Remembering the other side of The Don

One of the greatest CFL coaches of all time put me in a garbage can.

I had it coming.

It was the early ’90s and my dad Darrell was covering the Saskatchewan Roughriders for the Regina Leader-Post.

On this particular afternoon, I got to tag along to practice. Taylor Field was a fun place to terrorize. No more than three years old, I could raise hell with the best of them.

At some point I acquired a football helmet and was running, head down, around the stadium. I ran into somebody, full-tilt, and looked up to see The Don.

I can’t recall if he told me to watch where I was going. I kicked Don Matthews in the shin. He placed me in a large garbage can. We were instant buddies.

Our friendship continued after 1993 when Don left Saskatchewan for the Baltimore Stallions.

Don sent a bunch of Stallions T-shirts that were way too big. He said I’d grow into them, but they turned to shreds before that happened. Baltimore won the Grey Cup under Don in ’95.

When Don took the headcoaching job with the Toronto Argonauts, he and Eric Tillman put me on the team’s negotiation list: “Austin Davis. Running back. No college.” I was eight.

Don had no reason to keep in touch with me as he won his third and fourth CFL championship. But we would talk over the phone on occasion and I would go visit when his teams played the Riders.

But in 2003, when the Grey Cup was in Regina, Don outdid himself. After serving as the Alouettes’ water boy twice before, Don asked that I be on the east sideline of Taylor Field to hold the coat of Als quarterback, that year’s league MVP and professional football’s all-time passing yards leader, Anthony Calvillo.

It was cold and there was a portable heater on the sideline. Some of the players would go stand by it. I stood by it, too. Unfortunately, I got distracted and messed up my one job. In my mind, I was the reason Alouettes lost.

As demoralized players started to file out, Don emerged from the coaches’ room. I told him I was bad luck. He gave me $50 and a cool hat. Don won 231 games in his coaching career, but what I’ll remember most was how kind he was to me after that loss.

It wasn’t until I was older when I realized how lucky I was to see a gentler side of Don Matthews.

I knew of The Don’s reputation for battling members of the media. Yes, he was tough, but he was more than tough. It is his spirit I still admire most.