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VIN'S PEOPLE: For 'Matt's place' and Boiler Room Bar & Grill, memories and heartbreak

Vin Mannix
Special to the Herald-Tribune
Vin Mannix

He was like everybody’s big brother. Or favorite uncle.

A counselor who gave you advice along with a cold draft beer.

That was Matt Lavallee, gone too soon at 63, whose Boiler Room Bar & Grill on Manatee Avenue in West Bradenton was a hub of our community for many years and not just on fall Friday nights.

“Anytime anybody played over on this side of town – football, basketball, wrestling – they’d always go to the Boiler Room afterward,” said Andy Gugliemini, going into his 29th year as Manatee High’s wrestling coach and 33rd officiating high school football. “It was a must stop.”

“Matt’s place was one of those cool neighborhood bars where everybody knew your name,” said Terry Wilson, a retired Bradenton firefighter.

“That’s where you went – coaches, everybody – after Little League, Wildcats ...” Kim Jensen said. “Matt was a big part of us and our kids growing up. My granddaughter is heartbroken. Matt used to spoil her.

“The Boiler Room was the go-to for everybody.”

Not just for beer and wings, either.

“It was like a self-help center,” Gugliemini said. “Matt was there to listen to everybody who went there to get advice – or get told what they already knew. Matt would give it to you for real. There was no BS. And it was loving.”

Once a Manatee wrestler himself, Matt helped out Gugliemini as his former assistant in more ways than one.

“He was the glue that kept everything together. When kids needed money, food, whatever, that’s where you went. And if he couldn’t, he knew somebody who could help.”

“Matt was into giving back and loved teaching kids,” Wilson added.

And he never met a stranger.

Take it from John Harder, recalling the start of his 35-year career as an eventual Florida Hall of Fame girls basketball coach.

“When I first walked in there with other Southeast coaches, Matt treated me as if I’d been around the community of coaches forever,” he said. “Then when I would go back there as a single man during 21 years of being divorced he was always so kind to me.”

Happily remarried, Harder said, “I will never forget that.”

Andrea and Ryan Schmitz named daughter Elizabeth’s baby sister, Hallie Rose.

• Salutes to Sergeant Joe Skala, Detective April Culbreath, Property and Evidence Processor James Sevier and Domestic Violence Advocate Dora Bencomo for 25 years with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Toni Jefferies is 39. Again.

• Dan Weaver, too.

• Well done to Ethan Robotham. The Lakewood Ranch High alum made Dean's List in the College of Engineering & Computer Science at the University of Central Florida. The electrical engineering major is on UCF’s robotics team.

• And good luck to Michelle McCarthy, leaving alma mater Manatee High where she was a journalism/speech teacher for 22 years to be the gifted coordinator at both Palmetto and Southeast High.

Vin’s People runs Sundays. Email Vin Mannix at vinspeople@gmail.com. Or call 941-962-5944. Twitter: @vinmannix.