Don Matheson

Donald M. Matheson... soccer family (brother Gordie, nephew Jim)... he was married to wife Madge (they had daughters Dona and Judy)... served in the Navy... he was 79 years old when he passed away in Vancouver on 1 December 1999... as a Pacific Coast League rookie in 1938-39, he worked as Tommy’s Coffee Shoppe (wrote Al Windsor, “he has yet to break a plate”)...

posthumously honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as a player... honoured by the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame... posthumously honoured by the Soccer Hall of Fame of British Columbia...

with Vancouver St. Andrews FC, a Dominion of Canada Football Championship winner (Challenge Trophy in 1947)... a five-time BC Province Cup winner (1941, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1951)… a six-time Pacific Coast League winner (1939-40, 1941-42, 1943-44, 1946-47, 1947-48, 1949-50)... a Mainland Cup winner (inc 1940, 1941)… an nine-time all-star selection in a 11-year span from 1942 to 1952... in April 1950, he was presented a Bulova watch for being selected the “most popular player” in the Pacific Coast League... in lacrosse, a Mann Cup winner...

as noted in a Grandview Commerce High School yearbook, he was the soccer team’s “Rock of Gibraltar”... wrote Al Windsor in 1938, “Don Matheson and George Greig are the best one-two bet since Jock Coulter stopped cracking in Dave Turner’s set ups”... as noted in a 1947 program, “a crafty and clever playmaker and one of Vancouver’s best known athletes”... as noted in a 1948 all-star program, Matheson “in one smooth motion can trap a ball and elude an opponent (and whose) sense of positional play is uncanny”... wrote Austin Delany in 1948, he was “the artist of the team and one of the best athletes... like similar athletic young men who come out of the ruck every 10 or 15 years, Matheson can play anything and does which includes lacrosse, basketball, baseball, softball, and of course soccer... although not built for the hurly burly of robust soccer, Matheson can handle himself well in the clinches. He is as subtle as they come and a grand playmaker”... as noted in a 1949 all-star program, “known for his playmaking ability”... as noted in a 1950 all-star program, “accepted as one of the best players ever to play in Vancouver; great anticipation and stamina”... wrote the Vancouver Province in 1950, will give a good account of himself anywhere on soccer field; has knack of always being where the play is; one of the best soccer players ever produced in Vancouver”... wrote Austin Delany in 1951, Don “is one of the best athletes ever produced in BC”... wrote Bob Harrison in 1951, “Don Matheson has never let us down in one of these all-star games; he’ll be the lifting power to the rest of the club, the fellow who comes through with that big play in the clutch”... as noted in a 1951 all-star program, “a natural footballer; as a halfback covers an amazing amount of ground; has an uncanny gift of anticipation and seems always to be in the right place at the right time”...