Riley "Rattlesnake" Matheson—A Virtual Unknown With a Fine NFL Career

By John Turney 

Riley Matheson (#11)

Ever heard of Riley "Rattlesnake" Matheson? You should. An offensive lineman for the Rams, Lions and 49ers, he was an All-Star at every stop of his football career.

He was all-conference in college and junior college, All-NFL, second-team All-AAFC and a CFL All-Star. He was also called the best guard in the NFL and one of the best defensive players some had ever seen.

One thing he's not, however, is a Hall of Famer.

He's never been granted serious consideration as a modern-era or senior candidate, and don't ask me why. Nor was he mentioned when Hall voters chose all-decade teams to celebrate the NFL's 50th anniversary. Matheson inexplicably was left off the squad, while Bill "Monk" Edwards was not. He was a Giants' guard who played four seasons. Matheson played 10.

Had Matheson been elected, maybe he'd have a higher profile with Hall voters. But let's be honest: He doesn't have much of a profile with anyone.

Even ardent followers of the Hall-of-Fame process don't talk about him when the discussion leads to senior candidates who fall through the cracks. You hear about guys like Al Wistert, Verne Lewellen, Lavvie Dilweg, Ox Emerson and Cecil Isbell when it comes to so-called "super seniors".

Those five guys fell through the cracks. And "Snake?" He fell down a hole.

The question is: why?

A native Texan who went to high school in Oklahoma, Matheson had a rancher's swagger and devil-may-care attitude that led him to show up at his first NFL training camp in a 10-gallon cowboy hat and old Levi's. The 6-3, 207-pounder (he'd eventually grow to 220 pounds) figured he had nothing to lose. He was there to make a stand and make the team.

In time, he did, playing eight years with the Cleveland/L.A. Rams (1939-42 and 1944-47)) and one each with Detroit (1943) and San Francisco (1948).

He not only was accomplished; he was so popular with teammates, writers and fans that a "Riley Matheson Day" day was held to honor him ... while he was still an active player. He was given a new station wagon paid for by fans, extra cash collected by the Rams' faithful and a gold watch from teammates.

So why has he been forgotten?

It's hard to say. Probably the simplest answer is that he had some of his best seasons during World War II when many players were in the military and the talent pool was smaller. Nevertheless, a few of his best seasons occurred after the war was over. 

Not only that, but there are Hall-of-Famers who didn't serve and had their best seasons in the 1940s. Among them: Don Hutson, Sammy Baugh. Sid Luckman, Bulldog Turner and Alex Wojciechowicz. They played during World War II, too, so that shouldn't be the reason the Hall's early boards of selectors snubbed Matheson.

Maybe it's because when Matheson was a modern-era candidate, voters thought Canton had more than enough Rams from his era. Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch and Tom Fears represented the Rams' offense, but they mostly came later and were part of the "point-a-minute" offenses that changed football. Andy Robustelli and Dick "Night Train" Lane were part of the defense, but, like the others, were inducted later and finished their careers with other teams.

Still, that's only six, which doesn't seem like an overrepresentation; certainly not enough to exclude someone who was a five-time first-team All-Pro like Matheson. 

So what's the problem?

The Cleveland Rams' teams that he played on early in his career weren't competitive, and that could be a factor. In fact, Matheson played on more teams with losing records than winners, and let's face it: Proven winners have an easier time reaching Canton than perennial losers. But it's not as if he never played on a winner. Because he did. 

So what's the issue? Whatever it is, it's time to reopen "Snake's" case because his career warrants a fresh look.

Matheson began his pro career with a compelling story that didn't begin with his first game with the Cleveland Rams; it began long before that, on his journey to the Rams' training camp in 1939. With no football team at his high school, Matheson first played the sport at Cameron Junior College (now Cameron University) in Oklahoma where he made the All-Conference team.

Riley Matheson (#11)

He tried to parlay that into playing for the University of Florida and traveled there with a teammate to try out. When that didn't work out, he returned to his native Texas and accepted a basketball scholarship at the State School of Mines and Metallurgy at El Paso, now called UTEP.

