Robert L. Mathews | |
Birth Date: | 6 August 1887 |
Birth Place: | Leadville, Colorado, U.S. |
Death Place: | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
Player Sport1: | Football |
Player Years2: | 1907 |
Player Team2: | Willamette |
Player Years3: | 1908–1910 |
Player Team3: | Notre Dame |
Player Positions: | Back |
Coach Sport1: | Football |
Coach Years2: | 1911 |
Coach Team2: | St. Edward's |
Coach Years3: | 1912–1914 |
Coach Team3: | Kenyon |
Coach Years4: | 1915–1920 |
Coach Team4: | Willamette |
Coach Years5: | 1921 |
Coach Team5: | Washington (freshmen) |
Coach Years6: | 1922–1925 |
Coach Team6: | Idaho |
Coach Years7: | 1926–1927 |
Coach Team7: | Saint Louis |
Coach Years8: | 1929 |
Coach Team8: | Gonzaga |
Coach Years9: | 1931–1932 |
Coach Team9: | West Seattle Athletic Club |
Coach Years10: | 1937–1942 |
Coach Team10: | Portland |
Coach Years11: | 1944 |
Coach Team11: | Portland Rockets |
Coach Years12: | 1946 |
Coach Team12: | Lewis & Clark |
Coach Sport13: | Basketball |
Coach Years14: | 1929–1930 |
Coach Team14: | Gonzaga |
Coach Years15: | 1942–1943 |
Coach Team15: | Portland |
Coach Years16: | 1945–1946 |
Coach Team16: | Lewis & Clark |
Coach Sport17: | Baseball |
Coach Years18: | 1922 |
Coach Team18: | Washington |
Coach Years19: | 1942 |
Coach Team19: | Portland |
Admin Years1: | 1915–1921 |
Admin Team1: | Willamette |
Admin Years2: | 1922–1926 |
Admin Team2: | Idaho |
Admin Years3: | 1929–1930 |
Admin Team3: | Gonzaga |
Admin Years4: | 1937–1944 |
Admin Team4: | Portland |
Overall Record: | 3–6 (AFL) 8–8 (college basketball) |
Robert Lee "Matty" Mathews (August 6, 1887 – September 1, 1947) was an American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at St. Edward's College (1911), Kenyon College (1912–1914), Willamette University (1915–1920), the University of Idaho (1922–1925), Saint Louis University (1926–1927), Gonzaga University (1929), the University of Portland (1937–1942),[1] and Lewis & Clark College (1945–1946).
He was born on August 6, 1887, in Leadville, Colorado.
Mathews played college football at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, as a freshman then transferred to the University of Notre Dame in 1908 and played three seasons for the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana.[2] [3] [4] During his senior season in 1910, future coaching legend Knute Rockne was a freshman end.
In Mathews' four seasons at Idaho, the Vandals' first years in the Pacific Coast Conference, they won three consecutive rivalry games over Palouse neighbor Washington State. Idaho lost the other, Mathews' first in 1922, by a single point, and he remains the only Idaho head coach with multiple wins over WSU. The Vandals made significant use of the forward pass under Mathews,[5] who was also the athletic director at Idaho.[6] [7]
He left Moscow and the Northwest after 1925 for St. Louis for two seasons (1926–27) but did not coach during the 1928 season,[8] and worked in private business in Akron, Ohio, until hired at Gonzaga in June 1929.[5] After less than a year in Spokane as athletic director and head coach in football and basketball,[9] [10] he resigned in April 1930 to pursue career options closer to the coast.[11]
Mathews was also the head coach of the West Seattle Athletic Club in 1931 and 1932 and of the American Football League's Portland Rockets in 1944.[12] [13] In the 1930s, he supervised athletics for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps in the state of Washington.[14]
He returned to college football in Oregon at the University of Portland in 1937, where he was also athletic director. During World War II, the school dropped football prior to the 1943 season and Mathews resigned as AD the following spring when the administration extended the hiatus for the 1944 season.[1] [15] Entering his third season at Lewis & Clark in 1947,[16]
Mathews died on September 1 at the age of 60 of a heart attack at his home in Portland, Oregon.[14] [17]