Athletic greatness comes in all shapes and all sizes.

It doesn't come naturally, but is achieved from hard work diligence and adversity along the journey.

There's opportunity and there's always struggle.

There is triumph and there is defeat.

And there is always a story behind the glory.

Born in Lake Charles, Matt Forte starred at Slidell High School, Tulane and a decade in the NFL.

His high school coach and an opposing coach have memories of Forte, the high school player.

We gave him the football a lot because we knew what we had.

We knew we had a back that could run inside, run outside.

We knew we had a bag that could catch the football and run.

So we used him quite a bit.

You know, as an opposing coach.

He just really gained respect for the the best players you've ever coached against on the other sideline.

And certainly Matt is one of the greatest athletes I ever saw on an opposing sideline in almost 30 year high school coaching career.

We now share a conversation with Matt Forte, a standout running back from Slidell High School, who ran his way through college and then to the National Football League as one of the game's very best.

Matt Forte.

Welcome to Natchitoches.

Thank you.

Have a seat.

Let's get to know each other.

All right.

You especially I got to tell you, I'm a fan.

And I saw you play at Tulane.

I saw you dominate.

I saw you dominate in the NFL, in my opinion.

You're one of the hardest working football players I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

And it was a pleasure.

Congratulations on all you've achieved.

Thank you.

I value that opinion because I did work very hard for it.

And, um, you know, it's a blessing to be here.

So you were reared, so to speak, as a fullback and then, of course, became a tailback, became a pass catching tailback as well.

Was there ever a point in your career where you were encouraged to do more, where you were given the freedom to show the full extent of your talents?

Yeah, it wasn't.

I actually didn't play any fullback until I got to high school.

Um, you know, freshman, sophomore year, as I was one of the younger guys when I was on varsity.

And so they would and I was taller and kind of bigger, and I guess they were thinking I would grow a little bit more into a fullback kind of type of size running back.

But, um, I actually caught the ball a lot of being a fullback too.

We would do some fullback, uh, screens where we would, you know, nobody's expecting the fullback to run a screen plays, usually the tailback.

So it was kind of a good way to kind of disguise plays and stuff like that.

So, um, yeah, being able to, uh, be versatile kind of sparked early in my career where I kind of understood it's a lot of value in not just running the ball but being able to catch and block.

And uh, so that I think kind of sparked that, um, development in me as a, as a younger athlete.

And it continued throughout my career.

And my, uh, decision to go to Tulane was kind of funny because my father played there in the seventies.

Uh, he was there 74 to 78.

As a defensive lineman, you live in Louisiana, you know that LSU plays Division one ball and they play SEC is a, is a big, uh, you know, league where you play the top teams as well as some of the other teams.

And uh, so too I knew Tulane didn't play, you know, like the SEC does.

The Conference USA at the time wasn't considered, you know, as, as highly ranked as SEC but I wanted to go and play for the bigger school because that my thinking was, you know, if you play for the big schools, then it's on TV, you get to go to the NFL.

And uh, so I didn't want to go to Tulane at first.

And so ends up being that Tulane was my only division one, uh, scholarship offer.

I had an offer from McNeese State, which is one Double-A, and then Tulane.

And, boy, did college coaches missing you.

Yeah.

So that that's proof that the scouting process isn't foolproof.

At Tulane, Forte rushed for over 2100 yards as a senior with 23 touchdowns.

He finished his career with more than 4200 yards rushing, twice earning conference.

USA Honors.

The way he approached each day, his effort, uh, you know, you just saw it at an early age on him and he was able to do all those things early on and I think that's where, you know, he went through a situation like Katrina and the year after Katrina, which was a tough situation.

Also.

He was always a guy that showed up every day to do the work.

Obviously, throughout our career, there was ups and downs, Hurricane Katrina and, you know, injuries and things like that.

But then my senior year, as I started to compile 200 yard games, 300 yards, and it just kind of was coming second nature to me.

And we played against LSU in the Dome and, you know, put up many yards on them.

Uh, that's when it kind of really solidified it for me.

Like, Yeah, I think I can do this at the next level.

He was a professional long before he actually got paid to be a professional.

A second round pick of the Chicago Bears.

He rushed for close to 10,000 yards in the NFL and 54 touchdowns and posted another 21 receiving scores with the Bears and the Jets.

He just seemed so smooth with everything.

It was so natural to him.

It nothing seemed like a struggle.

Everything seemed so natural.

And that's what that's why I became a fan of his, because it was just seemed so effortless and natural.

I'm going to have to refer to my notes here because I want to make sure I get this right.

