Michael Matz: a True Hero

But these incredible sports accomplishments may not even be Matz's greatest accomplishment.  In 1989, after missing a flight connection, Matz and his fiancé (and now wife) ended up on United Airlines flight 232.  Mid-flight the DC-10 aircraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure, which severed all the hydraulic lines.  The plane was forced into an emergency landing in Souix City, Iowa.  The plane broke apart and burst into flames upon making contact with the ground.  Matz survived the crash and helped lead 3 young children, who where traveling unaccompanied, to safety.  Upon escaping the plane, Matz and another passenger followed the sounds of a baby's cries back into the inferno and managed to pull an 11-month-old child out of the wreckage.   It was only then that Matz found his fiancé, whose whereabouts had been unknown until that point.  111 people died in the crash.

Matz, his fiancé, and all of the children he rescued miraculously survived with only minor injuries.  But Matz's heroism didn't end by simply getting the children out of the plane.  He stayed with the children to make sure that they got in contact with their parents (cell phones weren't nearly as common as they are now) and did his best to shield the children from the trauma of the accident.

Matz describes that day as the luckiest day of his life, not the day that he won the Kentucky Derby. Less than two weeks after the incident, Matz rode to victory in one of his U.S. Championships.  The three children that he rescued were all present at Churchill Downs the day that Matz won the Derby with Barbaro.

Michael Matz isn't just a hero for his accomplishments, but for his incredible humanity.  He rose to the top of the sports world in two completely different sports, assisted others when they were in desperate need, and managed to take time out of his day to teach a child how to ride a pony.  He truly is an incredible individual.

Michael Matz continues to train racehorses out of the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, MD.

Below is Matz's gold medal round at Aachen aboard Chef in 1986.  Be forewarned – the commentary is in German.

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