Feb. 24, 2009
Most of y'all have asked me what happened to your blog? This is my first of the year. My reasons were threefold: procrastination, more time devoted to coaching and recruiting, and the last blog I wrote really touched my heart, because it was about a good friend that passed away named Joe. I just could not get in the mood after that.
Here I go again telling you about another Joe, a giant of a man who was endeared in many circles; an engineer by trade, an Aggie by choice, a Christian by his faith, and a devoted husband and father through marriage.
Joseph Braden Mattei '53 was a sportsman, a community leader, and a man behind the scenes organizing and getting things done. Joe was married to Eddie and they had two beautiful children, Karen and Braden.
Joe was also very active in his church, St. Cecilia Catholic Church, served on their financial committee and started the H.I.T. (honesty, integrity, truth) organization for high school students. Through this outreach program, he sought to educate young people by engaging them with the life experiences of different members of the community who would come in and speak to them. More or less, it was like a prep school for life. He wanted to be able to help the teenagers at his church with life lessons, before they experienced it firsthand.
Joe retired from Exxon in 1992 after 39 ½ years with the company, serving in a lot of capacities. Retirement meant he was able to get more involved in things that he could lend his help to. He started burning up the road between College Station and Houston, so he could get more involved with his beloved Aggie teams. Joe was very active with my team as well as the Texas A&M Tennis team. Joe and Eddie loved to play tennis in their spare time. They participated in the Houston tennis scene and were very active in the annual petroleum tennis tournament which is a fund raiser in Houston for charity. Joe and then Head Tennis Coach Tim Cass had a special bond. Joe and Eddie are the namesakes for the men's tennis locker room at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center. They rarely missed a match during Tim's run as head coach. They became very close to several of the players including Shuon Madden, Khaled El Dorry, and Matt Bain among others. In fact, during a trip to the Middle East, Joe and Eddie stayed at Khaled's family home in Egypt.
Joe was a giver. He was the man behind Blair's Buddies, a group that he started at Texas A&M for the women's basketball program. The one reason Eddie said that he got involved in women's basketball was that he felt like his personality and my personality were very similar. We both have a love and understanding for helping young people. Joe helped raise money for our program to help cover expenses that our budget does not cover. But, most importantly he supported us in everything that he did.
As I reflect back on my time, meetings and phone calls with Joe, it was always about helping. He was one of the most organized men I have ever met. Eddie could tell something was wrong, when he was not near as organized as he once was. He was a background man to our basketball team, but center stage to me. He believed that he could help this program grow and did all of the little things that needed to be done. If you will, let me take you through the last few weeks of Joe's life as I wrote in an e-mail to the members of Blair's Buddies:
As most of you have heard from the Internet, newspaper or Aggie Network, we have lost a giant of a man in Joe Mattei last Sunday afternoon. Joe was diagnosed three weeks ago with a large brain tumor that was inoperable. Last Wednesday at M.D. Anderson he was told he had six months to live at the most and to get his affairs in order. Joe and his lifelong love and wife, Eddie, had a lot of decisions to make in this upside down world that sometimes gives you results and not answers.
Joe and Eddie came to College Station this past weekend, to watch the men play on Saturday. I had the opportunity to have lunch with them on the third floor of Reed Arena before the game with Stu Starner. Joe only talked about the Aggies and the good times that he had instead of dwelling on the unfortunate circumstances that was clouding his life.
After the game, they stayed in a hotel in College Station and their plan was to go to church Sunday morning and to see the women play Nebraska in the afternoon. Joe made it to church, but he had a seizure while he was there and had to be rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital. Joe took his last breath about 45 minutes after we had beaten Nebraska. Typical Joe, he wanted to leave us in good hands after a win.
Joe was a wonderful and caring man and a meaningful part of the Texas A&M women's basketball program. We will truly miss him at all of the games and functions we hold throughout the years from now. Joe '53 will be buried in College Station and will look over the Aggies for years to come. Was his bucket list complete? Probably not, but for all of us who knew him, he always completed his list of giving and making this a better place than how he found it.
Coach Blair
