Bruce Matthews

Bruce Matthews (BSISE ’83) was known as the National Football League’s “iron giant” and even the “bionic man” during an extraordinary 19-year career as an offensive lineman with the Tennessee Titans (formerly the Houston Oilers). Until he retired, he held the NFL’s longest active streak for games played at 184 and the most consecutive starts at 181. He was selected for the Pro Bowl 11 consecutive seasons at two different positions (seven as guard and four as center). Only two other players, Reggie White (13) and Jerry Rice (12) have been named to more.

While it’s true that he’s big — 6’5”, 305 pounds — he was admired as much for brains as brawn.

“During my early years in pro football,” he says, “I was all raw physical energy. But as I gained knowledge and experience, I could play smarter. This was a great help as I grew older and had less energy, in a profession where the typical NFL career lasts less than four years.”

Matthews honed his athletic skills at USC, blocking for Heisman Trophy winners Charles White and Marcus Allen, and was selected for both the All-American and all-PAC-10 teams.

He was snapped up by the Houston Oilers during the first round of the NFL’s 1983 draft, and went on to play in 296 games with the Oilers/Titans – more than any other offensive lineman in NFL history.

At USC,Matthews made a good impression on and off the field. “Bruce was a BMOC [Big Man on Campus], but you’d never know it from the way he behaved,” says ISE Professor Jerry Fleisher, who recalls Matthews with great fondness. “He was very down-toearth and modest. He took every engineering course on schedule, attended every class, and never asked for special treatment or time off as a football player — yet he still graduated in four years, as a strong B student. And he earned those Bs — he took all the difficult courses. I’m convinced he would have been an A student if he hadn’t played football.”

Matthews modestly downplays his academic prowess. “You know, I think playing football actually helped my grades,” he says. My GPA was always higher in the fall, during football season, because my schedule was so tight. I knew I didn’t have weekends available to study, so I had to do it the first free moment I found during the week. In the Spring, there was more time to do things with friends, so I’d often find myself having to study at the last second. And since I can’t stand losing, if I got a lousy grade, I had to work to get it up.”

Matthews says USC was an easy choice for him. “They’d won a national championship, and I knew I wanted to play with the best players in the country.My older brother, Clay, Jr., had been an All-American linebacker at USC [who went on to play for the Cleveland Browns and Atlanta Falcons]. But it was my father who got me into engineering.”

Clay Matthews, Sr., was a linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers during the 1950s. “Although I never saw my father play, I’d always been impressed by his standard of excellence,” Matthews says. “Everything he did, he did with integrity.My dad had a degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech, and he always told me there’s so much flexibility in what you can do with an engineering degree. That made a big impression on me.”

For Matthews, pursuing a degree in engineering seemed the most normal thing in the world. “I was lucky to have two teammates who were engineering majors,” he says. “Anthony Gibson (BSISE ’83) was in ISE with me, and Fred Cornwell was in civil engineering. We were the same age, we took a lot of classes together, and we all felt that it was a great place to start, even if we didn’t go into the field. I really didn’t realize how unusual we were until I turned pro. I haven’t come across many engineering degree holders in the NFL.”

He put his training to good use. “Of course, the main concept I’ve utilized professionally has to be force equals mass times acceleration,’”Matthews says. “But engineering also taught me a lot of problem solving techniques, which I used as a pro, and also when I left football and got into construction. I’d be using physics, math – all kinds of things I thought I’d forgotten – while building cabinets and laying things out. I love the sense of completion you get when something’s finished. That’s why I enjoyed my engineering classes: there was always a definite answer. I struggled more in my classes that relied on abstract concepts, like English,” he admits.

Matthews may have worked hard to excel in class and on the playing field, but he still found time for his social life. He met his wife, Kerry Kitchen Matthews (BS EXSC ’83) when they were both sophomores. “I lived in Trojan Hall, and Kerry lived next door in EVK,” he says. “I ate at her dining hall a lot, and would see her around.” They met on the way home from the first football game of the year, against Knoxville. “Two weeks later, we went on our first date,”Matthews recalls. “I’d gotten back from an away game at Minnesota at 11:30 at night, and we went to a midnight showing of Monty Python’s Life of Brian in Westwood.

“Kerry and I were serious about each other from the start,” he says. “Four or five weeks after we met, we starting talking about getting married when we graduated. And we’re still together, with six great kids and another on the way.” Today, Bruce, Kerry and their family live in Sugarland, Texas.

Family plays a major role in Matthews’ life.“My brother Clay was five years older than me,” he says. “Growing up, I liked being around him. He was always my hero. Even though I was taller and heavier than he was, I’d watch how he prepared and worked out with the Browns so I could pattern myself after him. Then one day – there I am, playing in the NFL against my brother’s team! I’d been a fan of the Browns for five years, and part of me just wanted to watch what Clay and his team were doing. It was really hard for me to focus, those first two years when the Oilers were playing the Browns. I remember back in 1986, he beat me and sacked the quarterback. I had to fake being upset – because even though we were still trying to win the game, I wanted to cheer him!”

Matthews’ sense of fair play and high personal standards were legendary throughout the NFL, where he was held in high regard for his work ethic, leadership and high level of play. “I feel a real sense of responsibility when I do stuff,” he says. “I want to do it right, and I do whatever needs to be done. Though that doesn’t keep me from thinking I could have done it better.My dad taught me something I’ve never forgotten: If you’re going to sign your name to anything, make sure you do it right. That’s something I’ve tried to do throughout my life.”

Back in the early 1980s, this same approach to life, school and work endeared Matthews to his engineering professors. “For two decades now,” says Prof. Fleisher, “I’ve held Bruce up as an example of the ideal scholar/athlete when I talk to new generations of engineering students. To me, Bruce was more than an All-American athlete — he was an All-American student as well.”

This was one of the reasons why Dean C. L.Max Nikias nominated Matthews for a 2003 USC Alumni Merit Award, which he received last March. “Talk about humbling!”Matthews says. “There I was at the awards dinner, being recognized alongside a Marine Corps Major General who’d been a shuttle astronaut, a woman who’s an internationally acclaimed expert on cancer and AIDS, and the chairman of Walt Disney Motion Pictures.What an honor! I’ve never felt I did anything that special. I’ve just taken what God gave me, and used it as best I can.”

This modesty has been a hallmark of Matthew’s entire career. “Sure, the attention, applause and money are great,” he says, “but in the end we all have to answer to God. I’d like to think I’ve lived my life in a way that honors Him.”