Celtics’ Jayson Tatum and Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk seen goofing off in gym class in old video
Jayson Tatum and Matthew Tkachuk once shared a high school gym class, and now the Boston Celtics and Florida Panthers stars are sharing the national spotlight.
Decade-old footage of St. Louis residents surfaced during TNT’s broadcast of Game 6 of the Celtics’ Eastern Conference Finals series with the Miami Heat, which showed a teenaged Tatum alongside Tkachuk, his Chaminade College Preparatory classmate School.
After scoring three game winners as Florida swept the Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, Tkachuk was in Miami on Saturday to watch Tatum’s Celtics force a Game 7 in their ongoing playoff series with the Heat.
It was there that TNT Tkachuk’s broadcast crew presented old footage of him and Tatum in a roughly decade-old video, in which the budding basketball star recounts the “reasons why I came to Chaminade.”
At one point, young Tatum specifically mentions the fans, including one “Matthew Tkachuk,” whom he described as a “great guy.”
Jayson Tatum (left) can be seen in a decade-old video about Matthew Tkachuk (right)
St. Louis pride: Jayson Tatum of the Celtics (left) and Matthew Tkachuk of the Panthers (right)
Acting just like the young teen he was at the time, Tkachuk draws attention to himself by swaying his shoulders in the background of the clip.
“Pretty smooth,” Tkachuk, 25, laughed to TNT’s Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson. “That video probably comes back a few times a year, if things are going well with me and him, or whatever. It’s crazy that we were in the same PE class all these years and it’s cool that we both represent Chaminade.’
Oddly enough, Tatum is seen in the video wearing a Kansas Basketball sweatshirt, which is somewhat ironic since he would later enroll in a rival basketball force, Duke.
Tkachuk and his brother Brady both left Chaminade to participate in the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan, though the family is still connected to the area through their father, St. Louis Blues legend Keith Tkachuk.
“It’s just cool to see a guy succeed at another sport and to see what he went through, shooting hoops every morning at 6 a.m. and getting ready,” Tkachuk told the Calgary Sun in 2018. “Our mindset when we were younger was that we both knew what we wanted to do and had it as our goal. We both did not let ourselves be stopped and both did a lot of work.’
Tkachuk (center) scored three game-winning goals in Carolina’s four-game sweep
Matthew Tkachuk (far left, near right) is the son of Keith, a legendary St. Louis Blues star
Tkachuk celebrates with teammates after completing the series with a game-winning goal
They even played some floor hockey, although Tatum was admittedly overmatched.
“He’d challenge me and play goalie and I’d say, ‘I don’t know if you want to do that,'” Tkachuk said.
“In basketball, I’d say, ‘Let’s play one-on-one, it can’t be that hard,’ and he’d say, ‘I don’t know if you want to do that.’
“It was definitely not smart of me to challenge him at basketball, that’s for sure.”
As for Game 7 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Finals, Tkachuk admittedly has divided loyalties.
As a professional athlete representing South Florida (the Panthers play in nearby Sunrise), Tkachuk wants to support Jimmy Butler and the Heat.
“I think the best answer is, so I still have people in St. Louis on my side — I support my two favorite players, Jimmy Butler and Tatum,” Tkachuk said ahead of Game 6. “I hope they both leave… but for the whole Florida vibe, I hope this building is electric all night.”
Celtics guard Derrick White (9) celebrates with forward Jayson Tatum after Game 6 win
Boston is on the verge of a historic comeback against Miami. No team in NBA history has ever won a playoff series after trailing 3-0, but the Celtics forced Game 7 on Saturday with Derrick White’s buzzing tip-in.
Equally shocking was the success of the Panthers.
The eighth seed in the Eastern Conference came back from a 3-1 deficit to upset a historically good Boston Bruins team before beating the Toronto Maple Leafs and Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Florida is currently awaiting the winner of the ongoing Western Conference Finals, which the Vegas Golden Knights lead 3-2 against the Dallas Stars.