John Matuszak Biography

Not only was John Matuszak a big NFL star but the world of Hollywood drew him in. John got his first major role in the film North Dallas Forty in 1979 playing a football player. While he was on injured reserve in 1982, he started to consider acting as the next chapter in his life. He had special appearances on television shows. These included: M*A*S*H, The A-Team, and Miami Vice. Since these were just one or two shows at time, Matuszak starred in other movies as well. One movie most people recognized him in was The Goonies as Sloth. This was a special role for John. The director put little things in the movie about him like the Raiders jersey to represent his previous NFL team. John left a legacy for everyone through film with his outstanding acting.
One would think that the life of a professional football player, actor, and the strongest man would be all joy and happiness. Was that really true though? Prior to his college career, he lost one of his scholarships, was arrested a few times, and addicted to alcohol, cocaine, and prescription drugs. As a result of that insanity, he got in a lot of car accidents because he was drunk from all the alcohol. Another thing that made John’s life difficult was that he got in lots of fights with his fellow teammates. This caused
He was lucky enough to become a professional football player because of his hard work. His hard work continued to allow him to compete and taking 9th place in the World’s Strongest Man Competition. Weighing 315 pounds and not even training for this event showed Matuszak’s talent. Equally important was John’s biography Cruisin’ With the Tooz by Steve Delsohn, published in 1987. The biography is about John’s life story including his career, addiction, etc., which allowed others to see the type of man he was: professional football player, actor, humanitarian(glossary) and my 4th cousin. John Matuszak a Renaissance man?