John Matuszak John Daniel " Tooz " Matuszak ( October 25 , 1950June 17 , 1989 ) was an American football defensive lineman in the National Football League who later became an actor . He was the first draft pick of 1973 and played most of his career with the Oakland Raiders until he retired after winning his second Super Bowl in 1981 . Matuszak participated in the 1978 World ' s Strongest Man competition , where he placed ninth . As an actor , he played the deformed Sloth in the 1985 movie " The Goonies " and Tonda in " Caveman " . His autobiography , " Cruisin ' with the Tooz " , written with Steve Delsohn was published in 1987 . Early life . Matuszak was born in Oak Creek , Wisconsin , in 1950 to Audrey and Marvin Matuszak ( not the same Marvin Matuszak who was a defensive lineman in the NFL and AFL ) . He was always big for his age , which became an advantage as a defensive lineman in football . When he eventually turned pro , he stood 6 feet 8 inches ( 2 . 03 m ) and weighed over 280 pounds ( 127 kilograms ) . He attended the University of Tampa where he was the star of their football team . Football career . Matuszak , drafted by the Houston Oilers of the NFL , was the first draft pick of 1973 . In addition to his contract with the Oilers , he joined the Houston Texans of the World Football League , but played a total of seven plays before a restraining order that was served to him during a game that barred him from playing for two teams at the same time . Matuszak said he had no plans to play in that game but requested to play after seeing 25 or so men looking for him on the sidelines . He didn ' t know what was happening at the time and wanted to avoid confrontation . The Oilers , displeased that he tried joining the WFL , traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs , where he played until 1975 . Then he found himself with the Raiders in 1976 after being released in pre - season by the Washington Redskins . He helped the Raiders win two Super Bowl s ( XI and XV ) before retiring following spending the entire 1982 season on injured reserve . His football career was often overshadowed by his even more famous ( or infamous ) partying and seemingly endless use of drugs . In his autobiography , he stated that he took many painkiller s as well as other narcotic s while playing professional football . Because of this , an article written for " Sports Illustrated " ' s website in January 2005 named him one of the top five all - time " bad boys " of the NFL . Although his performances made him one of the best Raider defenders of all time , his volatile actions contributed to him not being popular with teammates ( Matt Millen told reporters on several occasions how he disliked Matuszak and found him to be phony ) and not being one of Al Davis ' s favorite post - retirement players , and after an ugly incident where Matuszak violently assaulted assistant coach Terry Robiskie due to Matuszak hearing a false rumor that the team was going to trade away star tight end Todd Christensen , he was banned from ever setting foot in the Raiders ' HQ again . Acting . Matuszak became a fairly successful actor in the 1980s , making appearances in movie s and on television , often portraying football players or gentle giants . His first major role was in the 1979 movie " North Dallas Forty " as a football player . He appeared in the movies " Caveman " , " The Ice Pirates " , and " One Crazy Summer " but is frequently remembered as deformed captive Sloth in " The Goonies " , the make - up for which took five hours to apply . Matuszak ' s character Sloth wears an Oakland Raiders shirt in some scenes . He had numerous guest appearances in popular TV shows such as " Perfect Strangers " , " M * A * S * H " , " The Dukes of Hazzard " , " Hunter " , " Silver Spoons " , " The A - Team " , " 1st & Ten " , " Miami Vice " and " Cheers " . Death . John Matuszak died as a result of an accidental overdose of a prescription drug , according to the findings of the Los Angeles County Coroner ' s Office . A report listed the cause of death as " acute propoxyphene intoxication . " Propoxyphene is the generic name for the prescription pain medicine known as Darvocet . The report added that a small amount of cocaine metabolite was found in Matuszak ' s blood , but was not considered to have contributed to his death . The report said that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy , an enlarged heart , and bronchopneumonia had been contributing factors in the death . Dambacher said Matuszak had been experiencing back pain , a problem that had caused his retirement from football after the 1981 season .