boy I miss listening to Mike on the radio at noon or 1pm whatever it was when he had his radio show.  Just wondering if he ever going to start up again?

[Mike Irwin]

I'm on 12 to 1 pm M-F on 93.3 in LR and 99.5 in NWA.

[DeltaBoy]

Give us some more Stories Mike and get ready to write a book.

[supersaint]

I can vouch for that as well. My daughter was a student trainer for Wash and Louis Campbell and I got to observe practice up close and personal(unlike today) and Wash reminded me a lot of Coach Matthews. My daughter early on told me stories about what an A-hole he was and I told her "honey, that's nothing." After I watched him in action she said " see what I mean." I still said the same thing. That may be why they close practices today. Jim and Sandy are still good friends to this day but he is really a lot tougher in the pros. He and son, Jeremiah are now with the Detroit Lions. Jim is d-line coach(the best in the NFL I might add) and Jeremiah is the O-line coach, I bet that is an interesting combination. Jeremiah seems to be more in the Louis Campbell mode.

Oh, by the way, Jim and Sandy treated my daughter like one of their own after that first year, the players treated her the same way.

I played for coach Washburn and loved it. He was hard on us, but if you gave great effort, he loved you. If you were lazy, he would literally threaten to beat you up after practice.

[DeltaBoy]

Nothing worse than a LAZY Football Player.

[Inhogswetrust]

Maybe I was getting George confused with the historical Thomas Becket but I must be getting really old to misspell his name like that. It's not like I didn't cover two of his sons and one of his grandsons. When you spell a name hundreds of times you'd think you'd remember how to do it.

No sweat Mike. As I get older I sometimes wonder if I'm spelling my own name correct! I'm one of those that sometimes turn around just to make sure I remembered to lock the door when leaving!

[old hog]

I played for coach Washburn and loved it. He was hard on us, but if you gave great effort, he loved you. If you were lazy, he would literally threaten to beat you up after practice.

From what I have heard of him, he meant it. He had the players respect, though.

[Mike Irwin]

Here's a George Bequette story. For reference, he played for the '54 "Little Pigs" which were SWC champs under coach Bowden Wyatt.

In 2000 I interviewed another player on that team about the '54 season. He told me a story about coming back from the Texas game on a train. The team got off the train in Oklahoma and transferred to a bus where they came back to Fayetteville on highway 62.

According to him the citizens of Lincoln, Arkansas decided to stage a pep rally so they sent a local cop out to the highway with orders to divert the bus to the place where the pep rally was being staged.

He said that Wyatt wanted none of it. As the bus started through Lincoln and Wyatt saw the cop waving for the bus to stop he supposedly told the driver, "Run over his butt if you have to. We are not stopping this bus. We have a workout to do back on campus."

It was raining when the bus pulled up on Stadium Drive next to practice field. He said Wyatt ordered everybody off and into Barnhill where they proceeded to have a three hour practice indoors. "We had just beaten Texas and were heroes but all coach wanted to do was work us some more," the ex player concluded.

The next year during the week of 2001 Cotton Bowl I saw George Bequette outside of a Hog practice in Dallas. I related the story his ex teammate had told me on camera.

"That guy is the biggest BS artist on the planet," George laughed. "Coach Wyatt never told anybody to run over a cop. People were lined up beside the road waving at us and we waved back, that's all. As for the workout, we always worked out on Sundays after games, road trips or home games. There's was nothing unusual about it. Nobody was mad. We just did what we always did."

I asked him why his ex teammate might have exaggerated. "Aw, it sounds good to make it seem like we had a tougher time of it than players of today," he said. "Makes us look like tough guys. We were tough but we weren't any tougher than those guys (pointing toward the practice field where the Hogs were working out).

I thought the world of George Bequette. He gave us Jay and Chris and Jay gave us Jake.
A great family of Razorback players.

By the way Chris Bequette was hands down the best player I've seen at speaking on camera. He was smarter than his coaches. His sound bytes were amazing.

[DeltaBoy]

Love Chris Bequette ! Great kid.

[supersaint]

From what I have heard of him, he meant it. He had the players respect, though.

Oh there's no doubt he meant it.  His "escape from Saigon" drill was brutal!