Frank Mattson started his love of basketball in Thorp Washington with his 18 points and 22 rebounds against Onalaska helping Thorp place 8th at the B tournament in 1958–the only placing Thorp ever made at the tournament. Because of financial difficulties he did not play at Central Washington University while he worked his way through to get his degree in Industrial Arts Education–but jumped right into coaching when he started teaching at Wilson Jr. High in Yakima, first as an assistant for four years and then nine years as the varsity coach with a record of 77-31 and several city championships. He also coached track.
When he heard about the JV job at Highland, he applied right away. This started his teaming up with Coach Pat Fitterer and the Highland Scotties and their 218-40 run with one state champion and three second place state tournament trophies, while Frank’s JV team record was 155-33 . It was during this time that Frank was also coaching his three sons– Kelly, Kjell, and Joshua in the Highland youth program, and then had the privilege of coaching them in JV also. He later wrote a handbook for the use of parents coaching in the youth program. It was during this period that Frank got to work at Cougar Cage Camp with George Raveling. It was Coach Raveling who instilled in Frank his love for rebounding and aggressive defense. Frank returned home and devised a rebounding ball, it was so successful he has shared it with many coaches. He also wrote up rebounding and defense drills–many using the defense book he got from Coach Raveling. While at Highland, Frank coached track for two years and then later started a Cross Country program, while also building a house and running a fiberglass repair business.
He was assistant coach in Naches for a few years before returning to Highland and then retiring from almost forty years of teaching Industrial Arts and K-12 P.E. After retirement, Coach Fitterer appeared on the scene again with a call saying he needed Frank to help him with his new job at Eisenhower High School in Yakima. Frank was to teach them to rebound and make them tough. This was when Frank started his “Working Together” lunch box–filled with goals and aspirations of each player and coach–and placed at center court as they warmed up for each game–this was the 13th player and went with them everywhere, even having its own article in Craig Smith’s Seattle Times report. After working three or four more years with Coach Fitterer, Frank continued to volunteer with teams in Highland and Selah.
He also spent several years working with his son, Kelly, coaching his granddaughters’ youth teams in the Selah Parks and Recs.
Frank has always enjoyed teaching the game, but was most interested in the young people he worked with. They knew they could always come to him for any needs–he was famous for the big bag he always carried–full of granola bars, Band-Aids, tape, and shoestrings. He was also known for his “talks” full of all kinds of life lessons. He knew his faith and values were recognized when one player, on the way to regionals, handed him a folded paper of the 23rd Psalm. As the young man pushed it into Frank’s hand, he shared, “I can do anything when I read this!” Frank is now spending his time taking in basketball games played by his nine grandchildren–helping teach them the ways of the game and also those life lessons.
