Late night call lands football coach Matt Walters a chance to play for $25K on 'Password'

Matt Walters loves games, from the games on the gridiron as the head coach of East Stroudsburg South, to the games with his students as an elementary school teacher. But Walters was a part of a different type of game — a game show.

"In the middle of the night, I get a text message from a random number that I never saw before," Walters said. "It was from someone who was looking for contestants for the show 'Password.' They said, 'Hey, we see that you're a football coach. Do you mind if I could give you a call and just give you some information about the game?'"

Walters was understandably doubtful at first, wondering if this was legitimate. But growing up in a game show household, where he'd watch "The Price Is Right" before school and "Jeopardy!" when he got home, he was intrigued about the opportunity. It paid off as the late-night call turned into an appearance on NBC's "Password" with Keke Palmer and Jimmy Fallon, the revamped game show where a celebrity and a contestant attempt to guess a password using single-word clues for a chance to win $25,000.

"I was flown out to Los Angeles," Walters said. "The show was filmed in the historic Universal Studios backlot. If you've ever watched a Universal film, it was probably filmed back there. It was neat to tour the lot, see all of the different sets, then they told me, 'By the way, we're filming right here.' It was an unbelievable opportunity."

Walters said he prepared for the show "like a football game," re-watching the first season five times and nagging his fiancée for hours to play with him, even doing so at dinner.

"She was a trooper. She was very supportive of it," Walters said. "I studied, I prepared, I watched how Jimmy Fallon would give his clues so I could be better. When I was a teammate with Jimmy, you know, I just wanted to put myself in a position to be successful, because, let's face it, you're playing for $25,000, and I wanted to put myself in a great situation to have a chance to win that."

The most memorable thing for Walters, though, was how well he was treated on set. The television process was new to him, but the people on set helped him remain calm and simply enjoy the experience.

Walters played with rapper Wiz Khalifa. Actor Keke Palmer was the host, and talk show host Jimmy Fallon is a recurring figure on the show. Walters was excited to work with Fallon, whom he recalled being in person for Fallon's first show as host of "The Tonight Show."

"Just the fact that it's Jimmy Fallon, who, you know, I love to watch, and to have an opportunity to be his teammate in a game show, it was like a dream come true," Walters said.

Fallon and Wiz Khalifa brought "fun energy" to the show as he put it, adding that everyone was down to Earth and great to be around off camera. It was also a whirlwind experience that had him asking what happened after he was back in the hotel room, but it was great for him.

Walters' episode airs on Tuesday, July 2, at 10 p.m. on NBC.

This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: Late night call lands football coach Matt Walters a chance to play for $25K on 'Password'