Naperville’s own Matt LaCosse, recently visited 630 Naperville, to talk about his life before and after his NFL retirement in 2022 and answer some burning questions.
Matt Lacosse was born in raised in Naperville, attending Prairie Elementary, Washington Junior High school, and finally Naperville North High School, where he was a three-sport athlete. He went on to play college ball for all four years at Illinois. He played professional football for the New York Giants, New York Jets, New York Giants (second stint), Denver Broncos, and New England Patriots.
LaCosse recently returned to the area with his wife and two young children. He sat down with Naperville Notable host Liz Spencer, to talk about his past and some the plans he has for the future.
What three people would Matt LaCosse choose go to diner with if he could anyone he wanted?
LaCosse said, “I think the first one probably would be my grandfather. He died when I was three. He was a World War II Marine. I don’t really know him that well. I have some memories, but not a time. So be really nice to sit down there with him and get to know him a little bit better.”
The second person on Matt’s list is Steve Harvey. “I’m a huge, huge Steve Harvey fan on Family Feud, so probably Steve, that would be awesome, said LaCosse.”
The last person on his wishful guest list, is Arnold Schwarzenegger. LaCosse explained, “I just think he’s super interesting. He’s from Austria. That’s where my family’s from. It would be really fun to sit down with those three groups and and see how it goes.”
What are LaCosse’s go-to foods?
Spencer went on to ask Matt LaCosse about his favorite foods. LaCosse said, “I’m Chicago through and through. I love Lou Malnati’s in downtown Naperville. It’s one of my favorite spots to go. Huge pizza guy so that’s definitely number one. Go to foods number probably number two is honestly any any steak. I’m a huge steak house guy. Anything red meat is right up my alley.”
What advice would he give to a younger Matt?
“Just have fun, that’d be my number one thing I would have told myself back in the day. Don’t worry about necessarily going to college on a scholarship or making it to the NFL. Just have fun, try your best, work extremely hard. Don’t have any regrets with it, but just really enjoy yourself because it goes by so fast. Really fast,” said LaCosse.
What’s next for Matt LaCosse?
Spencer concluded the interview by asking LaCosse about his plan now that his NFL’s journey is complete.“So we move back to Illinois, and we’ll be moving back to Naperville here soon for a little bit. We’ll see if we stay there or if we go somewhere else. My wife and I have two beautiful kids, a two year old and a two month old, very fortunate, both happy, healthy babies. So they keep us busy and we love hanging out with them,” said LaCosse.
He went on to say, “We run a real estate company in Illinois. We’ve been doing that for probably three or four years. And then, new information, we’re bringing two fitness companies to Illinois, hopefully one in downtown and hopefully one like 59/95th. So a lot of things in the works and we’ll see how it goes.”