In his two years there, he played basketball and football, serving as a tackle and end. He was good enough to be named second-team All-Border Conference as a junior and first-team as a senior when he was chosen the Muckers' (now Miners') team MVP.

After graduating, he took a job laying a pipeline line in Arizona where he was bitten by a rattlesnake. Twice. Or four times, depending on which account you read. There's also a version that has two of the bites occurring when he hunted mountain lions and timber wolves to earn enough money to attend Cameron.

Because Matheson passed away in 1987, he's not here to clarify the details. But suffice it to say, he earned his nickname and it stuck.

He had applied to play pro football by sending in an application to the Cleveland Rams. Yes, a resume. Back then teams didn't scout much, especially at a Border Conference school. So NFL teams would send applications to schools that had promising players.

Matheson filled it out and along with recommendations from coaches, players and even a few writers, he got a camp invite from the Cleveland Rams by coach Dutch Clark.

The Rams didn't take a lot of walk-ons with Clark telling the media, "We are not taking many players outside the draft list," but Matheson made the cut, at first, anyway.

When asked what position he wanted to play Snake said tackle but was rebuffed and was told the club had plenty of those. End? Same answer.

He then just offered his service to play wherever and that he'd "Make a good hand."

Clark put him at defensive guard (now called a defensive tackle) and he actually played in the first couple of games but Snaked was reportedly "too eager" and fell for trap plays over and over. Back then they called them "mousetraps" and being suckered so much he earned the nickname "Limberger" and "Cheesehead".

As a result, the Rams farmed him down to their minor league team the Columbus Bullies where he played 20 games that season. Matheson later recounted that playing minor league football helped his development -- and boy did it.

In 1940 Clark gave the newly confident "Cheesehead" another chance and he returned to the Rams a much-improved player, sticking to the roster all season.

The next season he made his mark in the NFL being voted to the United Press All-Pro team. But that was just the beginning. The next year he made the Associated Press All-Pro team -- he was on a roll.

But the Rams weren't on a roll.

They had to disband in 1943 because of the depletion of players serving in the military there were not enough players to fill all the franchises. Teams combined and the Rams players were distributed around the NFL with Rattlesnake surfacing in Detroit.

He immediately was noticed by Detroit News columnist Dale Stafford, who wrote, "He's a lean wirey Texan with the build of an end. Possessed of tremendous strength and agility, Matheson is as fine a guard as these eyes have looked at in some time."

Fittingly the paper named him to their own All-Pro team and the New York Daily News named him second-team All-Pro. Not bad for a year in exile in the Motor City.

The Rams resumed play in 1944 and the rest of his time with the Rams -- through 1947 he was a consensus All-Pro pick -- AP, UP, Daily News, you name it. If there was an All-Pro team he was usually on it. The man was simply recognized as one of the best players in the NFL, year in and year out.

Matherson had such an impact that in 1945 he even got two votes in the Official MVP balloting. Two you say? Big deal. Well, Sammy Baugh only got nine and Snake was the only lineman to garner any votes at all.

He was a big factor in the Rams' NFL Championship in 1945 and recovered a key fumble. Plus, the glib cowboy even suggested a play to rookie QB Bob Waterfield. Waterfield sarcastically agreed, telling Snake, "Why don't you call the plays and I'll center the ball."

Point made, Bob.

The Rams won the game 15-14, checking the "ring" box on his Hall qualifications.

Perhaps another reason he's not been at the forefront of Hall discussions is that folk may not know exactly what he was on the field. 

Riley Matheson (#11) making a tackle on Chicago Cardinals' End Ed Rucinski

Yes, he was listed as a guard but he also played tackle on an unbalanced line in the Rams' single-wing wing offense. When they moved to the T-formation he slid inside to guard.

But on defense, he'd move around playing middle guard, move to defensive tackle, and drop back as a linebacker usually in the middle.

Later, when the Rams had moved to Los Angeles he played some center and would sometimes be outside linebacker in a 6-2 defense but it varied from game to game. Generally, though, he should be remembered that he was a nose guard when the Rams ran the 6-2 and he'd step back and play the middle linebacker when they deployed a 5-3 defense.

