Jury selection has begun at Hayward, Calif.,...
Jury selection has begun at Hayward, Calif., in the trial of former football player John Matuszak, accused of assaulting a male dancer and a dance promoter at a bar in 1980.
The two men each seek $1 million from Matuszak in the civil case before Judge David Hunter in Alameda County Superior Court.
The suit by the dancer, Daniel Fisher, and the promoter, Daniel Zezzo, claims that Matuszak forced his way onto the stage of an all-male dance show at a Castro Valley bar, assaulted Zezzo with a chair and swung the bikini-clad Fisher around in the air and threw him into a table.
Matuszak, 35, began his pro football career with the Houston Oilers in 1973. The next year, the 6-foot, 8-inch, 285-pound defensive lineman was traded in mid-season to the Kansas City Chiefs. He signed with the Raiders, then in Oakland, in 1976 as a free agent.
He became an actor after retiring from pro football in 1983 and appeared in the movie “Caveman” with Barbara Bach and Ringo Starr.
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