Player liaison Jerry Preschutti addresses the all-star players who competed in the 92nd Scranton Lions Club Dream Game on July 22 at John/Henzes Veterans Memorial Stadium. Times-Tribune file
Jerry Preschutti talks to players during Media Day for the Dream Game at John Henzes/Veterans Memorial Stadium in Peckville on July 14, 2025. Times-Tribune file
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Player liaison Jerry Preschutti addresses the all-star players who competed in the 92nd Scranton Lions Club Dream Game on July 22 at John/Henzes Veterans Memorial Stadium. Times-Tribune file
Two standout athletes from the area were selected to Temple University’s Athletics Hall of Fame.
Jerry Preschutti from Peckville and Brandon Matthews of Dupont are part of the 10-member class that will be inducted at a ceremony Oct. 9 and recognized during Temple’s Homecoming football game against UConn on Oct. 10 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
Preschutti was a star football player at Temple from 1962-64, while Matthews was one of the school’s most accomplished golfers from 2012-16.
“For me, it’s very humbling,” Preschutti said. “I’m from Peckville, the son of a coal miner. I had great teammates and great coaches and that certainly made this possible. This is just very special for myself and my family.”
Matthews was surprised his selection came as quickly as it did.
“These things take time. You can be nominated one year and it might take 10 years to get realized,” Matthews said. “For it to happen this soon, I am humbled, thankful and shocked. You’re almost at a loss for words how you feel about it. You never expect something like this to happen this early. You look at the other names in there. It’s an amazing class to be part of.”
While he was at Blakely High School, Preschutti was recruited by Tennessee, Virginia and Buffalo. Temple wasn’t even in the picture.
That changed after the 1961 Scranton Lions Club Dream Game.
“That’s why I’ve been so involved, 40-something years, with the Dream Game,” Preschutti said. ” After the Dream Game, (Temple assistant) coach Wally Porter came into the locker room and offered me a scholarship, but I had to let him know by Monday. I never applied to Temple, I never saw Temple, I never met the coach (George Makris). My dad (Lando “Polo” Preschutti), Dr. Coccodrilli and Pete Cordelli made a decision for me to go to Temple. So I drove to Philadelphia, they were waiting for me, got accepted and walked up Broad Street. I had never been to Philadelphia, so it was like another world. I got my dorm assignment. My father was so happy, he was crying. He said, ‘Jerry, you’re the first one in our family to go to college.’ And that’s how it started.”
During his three varsity seasons, he was a versatile player, excelling as a runner, receiver, kick returner and defensive back. His best season came as a senior in 1964 when he was named Middle Atlantic Conference Player of the Year and Philadelphia College Player of the Year for helping Temple finish with a 7-2 record. In a 44-13 win over Boston University, he had a 98-yard kickoff return to open the second half, then added a 52-yard touchdown run. He finished with 278 yards rushing, averaged 37.0 yards on kick returns and caught seven passes for 75 yards. Defensively, he had three interceptions after picking off four passes in 1963.
From 1965-69, Preschutti was an assistant coach at Temple. He was the defensive backs coach on the Owls’ 1967 squad that went 7-2 overall and won the MAC title with a 4-0 record.
After graduating in 2012 from Pittston Area, where he won the PIAA championship as a junior in 2010, Matthews headed to Temple and took advantage of the opportunity that coach Brian Quinn presented him.
“One of the most important things about Temple University that I tell people about all the time is that I still had an opportunity to be a kid,” Matthews said. “It wasn’t an SEC school or somewhere in Florida where you can burn yourself out. I still had the opportunity during the winter months to go to an indoor facility, hit balls, do whatever I needed to do. But I still took time off, I still was able to be a kid. I never got burned out. So many kids do that who have so much potential. I’m incredibly grateful that I chose Temple because I never got burned out, and it still provided me with the opportunity to succeed at any degree I wanted to.
“I grew up in a very blue-collar area, in a blue-collar family. I was able to provide an opportunity for my family to not have to pay for my education at all. I’m very thankful to Temple and coach Quinn for that. It ended up being the right decision.”
A four-time all-conference selection and 2013 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, Matthews won eight individual tournament titles, tying the Temple record. He set the program record for scoring average as a junior. He earned at-large berths to the NCAA Championships as a junior and a senior and was an All-America honorable mention in 2015 — Temple’s first since 1988. He shared Temple’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award with basketball player Will Cummings as a senior.
His most memorable moment at Temple was his first win as a freshman in 2012 at the Hartford Hawks Invitational at Bull’s Bridge Golf Club in Connecticut.
“There’s a guy I’ve known for a long time who took a video of it,” Matthews said. “I was in a playoff and I made an eagle for my first college win. It was my second or third event that I played at Temple. It was the 10th hole and I remember I hit a 3-iron to within eight feet. I remember on the video coach Quinn had the flag stick and he just put his head down. He didn’t watch the putt. It was a superstitious thing that he had whenever he had a player who was about to win a tournament. He never watched the putt, he just listened. I remember that video and that will always stick in my mind. He was a fantastic coach and fantastic friend to me through the years. I couldn’t be more thankful to him and the entire golf program. That just fully encompasses everything for me of how it started and what was built off that putt.”
Following Temple, Matthews turned pro and has competed on the PGA Tour, Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamerica. Injuries have hampered his career; most recently he had to withdraw from a Korn Ferry Tour event last month in Colorado. He said he has torn labrums in both hips and needs to get them repaired. Once he’s healthy, he plans to resume his career.
“I hit a point where I’m sick of playing this limbo of trying to be healthy and then it kind of goes out a bit,” Matthews said. “I’m just ready to get fully healthy over the next few years, get everything done that I need to get done whatever it is. From there I know I can win again. I’ve won at every single level that I’ve been at when healthy. I’m not worried about where my golf game is going to be at once I get healthy. But I don’t want to have a scenario, especially being 32 years old, where I can’t come home and pick up my 2-year-old daughter. That’s the most important part of my life along with my wife.”
Matthews is grateful for the support he has received throughout the years from the people in Northeast Pennsylvania.
“I can’t imagine a community to grow up in that’s better than the one I have,” he said. “The people around Northeast Pennsylvania have shaped me and are a big part of the reason why I’m a Hall of Famer at Temple. So thank you to everyone in that area for supporting me, continuing to believe in me from the lows to the highs. I promise you my golf career is not done. It might have to take a pause for a little bit of time, but it’s definitely not done.”
One of Matthews’ friends at Temple, football player Tyler Matakevich (2012-15), is also among this year’s Hall of Fame class. The others are Bruce Arians, football coach (1983-88); NaDeen Bridgeforth Richardson, women’s track and field (1984-88); the late Wally Hayes, men’s gymnastics (1948-50); Rebecca Joseph, women’s lacrosse (1990-93); Dr. Walter Strosser, wrestling (1965-69); Mark Tyndale, men’s basketball (2004-08); and Amber Youtz, field hockey (2011-14).