H. L. Matthews

Howard Lynn Matthews, usually known as Matty Matthews or H. L. Matthews, was a minor league baseball player and boxing, baseball, and track and field coach at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina. His son became head of a long family line of standout National Football League players.

Matthews was born in Jeffersonville, Ohio on February 14, 1889. He played baseball for several minor league teams from 1912 through 1915, primarily in the South Atlantic League. With the onset of World War I, he joined the army where he began boxing. After the war, he returned to baseball for the 1922 season, while also pursuing a career as a stock market telegrapher. Matthews gave up all of these activities to coach at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina in the 1925–26 school year.

Matty became boxing, baseball, and track and field coach at The Citadel beginning in 1926. Matthews was part of the inaugural class of inductees into The Citadel Athletic Hall of Fame in 1977. He was also inducted in the Carolinas Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.

Head coaching record

Baseball

Matthews's record as head coach of The Citadel baseball team is incomplete. Only two seasons have complete records, one each during his two stints as coach of the baseball team.

Boxing

Track and field

No records are available for Matthews' tenure as track and field coach at The Citadel.

The Matthews football dynasty family tree: