The man, the mystery: who is Captain Helmet?
By Daily Bruin Staff
Jan. 21, 2002 9:00 p.m.
 Adam Karon If you know someone who is
fan enough, loves Jim Everett or just wants to send a
comment, e-mail Karon at [email protected].
When the gates to the Rose Bowl first open, he is there. When
the halftime buzzer sounds at Pauley Pavilion and the hot dogs are
calling, he is there. When the final foul shot is made, the
scoreboard goes black and the fans leave their seats, he is
there.
He is Roy Matayoshi, aka Captain Helmet, UCLA’s No. 1
fan.
If you watch UCLA sports you know Captain Helmet.
You will recognize him from the front row of both football and
basketball games. He usually sports scruffy facial hair to
complement his long black locks. At the Rose Bowl he dons an
autographed UCLA football helmet and matching jersey. In Pauley
Pavilion he switches to a basketball cut into the shape of a
helmet. No matter the venue, no matter the score, Captain Helmet is
as much a part of UCLA sports as powder blue and off-field
scandals.
For the sake of mystery and legend, we will keep Roy’s age
confidential. After all, no one ever knew how old Satchel Paige
really was. Suffice to say that Roy has attended UCLA long enough
to have a building named after him. Imagine that, the Captain
Helmet Student Union.
The man attended every football game this year, home and away,
from Tuscaloosa, Ala. to Lawrence, Kan., through victory and
controversy. He has been to the last two Sweet 16 appearances in
Philadelphia and Michigan and is looking forward to a third this
year.
Roy’s ride has been awesome and sometimes difficult. Every
superhero has a saga. This is the saga of Captain Helmet.
The story starts after high school, when like many others, Roy
had no idea what to do. He tried working, tried junior college, but
could not find his niche.
“I was on a 10-year plan toward a cardboard
box,” he said.
During the years between high school and 1994, the year he
finally enrolled at UCLA, Roy lived the hard life. Bouts with
alcohol and homelessness led to a pair of drug overdoses (one of
which came at a Grateful Dead concert, if you’re still trying
to figure out his age). He was on welfare for a few months and had
less direction than a blocked punt.
At one point, he found himself living out of a 1962 Volkswagen
Baja, turning the rear bench seat around to make room for sleeping.
He had no money, no hope and certainly nothing to cheer about.
Absent were his now-trademark helmet, UCLA jersey and most
importantly, his enthusiasm. Roy could not have known then
that 10 years later, he would be getting more face time on Fox
Sports than Steve Lavin.
Like a basketball player after taking a charge, Roy got back to
his feet and started heading the other way.
 DANIEL WONG/Daily Bruin Senior Staff UCLA superfan
Roy Matayoshi, aka Captain
Helmet, is a fixture in the stands of UCLA sporting
events. “I always wondered what would happen if I went to
college,” he said. “If I go to college, and I
still end up in a cardboard box, I know it’s my own damn
fault.”
He applied to UCLA, was accepted and enrolled shortly after.
Still, it took Matayoshi three more years before attending his
first football game ““Â the Bruins 1997 contest against
Tennessee. The rest is sports fan history.
Though UCLA athletics are not responsible for Roy turning his
life around, they do parallel his remarkable about-face.
When he was down and out, athletics were markedly absent from
his world. Today, when he is primed to walk at this spring’s
commencement with a degree in both history and political science,
sports play as large a role in Roy’s life as eating and
sleeping. He camps out for nearly a week before the bigger
basketball games to rightfully claim his seat near the front of the
arena level. He owns four UCLA football helmets, six football
jerseys, four basketball jerseys and nary a T-shirt without Bruin
blue splashed across it.
“BearWear really needs to sponsor me,” he said
with a smile.
Today, Captain Helmet is more than just another crazy fan. He
helps out with the rally committee, works part time for the oral
history department and hopes to someday make a career at UCLA.
Make no mistake about it, your first reaction to Captain Helmet
is probably correct. To say he’s different would be to say
John Wooden was a pretty good coach. When told that some might
think him crazy, Roy gives a knowing smile and simply says,
“Thanks.”
But you can learn a lot from a crazy guy. Roy’s wisdom
goes beyond even his secretive years. He can teach you that the
best way to beat Los Angeles traffic is to arrive early and leave
late. He can show you how to organize a group of strangers via
e-mail to travel together for away games and coordinate group
ticket purchases.
Like any great fan, and superhero, he has his villains. Roy is
so good at getting under the opposition’s collective skin
that he has had basketballs hurled at him twice during warm-ups by
the opposing team. One ball slammed into his midsection, but that
could not faze Captain Helmet. He picked it up, smiled, and tossed
it back to the bewildered offending player.
Roy can teach you how to be a better fan. He’ll show you
the ins and outs of priority passes, the dos and don’ts of
autograph hunting. He knows he would fit in better with Cheeseheads
and the Raider Nation, but he is proud of Los Angeles and its fans.
Most importantly he is proud of UCLA.
“I want to be able to someday guide UCLA, the institution,
beyond the present levels of greatness and achieve higher goals
academically, socially, athletically, in research, in every aspect
of the university,” Roy says of his career goals.
“Basically, I want to make UCLA my life. It’s what I
love.”
