For Love Of His Son: Ice Flyers Broadcaster Paul Chestnutt has Special Experience With Special Needs Son
By Bill Vilona
Ice Flyers Correspondent
When he created a local charity 13 years ago for his special needs son, Matthew, long-time Pensacola sports radio broadcaster Paul Chestnutt was naturally uncertain of its impact.
It has led to an experience of a lifetime.
The Tampa Bay Lightning learned of his efforts, his love for his son, their bond in hockey, and hosted the Fox Sports Pensacola radio personality and Ice Flyers radio broadcaster, along with his son, on March 2 at the Lightning’s game that night in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Chestnutt tandem met hockey royalty, led by the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, one of the NHL’s all-time greatest players, who visited with the two in an emotion-evoking moment before the team’s pregame skate. Matthew, 20, known as Matty, was born with Cerebral Palsy and is unable to speak or walk.
“For (Crosby) to come out and do that, I don’t have words for it,” said Paul Chestnutt, who grew up in the Pittsburgh area and has been a lifelong Penguins fan. “Only that it was incredible moment for both of us and I will never forget it.”
Lightning players, including winger Corey Perry, a future member like Crosby for the Hockey Hall of Fame, each greeted Paul and Matty as they exited their team’s preceding practice at Tampa’s Amalie Arena.
During the game’s second intermission, Chestnutt was interviewed by Tampa Bay Lightning Radio Network broadcasters Greg Linnelli. He was able to provide insight on the charity, “Matthew Chestnutt Scores! Charities,” which enables Ice Flyers fans to pledge $1 to $3 donations on a “Power Play Pledge Drive” that connects when the Ice Flyers score power play goals.
This season, the Ice Flyers lead the Southern Professional Hockey League with 51 power play goals, heading into the team’s home games Saturday and Sunday against Knoxville at the Pensacola Bay Center.
“The purpose of the trip was to create awareness in Pensacola for special needs kids and adults,” said Chestnutt, whose son is able to still attend Escambia Westgate School, devoted for special needs children.
“Matty and I have been through some tough situations as far as a place to go after school and in the summer,” Chestnutt said. “Trying to find ways to help him out… it’s been a challenge. I just say if we can do something and try to bring attention to make things better in Pensacola, let’s try and do it.
“There is lack of special needs services in our community and I want to bring awareness to that.”
His son had never traveled more than an hour – trips to Mobile when Paul works the week at the Reese’s Senior Bowl for Fox Sports Pensacola – and requires being lifted out of a wheelchair into a special car seat.
But the efforts to travel to Tampa became memorable when the two attended the pregame practice, then the game, in a set of activities arranged by Lightning Radio Network broadcast manager Steve Versnick.
“This organization is obviously about hockey and winning hockey games, but it’s also about the community and it’s important for organizations like the Lightning to give back and make dreams come true like this and create excitement,” Versnick said. “The players are wonderful and they love giving their time to do things like this.
“You see the smile on (Matthew’s) face and the others we have met… it never gets old. That is the best part.”
It was a trip Chestnutt had planned with the Lightning since early last summer.
“What Paul does with Matthew as a father, the commitment he makes, is tremendous,” said Ice Flyers coach Rod Aldoff, who has known Chestnutt since Aldoff was a player, including a year with the Ice Pilots. “And obviously being recognized by the Tampa Bay Lightning and meeting Sidney Crosby is amazing.
“I know Pittsburgh is his team, having grown up in that area, so I’m just happy for him and Matthew that they were able to go there and get the recognition they deserve. I know how excited he was when he first told me about it awhile ago.”
During his radio interview that night, Paul and Matty met hockey legend Phil Esposito, 81, one of the Lightning’s founding partners 30 years ago and now vice president of corporate relations. Earlier in the day, they also met Pensacola native Derrick Brooks, the Pro Football Hall of Fame member, who is the Lightning’s executive vice president.
The game itself featured both teams going end-to-end, wide open game, in a 5-4 overtime win by the Penguins. It followed Crosby helping create a priceless photograph of Matty smiling at him during their meeting in the tunnel to the team’s locker room.
“To see how Sidney took to him was amazing,” said Chestnutt, who has been a Pensacola resident since 1996, when he became the radio voice of the Pensacola Ice Pilots. “They are playing a game hours later and it was a big one for both teams, so I’m just so grateful.
“It was a once in a lifetime moment to share that with my son. And we enjoyed fist-bumping with Lightning players. It was just incredible.”
The charity concept was first presented in 2010 to Chestnutt by original Ice Flyers owner Tim Kerr, a former star winger with the Philadelphia Flyers, who also owned the Pensacola Ice Pilots for a couple seasons as an ECHL franchise, before reviving hockey in Pensacola with the Ice Flyers.
Greg Harris took over a year later as the Ice Flyers owner and has embraced Chestnut’s charitable efforts for his son. Fans are able to learn about Chestnutt’s charity at the Ice Flyers’ Fan Services Booth, located behind Section 101 at the Pensacola Bay Center, during each game. Forms are available to pledge.
“Paul is a guy that absolutely loves hockey, grew up with hockey and now his son has grown up as Ice Flyers fan,” Harris said. “But he’s meant a lot to hockey fans in Pensacola, going back to the Ice Pilots days when he was with them as broadcaster.
“For him to have such a passion for the game and to have brought his passion into his son and love for his son, it’s an easy thing to do.
“Helping Paul spread his message is part of what we love to do. Our fans hear about it every game and it’s a special thing because it’s Paul and Matty. Those two, they mean a lot to the hockey world around Pensacola.”
During his radio interview with the Lightning, Chestnutt reinforced the importance of the cause to help special needs people everywhere.
“Because we live it. And it happens every single day. We are part of it,” he said.
When Crosby and Lightning players met the duo, they immediately realized Matty’s inability to speak, but they were all able to sign autographs for him and get Paul to hold his son’s hand for a gentle fist bump.
The 35-year-old Crosby scored an overtime goal Tuesday night to complete the Penguins’ comeback win against Columbus from a 4-0 deficit. It was his 20th overtime goal, second-best all-time in NHL history. Since joining the Penguins in 2005, he has led 16 consecutive years of playoff appearances, which is the longest active streak of any team in the four major sports leagues in North America.
“To have one of the best players to ever play the sport, the captain of that team (Penguins), won Stanley Cups (3) with that team… to have him walk out and spend some private time… it just does not happen often,” Harris said. “And for someone like Paul who has close tie to Penguins and as much as he’s followed Sidney’ career it was remarkable.
“That’s why I love hockey, the sport, the people behind it, because this is a life-altering moment for Paul and Matty and they will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Chestnutt said he fought back tears during the interview on the Lightning Radio Network, knowing how special of a moment this was in his life.
“My son, a special needs kid, who doesn’t walk, who cannot talk, who is in a wheelchair and we’re do this… and he is sitting next me at this kind of NHL game, just like we do at Ice Flyers games, it was so amazing,” Chestnutt said. “I will never forget it.”
