A Blind Teen-Aged Freshman Tackles High School Football

Freshman center Danny Mathis plays second team at Alvin High School, running drills and practices much like the other football players. But when practice is over, the 16-year-old trades his helmet and pads for a cane to help him on his way home.

Mathis is blind.

This is his third year in football, and his coaches and teammates insist he’s just one of the guys.

“We’ve all been around him so much, you really don’t think about it,” says assistant coach Joe Webb. “A lot of people think it’s a novelty, but it’s really not.”

Maybe Alvin residents have just gotten used to sports figures who break the rules in grand style. After all, this rural town south of Houston is home to strikeout king Nolan Ryan, who retired this year at age 46 after an outstanding major league career.

Now, a 5-foot-3, 116-pound blind youth is tackling high school football, the king of sports in the Lone Star State.

Mathis, however, remains humble about his gridiron exploits. He says he just likes the game.

“I find football fun. It’s a sport I like,” he says. “(And) it’s not hard if you have the team to back you up, and your family.”

So how does he do it?

Mathis can play, thanks to some help from his coaches and players, who guide him with a series of hand and verbal signals. And there’s always at least one outstretched arm for Mathis to grab.

Mathis grasps the arm of another player many times: to run through the many football exercises, go for a drink during a break, or walk to the dressing room.

After a play, a coach may call out to him to guide him off the field, or a fellow player will tug on his jersey to get him headed the right way.

Mathis takes the field on a quarterback-sneak play, Webb said.

Before Mathis snaps the football, the quarterback will tap Mathis either on his left or right side or his back to let him know the position of his opposing player.

“I’ve nailed a couple of guys,” he says, then smiles and adds: “If I miss them, I pay them back.”

Yes, he misses some blocks, and has even hit a teammate or two in practice.

But Webb praises Mathis, saying he played well, though not often, in the team’s first five games. The coaches don’t leave him in too long, because opposing players can catch on to the signals.

“We try not to patronize him,” Webb says. “We never say, ‘Poor little Danny, he has a disability.”’

Webb and others admit to being protective of Mathis, though they say there’s been little need for it. Teasing can be legendary among teen-agers, but players and coaches say other teams have not harassed Mathis.

Perhaps they are just too impressed, says Jason Pettit, 15, who played with Mathis at Manvel Junior High and now at Alvin. “They respect him too much to make fun of him,” Pettit says.

Mathis became blind after being abused as an infant, and he says he never remembers seeing. He later was adopted by Dolores and Sonny Mathis, who have 12 adopted children with varying disabilities.

Neither he nor his parents talk much about the abuse, which occurred when he was living with his biological mother. Mathis will say only that he suffered a head injury.

He says he first played football with his older brother when he was about 6. When he got to junior high, he decided to go out for the team.

Mrs. Mathis says she encouraged her son to try out if he wanted, but she admits she thought then that football would be “just a passing fancy.”

She says football has boosted her son’s self-esteem, and she hopes he also has “opened doors for others.”

Mathis says he wants to play football through high school. He plays down the difficulty and says it may even be helpful.

“Sometimes you don’t know how big they are, but sometimes that’s good,” he says. “I just get low and go.”