Joseph "Joe" Matuska was the football coach at Palmerton High School for two years.
1933 Muhlenberg College yearbook photo
Born in Palmerton, Joe Matuska was a lifelong resident of Palmerton. The son of Louis (1883-1945) and Mary (1883-1952), immigrants from Slovakia, he grew up on Lehigh Avenue.
A 1926 graduate of Palmerton High School, Joe played basketball and baseball (football had not yet become an official high school sport). He eventually went to Muhlenberg College, graduating in 1933. There he played basketball, baseball and football. He was center on the football team and captain his senior year.
Before being hired by Palmerton as head high school football coach in August 1944, Matuska played football for and later coached the Palmerton Grays, a semi-professional football team active in the 1920s and 1930s. He was also a PIAA football official officiating games in the Lehigh Valley League. He had also been a high school assistant coach at Palmerton in 1943. When he became head coach, he was not hired as a teacher since he worked as a safety inspector/engineer for the New Jersey Zinc Company.
1933 Muhlenberg College yearbook photo
Matuska's career record as head coach of Palmerton High School for the 1944 and 1945 seasons was a pretty good 9-7-1.
In 1981 he became a charter member of the Palmerton Area High School Hall of Fame along with Bill Braucher, Mike Kuba and Bill Wilhelm. (The Morning Call, 29 November 1981 and 23 September 1984)
Matuska was later inducted into the Carbon County chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Lehigh Valley Football Hall of fame in 1986. Here is the announcement by the Lehigh Valley Chapter National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame that accompanied his induction. (The Morning Call, 28 September 1986)
Matuska was one of first all-around athletes ever produced at Palmerton High School ... played two years of varsity basketball and baseball and was on track and tennis squads ... played on a team of high school athletes and alumni during period when Palmerton had no varsity football team ... two years a back for the semipro Palmerton Grays while working at New Jersey Zinc Co ... enrolled at Muhlenberg College in 1949 [1929] and played three years of varsity football ... captured Middle Atlantic Conference honors as center ... called "one of the best to wear Muhlenberg colors" by coach George Halstrom ... also participated in basketball, baseball and track at 'Berg ... then played amateur baseball for Palmerton, Slatington, Lehighton and Coaldale teams ... coached Palmerton Grays, later called Palmerton Sokols ... involved in youth sports for 24 years ... assistant football coach at Palmerton High in 1943 and head coach in 1944 and 1945 ... PIAA football official 20 years ... foreman for N.J. Zinc 39 years in Engineering and Safety Departments … hobbies include dancing to road music, hiking, swimming and reading ... married to former Anna Loretta Bechtel, a registered nurse in Jim Thorpe, who died in 1972 ... two daughters: Joanne and Janet, grandfather seven times and great-grandfather once.
In 1934 Matuska married Anna Loretta Bechtel (1906-1972) née Wetherials (Wetherich) of East Mauch Chunk. They had two daughters.