The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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38 ■ THE WOLFPACKER In Sloan's final season, the Pack had five players from the D.C. area: Whit- ney, Matthews, Lowe, Whittenburg and Bailey. "We had some really talented teams during that time," Matthews said. "We really should have won another national championship. "I just wish we could have won more games while I was there." Moving On To The Pros As a freshman, Matthews was part of an inexperienced roster that was picked to finish last in the ACC but wound up third behind Duke and North Carolina. The Wolfpack reached the National In- vitation Tournament and went on a run that ended in Madison Square Garden, where it beat Georgetown in overtime and advanced to the final against Texas. Matthews faced three of his Dun- bar teammates in the game against the Hoyas, which the Wolfpack won in overtime thanks to Whitney's 26 points and Austin's 35-foot heave with one second remaining in the extra period. NC State fell to the Longhorns in the NIT championship game, but Matthews finished his first season averaging more than 10 points a game and became a regular as a sophomore. During his junior and senior seasons, Matthews handled both guard positions and some small forward. The Wolfpack played its final season under Sloan in 1979-80 and its first under Jim Valvano the following year. Matthews never matched the produc- tion from his freshman year. Injuries, a lack of defensive intensity and the coaching transition worked against him becoming the scorer he always thought he could be. Still, the Boston Celtics took him in the 10th round in the 1981 NBA Draft. In the end, general manager Red Au- erbach kept Danny Ainge as his rookie shooting guard over Matthews. Undeterred, Matthews decided to play professionally in New Zealand, where he became a scoring legend. He once hit 16 three-pointers and scored 74 points in a single game. He led the Kiwi professional leagues in 1984-85 with a 44-point average. Life After Basketball After three years down under, Mat- thews played professionally in Chile, where he won two championships. He hung up his sneakers after eight profes- sional seasons. Matthews returned to his hometown of Washington to join the civil servant corps. He spent 15 years working for the U.S. Postal Service before taking a job in security with the State Department. Beginning in 2004, he worked for seven different secretaries of state, starting with Colin Powell. He also served as an escort and special agent at the highest levels for secretaries Con- doleezza Rice, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Rex Tillerson, Mike Pompeo and Antony Blinken. Now 64, with two adult children, Matthews recently retired from his gov- ernment job and has been reconnecting with his Raleigh roots. When COVID travel protocols have allowed, he's come back in 2019 and '21 to visit with Whit- tenburg and other teammates who are still in the area. ■ Matthews, shown with Eddie Biedenbach (Class of '68) and Bob MacGillivray (Class of '59), went on to play eight years of professional basketball in New Zealand and Chile. He recently retired from a security role with the State Department, having served seven different secretaries of state. PHOTO VIA FACEBOOK @ THE FAMILY OF NC STATE BASKETBALL Tim Peeler is a regular contributor to The Wolfpacker and can be reached at tmpeeler@ncsu.edu. " We had some really talented teams [in the late 1970s and early '80s]. We really should have won another national championship. I just wish we could have won more games while I was there. " Matthews