Death of young La Pine coach felt by players, community

Published 6:30 am Saturday, August 29, 2020

Sitting on the table on Coach’s Drive-In, a burger restaurant off U.S. Highway 97 in La Pine, is a faded brown, sun-stained, tattered Harley-Davidson cap with paintball splotches near the bill. It was Michael Mathias’ favorite hat.

For the past week, his mother, Kathleen Mathias, has kept it close. “He is always with me,” she said.

On Thursday, Aug. 20, while driving back to La Pine from a fishing trip in Lake Chelan in Washington, Michael Mathias died when he drove into a ditch in Goldendale.

“You never expect to lose a child,” his mother said. “Especially at 26.”

On Saturday at Frontier Heritage Park in La Pine, Kathleen Mathias and her husband Nick, who live in Orangeville, California, will join their son’s adopted community to celebrate his life.

While his time in La Pine was short, their son’s impact on the community of La Pine was greatly felt.

He opened Coach’s Drive-In (home of The Big Tasty Burger) in February, and was starting a campaign to become the town’s mayor, with aspirations of one day becoming the governor of Oregon.

But his influence in La Pine was most prominent on the basketball court after he was brought on to coach at La Pine High School in 2018 when the school was scrambling to find someone to head the JV basketball program. His optimistic outlook on the game was a welcome addition to the program, even if at times wins were hard to come by or he would tussle with the officials.

“That is who Mike was. Something could go wrong one day and the next morning it was positive,” said Brian Earls, an assistant coach in the La Pine basketball program. “He was always upbeat and positive that things were going to get better.”

Coach’s Drive-In is lined with the jerseys and memorabilia of each of La Pine High School’s athletic teams. Mathias wanted his restaurant to be a point of pride for the local sports teams. Many of those employed at Coach’s were La Pine athletes that he had coached. They were integral parts of turning the restaurant into what it is today with the team chant painted around the top of the interior.

The La Pine hoopsters also gave him a nickname that inspired the shop’s most unique burger. The Big Tasty Burger — a beef and chicken patty, bacon, mushrooms, jalapenos with pepper jack and cheddar cheese — stems from the varsity players calling Mathias “Big Tasty,” which was on the short list of names for the restaurant. Thankfully, his mother says, they did not go that route.

At times, the workers felt less like employees and more like part owners.

“He always asked our input on stuff,” said Jace Earls, a 16-year-old sophomore who played two seasons on Mathias’ team.

Days after his passing, with burger ingredients still in the restaurant, his former players and his parents collaborated to create the Coach Mike Mathias Scholarship Fund. They started with a fundraiser that used the rest of the burger supplies.

In three hours of slinging burgers on Sunday, over $5,000 was raised. An additional $3,500 was raised through the scholarship’s GoFundMe page, which was created on Wednesday.

Contributions can also be made at any Mid Oregon Credit Union branch under the Coach Mike Donation Fund.

“We knew that he wouldn’t want to have it all go into the trash. He would want to give it back to the community,” Jace Earls said about his coach. “We decided the best way to honor him would be to set up a scholarship for the basketball players because that is what was most important in his life, the kids, the school, and specifically the basketball team.”

Kathleen Mathias is not surprised at her son found a home in the La Pine community because of his easy-going nature, but even she is taken aback at the support and love the town has shown to her and her son.

“It was always easy for him to make friends,” she said. “If you met him at the post office, he was your friend. But I’m even overwhelmed how he just seemed to click here and built such deep relationships. I’m just sorry he wasn’t able to do everything he wanted to do here.”

Celebration of Life

Frontier Heritage Park in La Pine, 2 p.m.

Coach Mike Mathias Scholarship Fund

https://www.gofundme.com/f/coach-mike-mathias-scholarship-fund/share