Profile · Oak Creek, Wisconsin
John Daniel “Tooz” Matuszak
NFL first overall pick (1973), Raiders defensive lineman and actor; born Milwaukee, raised Oak Creek; died 1989
$450,000
John Daniel “Tooz” Matuszak was the first overall pick of the 1973 NFL draft, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders, and later Hollywood’s Sloth in The Goonies. Oak Creek claimed him after an elementary-school move south from downtown Milwaukee. Born in Milwaukee on October 25, 1950, to Audrey and Marvin Matuszak, he grew up in Oak Creek after the family left downtown. Classmates called the gawky kid a beanpole; two brothers had already died of cystic fibrosis. He packed on muscle, threw the shot 58 feet 11 inches for a Wisconsin Class A state title, and played defensive line for the Knights. Grades kept him out of Wisconsin and Iowa. He went to Fort Dodge junior college, spent a year at Missouri under Dan Devine, then Tampa, then the top of the 1973 draft. With the Raiders he won Super Bowls XI and XV. Hollywood wanted the size: North Dallas Forty, then about five hours of makeup as Sloth in The Goonies, where he wore a Raiders shirt under the latex. His 1987 autobiography with Steve Delsohn was Cruisin’ with the Tooz. He died at 38 in Burbank on June 17, 1989, of an accidental Darvocet (propoxyphene) overdose, with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, bronchopneumonia, and traces of cocaine. Mother Audrey was still in Oak Creek when the NFL later sent the high school two gold Super Bowl footballs.