Tom Matte, Emergency Quarterback for Baltimore Colts, Dies at 82

Tom Matte, a stubby halfback for the Baltimore Colts who stepped in as their quarterback late in the 1965 season when Johnny Unitas and his backup, Gary Cuozzo, were injured and nearly took the team to the N.F.L. championship game, died on Tuesday at his home in Towson, Md. He was 82.

John Harbaugh, the coach of the Baltimore Ravens, announced the death.

Matte was a sturdy, reliable and productive running back for the Colts for 12 seasons. But he was no stranger to playing quarterback. He had played the position at Ohio State University, though he had not passed often in Coach Woody Hayes’s run-oriented offense. And, with Unitas, a future Hall of Famer, at quarterback for the Colts, Matte didn’t have to worry about anything but taking handoffs and catching passes.

Matte also knew that he was physically limited as a quarterback.

“I have very small hands,” Matte told PressBox, a Maryland sports media company, in 2020. “I couldn’t even put my hand around the ball. Unitas, he’d wrap almost all the way around the ball, so he would always throw that wonderful spiral.”

But in successive weeks in December, Unitas tore up his right knee and Cuozzo separated his left shoulder, setting the stage for Matte to become an enduring favorite among Colts fans. In a game on Dec. 18, 1965, he and Ed Brown, a journeyman player, shared the quarterbacking duties and led the Colts to a 20-17 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/03/sports/football/tom-matte-dead.html