What I'm about to say is incredible.

When you were playing for Chicago, one of only three NFL backs in history to run for 1000 yards and catch 100 passes in the same season, that's amazing.

And you're in some pretty good company there.

Yeah, I mean, that's a dimension to the position of running back that has rarely been reached.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's something that I'm proud of.

As far as the running back position and to show the versatility that comes with it, being able to not only be a runner, which normally comes natural to running backs, but being able to be involved in the passing game, they help you team out within the Catch a hundred passes, which is usually a great season for a receiver, but to do, you know, gain a thousand yards rushing, which is a great considered the benchmark for a running back but then also kind of to do both where you were pretty much hitting the benchmark for running back and receiver in one season.

By the way, the other two guys, I think most football fans have heard of LaDainian Tomlinson and Christian McCaffrey.

You're in some pretty good company.

Yeah, Yeah, definitely.

I grew up watching LaDainian too, and modeled a lot of my game after him.

Actually, one of the coaches my senior year at Tulane, Dan Dodd, coached him, um, when he was at TCU a little bit.

And so he remembers when LaDainian would run and and how he, you know, his work ethic was and he would tell me stories about him and just inspired me and put more fuel to the fire to want to be a great running back like he was, too.

You made two Pro Bowls in your career.

You came up just a couple of hundred yards short of 10,000 rushing yards.

The magic number in the NFL, you needed 204 more yards.

You retired at 32 years of age.

Did you have anything left?

Yeah, I think I, uh, I definitely had and this is what I tell a lot of the young players or running backs that are coming into the league.

You want to leave the game with more in your legs than you do in your heart.

And so my love for the game, I kind of had done a lot.

I was beat up a lot.

I mean, running back, you take a pounding, you know, and and 200 yards to me didn't really make that big of a difference, you know, whether it was 9700 or 10,000 to me after, you know, you put them all together, especially with receiving, it's over 15,000 total yards and a bunch of touchdowns.

So to me, if you look at a running back is the all encompassing game that that in amount of total yards and touchdowns that really matters.

It's not just the rushing yards and so when it came down to it um I felt like I want to be able to walk away from the game under my own strength and also be able to, uh, you know, be active still and play with the kids.

And so, uh, I was blessed not to have a ton of major injuries as far as broken bones and torn ACLs and things like that.

And so to play ten years as a running back and be able to walk again, I will walk away from the game under my ownership and under my own decision.

It was a hard decision, but it was a decision that I think I made the right decision.

Forte twice was the Bears Brian Piccolo, award winner, given yearly to a player who best exemplifies the courage, loyalty, teamwork and dedication of the late Chicago running back.

You know, I think Matt was more of his own, driven by himself.

He wasn't a rah rah guy.

That wasn't his personality that I recall.

I just recall that when he got out there, he did his job.

And ten years later, I was in Jacksonville, he was in Chicago.

We played him.

And he's the same guy.

You know, he's never changed his the way he approached the game, the way he played the game.

You know, he was just the same person.

And I thought that was a pretty cool that was really a cool thing.

You see Matt doing things that other people did not doing.

You know, once we get done working out, Matt is still doing his own thing.

So it wasn't about the game.

I think it was about preparing himself for whatever he had to go out and try to accomplish.

He was ready for it.

It's only been three years.

He's retired.

It's not our high school and football.

My gamble, Reggie Cooper and of course, Matt Forte.

We caught Matt by surprise.

Matt had a football camp here, so it was a big surprise and and we did it on the field at the end of the camp.

One of the things that I like in people in general is that they are who they are.

They're not one person over here and somebody else over here.

Matt is who he is.

And that's the thing that I appreciate about Matt was they're a presence in Chicago of the long dead Walter Payton that you felt, even though, of course, your time never overlapped.

Oh, you always feel Walter's presence when you walk into the facility, especially of the Bears, because there's so many great players that played there beyond Walter.

Uh, I mean, you can name them.

There's so many Hall of Fame and retired numbers Jersey numbers that, you know, that come from that that organization.

And so the mystique and the history of that position there, too, with not only Walter but Gale Sayers, um, you follow in the footsteps today and you feel the you feel the pressure, but also the inspiration behind it to walk, to try to step into those shoes as well.

And, um, me being able to come in as a, as a running back and look to what they, they did in their career and the kind of person that you always hear that Walter was, you know, I think Walter Payton and Gale Sayers would be proud of you.

I really do.

Congratulations on your induction into the 2023 Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

It's been wonderful seeing you here.

Thank you.

It's a pleasure.