It’s been nearly 10 years since Matt Black walked the halls of Northern Secondary School as a student, but it wasn’t long ago when Matt returned to his old school as Grey Cup champ, big silver trophy in tow.
For Black, seeing the people who introduced him to the game and who followed his journey as an Argonaut is priceless.
“The best thing about winning the Grey Cup is seeing everyone who supported you through thick and thin when you doubted yourself, when you had ups and downs in your career,” Black says. “When you see them so happy and so overjoyed for you, that’s the best thing.”
If it wasn’t for his coaches at Northern, Black may not be where he is today. He never played football before attending the school, and when he brought home the permission form to join the team in Grade 9, it was a shock to his mother. She didn’t think he could play football and thought that he would be killed on the field.
His mother had good reason to worry. When Black tried out for the football team, he was one of the smallest players on the roster. His size didn’t matter on the field, however. His coach, Jim Hutton, said that if he made every practice, he would automatically make the team.
He made the team as promised, but his first year playing football at Northern was unspectacular. He only managed to make three plays. That didn’t deter him, however. He stuck with it through high school, and from there he wound up playing college football in the U.S. when he graduated.
Following that stint, he was drafted to the Argos. Life was a dream come true in more ways than one. At the start of the 2012–2013 season, his first daughter was born.
“While the team was flying out to Edmonton for the first game, I was in a labour and delivery room,” he says.
On New Year’s Eve of 2012, he married his girlfriend and became a family man.
He topped off that season with the Grey Cup win, but it’s bringing the cup home to Northern that he truly savours.
Black says, “It was just great to give them something back after all that they had given me.”