In all cases, he was called the defensive signals and was elite at diagnosing plays, and usually led the team in tackles. "Matheson has a sixth sense or something," said Jack Lavelle, a New York Giants scout, "He's fast and strong. Riley must make 90 percent of the Ram tackles, or so it seems."

"One of the best defensive guards to ever grace a National League roster", raved Los Angeles Daily News writer Ned Cronin. Los Angeles Daily Mirror columnist Maxwell Stiles was even more effusive calling Matheson, "One of the finest defensive linemen or linebackers I've ever seen."

After all those All-Pro seasons in 1948, they thought he was getting old and wanted to trade him and found an East Coast suitor. Matherson found out about it and said he wouldn't go but asked permission to seek a deal with the other West Coast team -- the San Francisco 49ers of the rival AAFC.

Ironically, a few years earlier Matheson received a lucrative offer from the Cleveland Browns to play and coach in the new league. He ultimately rejected it after cleverly using it as leverage to get a raise from the Rams.

One of his concerns was the threat of a five-year suspension that he would have received from the NFL for signing with the new league. He was wise enough to know the whole thing could be a flop and he'd be out of the NFL.

In 1948 he was approaching 34 years of age so that was not a concern. His career was winding down.

Quitely the Rams released him and he showed up as a 49ers. It's suspected it was a cash deal between the teams since they could not exchange players or draft picks but the secrecy of the move caused some rancor among the Los Angeles sports media.

How had they gotten rid of Rattlesnake Matheson, they asked?

At first, the 49ers told the press that Matherson would be a backup on both offense and defense but he quickly earned a starting spot as a linebacker and he became one of the AAFC's best defenders.

He was second-team on the official All-AAFC team on the second-best team in the league. Pretty good for a guy who was "getting old".

The Niners played in the same division as the Cleveland Browns and their 12-2 record didn't qualify them to make the playoffs with the Browns going undefeated in 1948.

After that quality season, the Matheson hung up his cleats. Until he didn't.

In the summer of 1949, he signed to play for the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Interprovincial Football Union (thankfully now called the Western Division of the CFL).

All he did there was become a starter and help the Stampeders attempt to defend the CFL title, losing in the Grey Cup Game. He was also a unanimous choice on the All-league team and called "the best guard in Canada" by one writer.

Snake played one more year north of the border and finally retired from professional football but he went out with a bang. He again was All-League in 1950 -- the only player to repeat from 1949 and in 1957 was named to the all-time Stampeder team.

He'd also be named to the all-time Rams team by Bob Waterfield and among others.

Outside Bob Waterfield and perhaps Jim Benton he was the Rams' best player in the 1940s. And that is a big perhaps with Benton. Matheson was probably better.

In all, he totaled 83 games in the NFL, 14 in the AAFC and 24 in the CFL over a total of 12 professional seasons.

In those seasons he got some sort of "all" in all but his first two with six of them being first-team All-NFL.

Six you say? Sounds like a lot.

It is.

It's the same number of selections as the Bears' Hall-of-Fame guard Danny Fortman, considered among the best guards of the two-way era. It's also more than George Musso, another Bears legendary guard who has a bust in Canton.

It's also more than Packers guard Mike Michalske who appears on many all-time teams and is immortalized in Canton.

It's also more than a lot of modern-era guards. Too many to name, really.

Not only that, it's also more than George Trafton, Frank Gatski and the aforementioned Alex Wojciechowicz -- all Hall-of-Fame centers who also played both ways, like Snake did.

By objective standards, Riley Matheson's career matches up with the Hall-of-Fame offensive interior players of his era and matches up well with a lot of recent guards and centers.

So there you have it -- Matheson's case: An All-Star in collegiate football, the NFL, the AAFC and the CFL.

An NFL champion.

A tough-as-nails player who was probably the league's best defensive player in 1945. He probably should have been on the 1940's All-Decade team and who probably should be in the Hall of Fame.

It's time for his case to be heard in toto by the Hall's seniors' committee and when they do, they cannot help but be impressed because the Rattlesnake checks all the boxes.

All of them.