TSSAA football: Ensworth vs Father Ryan highlights
Taylor Hasselbeck and Justin Hopkins connected for two TDs as Ensworth rallied for a 24-7 win over Father Ryan in TSSAA football Week 8. Watch the highlights.
- Hasselbeck played tight end for nine seasons, winning a Super Bowl with the 1984 Los Angeles Raiders.
- He coached football alongside his sons, Tim and Matt, at Ensworth High School.
Don Hasselbeck, who coached at Ensworth with his sons, Tim and Matt Hasselbeck, died Monday,
Matt, who announced the news on X, formerly Twitter, said his father died of cardiac arrest. He was 70.
Don Hasselbeck played 123 regular-season games in nine years in the NFL and was part of the 1984 Los Angeles Raiders’ Super Bowl-winning team. He was picked in the second round of the 1977 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots out of the University of Colorado.
The 6-foot-7 tight end, who was named to the Pro Football Writers Association All-Rookie team in 1977, played for four teams and finished his career with 107 receptions for 1,542 yards and 18 touchdowns.
“There is a 6’ 7” hole in our hearts,” Matt, a three-time Pro Bowl selection in 18 seasons in the NFL as a quarterback, wrote in a tweet Monday. “He will be so missed by so many. We are beyond grateful that he was our dad and look forward to Heaven and being all together again.”
Don, along with Matt, joined Ensworth’s staff as assistants last year under Tim, who is the head coach and spent four seasons in the NFL as a backup quarterback.
“He was a great husband, father, grandfather, friend, coach, player, coworker, artist, mentor, and storyteller,” wrote Matt, who spent two years with the Tennessee Titans. “Despite being an All-American at Colorado and a Super Bowl Champion with the Raiders, what we are most proud of is the leader he was for our family.”
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina. Follow his work here.
