Coach Richard Matteo looks back at his career as a coach and athletic director.
By: Rebecca Tokarz
JAMESBURG Richard Matteo makes his way down the hallway of his Woodland Avenue home, methodically navigating his way into a small room filled with mounted plaques, signed soccer balls, photographs, sketches and shelves of trophies signifying nearly four successful decades as an athletic director and coach.
Coach Matteo as he likes to be called even after 22 years in retirement positioned his wheelchair in front of a small couch and, with a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face, began chatting about the past 84 years of his life and how he ended up becoming one of the most successful coaches in New Jersey sporting history.
"I was 115 pounds in high school and my best sport was baseball," he said. "When I attended Montclair University, I received a varsity letter in baseball that was like playing at Yankee Stadium."
Although Coach Matteo never made it to the big leagues, he took his on-field flair and transformed it into a 39½-year career as a coach and athletic director at the now defunct Jamesburg High School. During this tenure at the school, he coached soccer, baseball and basketball.
"I chose Jamesburg because they had the opportunity for me to do some coaching and I wasn’t too interested in working for a big school," he said.
Coach joined the district in 1943 at a salary of $1,450 a year.
He said the district discontinued the soccer program at the school in the 1940s because of the war and the need to conserve on transportation costs. The program was later reinstated and the school went on to win several championships under Coach Matteo’s guidance.
"More kids came out for soccer than for basketball and baseball. It was a big sport in this town and the area," he said. "Then we began to win and people paid attention to us.
And win they did.
Between 1965 and 1969, the Jamesburg High School soccer team went 77-0-10 before losing to East Brunswick, 2-1. The Jamesburg team when went on to win another 17 straight games.
"It built up to the point where the kids would eat, drink and live soccer," Coach Matteo said. "You couldn’t give up you almost had to play that way. If we ever got a lead, we’d go crazy if we ever lost it. It was a lot of fun though."
Coach Matteo also coached successful baseball and basketball teams and retired in 1982 after spending two years in the elementary schools following JHS’s closure in 1979. He compiled 700 wins between the three sports 400 in soccer alone, he said. For his success on the soccer field, Coach Matteo was inducted into the New Jersey Soccer Hall of Fame in 1988 and The New Jersey Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 1992.
Coach Matteo said he remembers several things about this time with Jamesburg High School, including what seemed to be an impossible feat for a school.
"In 1961, we did something I don’t think any coach or team has ever done we were state champions in basketball, soccer and baseball," he said.
Although not as glamorous, Coach Matteo remembered doing what he had to do in order to keep the athletic program running during hard economic times.
He chuckled as he shared some tales about how he was responsible for making sure his players had the proper cleats and that the field was lined.
"I relined the field myself, measuring it and setting it up myself. They (the district) gave me wood, but I had to put the polls up myself," he said. "The kids would come out in their free periods to help me."
Out of all the players he coached during his 39 years, there was only one bad injury.
"One major injury in 39 years and three sports. A kid broke his arm on an obstacle course, he vaulted from an 8-foot wall," he said.
Sitting comfortably in his home on a cold winter’s afternoon, Coach Matteo looks back on his career and credits his wife of 62 years, Rose, for his successes.
"My wife is the type of person who likes sports and who was willing to move down here away from everyone," he said. "I never had to worry about her. We’ve met a lot of great people."
Even though he has enjoyed retirement, Coach Matteo said he still enjoys sports and before encountering a bad knee and a hip problem that keeps him in a wheelchair most of the time, he spent hours attending games played by his nine grandchildren.
But no matter how far removed from coaching he gets, Coach Matteo said he’ll always remember the students he coached.
"I could never find words to express my satisfaction with the kids that came to Jamesburg High School. As far as I’m concerned, they were great," he said.