Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
Captain Deerfield Tom Mathews ’96 in costume with cheerleaders Pat Graney and Andy Sweetland performing an original song on Choate Friday.
Captain Deerfield Tom Mathews ’96 in costume with cheerleaders Pat Graney and Andy Sweetland performing an original song on Choate Friday.
Captain Deerfield Tom Mathews ’96 in costume with cheerleaders Pat Graney and Andy Sweetland performing an original song on Choate Friday.

On the Original Costume (In 1995):

“It was a very bare bones operation – just myself in a very mediocre homemade (or I guess dorm-made) outfit that consisted of a green ski hat, green towel as a cape, a big ‘D’ drawn on a white T-shirt, two birthday hats colored over in green marker, which I used as shoulder spikes, and a green eye mask that in retrospect kind of made me look like the Hamburglar.”

On the Early Stages of Captain Deerfield:

“It came about from being frustrated that the school crowd during sporting events just didn’t seem into it as much as I was, aside from the occasional school cheer, which at times was pretty half-hearted… I started doing things to try to pump up the crowd like sprinting around the rink ‘Ultimate Warrior style’ after we scored a goal and it kind of took on a life of its own.”

schoolspirit2On How Captain Deerfield Joined Forces with the Cheerleaders:

“In my senior year (‘96), the cheerleaders/cheer squad kind of begged me to be on the squad; I wasn’t enamored with the idea of possibly being considered a male cheerleader, but they didn’t make me try out, so I gave in.”

MathewsOn His Favorite Memory of Being Captain Deerfield:

“[Of] course every now and then I’d get in trouble; I distinctly remember throwing a rubber chicken on the ice after an opposing team’s player took a cheap shot. (I carried a chicken every now and then to taunt the opposing team). Our hockey coach was livid about the chicken and totally wanted to kill whoever threw it; lucky for me I was in disguise and the crowd didn’t give me up, because I’m pretty sure Captain Deerfield would have ended right there.”