Playing Career
Matte's 12-year pro career was spent with the Baltimore Colts where he posted career stats of 4,646 rushing yards, 249 receptions for 2,869 yards, 1,367 yards returning kickoffs, and 57 touchdowns (45 rushing, 12 receiving). Late in the 1965 season, Matte also memorably filled in as an emergency quarterback when Colts QBs Johnny Unitas and Gary Cuozzo went down with season-ending injuries in consecutive home losses to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, respectively. For the Colts' regular-season finale (a 20-17 win) against the Los Angeles Rams and the following weekend's one-game playoff at Green Bay (a 13-10 overtime loss resulting from a missed Packer field goal that was erroneously ruled good), Colts head coach Don Shula put a list of plays on a wristband that Matte wore. The wristband is now on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Later in his career, Matte was immortalized on the cover of Sports Illustrated, scoring his third touchdown of the afternoon in the NFL Championship Game against the Cleveland Browns, January 5, 1969.
Matte was selected for two Pro Bowls and played in two Super Bowls, earning a ring at Super Bowl V where the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys. In Super Bowl III, he rushed for 116 yards and caught 2 passes for 30 yards. He still holds the record for highest per-carry rushing average in a Super Bowl game: 10.5 (116 yards in only 11 carries in 1969 versus the New York Jets).
Read more about this topic: Tom Matte
Famous quotes containing the words playing and/or career:
“We are playing with fire when we skip the years of three, four, and five to hurry children into being age six.... Every child has a right to his fifth year of life, his fourth year, his third year. He has a right to live each year with joy and self-fulfillment. No one should ever claim the power to make a child mortgage his today for the sake of tomorrow.”
—James L. Hymes, Jr. (20th century)
“I’ve been in the twilight of my career longer than most people have had their career.”
—Martina Navratilova (b. 1956)