Expand<\/a><\/p>\nTwo standout athletes from the area were selected to Temple University\u2019s Athletics Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s Homecoming football game against UConn on Oct. 10 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Preschutti was a star football player at Temple from 1962-64, while Matthews was one of the school\u2019s most accomplished golfers from 2012-16.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it\u2019s very humbling,\u201d Preschutti said. \u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews was surprised his selection came as quickly as it did.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese things take time. You can be nominated one year and it might take 10 years to get realized,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cFor it to happen this soon, I am humbled, thankful and shocked. You\u2019re 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\u2019s an amazing class to be part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
While he was at Blakely High School, Preschutti was recruited by Tennessee, Virginia and Buffalo. Temple wasn\u2019t even in the picture.<\/p>\n
That changed after the 1961 Scranton Lions Club Dream Game.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019ve been so involved, 40-something years, with the Dream Game,\u201d Preschutti said. \u201d 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 \u201cPolo\u201d 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, \u2018Jerry, you\u2019re the first one in our family to go to college.\u2019 And that\u2019s how it started.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
From 1965-69, Preschutti was an assistant coach at Temple. He was the defensive backs coach on the Owls\u2019 1967 squad that went 7-2 overall and won the MAC title with a 4-0 record.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne 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,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t 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\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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\u2019m very thankful to Temple and coach Quinn for that. It ended up being the right decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 Temple\u2019s first since 1988. He shared Temple\u2019s Male Student-Athlete of the Year Award with basketball player Will Cummings as a senior.<\/p>\n
His most memorable moment at Temple was his first win as a freshman in 2012 at the Hartford Hawks Invitational at Bull\u2019s Bridge Golf Club in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a guy I\u2019ve known for a long time who took a video of it,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cI 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\u2019t 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s healthy, he plans to resume his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit a point where I\u2019m sick of playing this limbo of trying to be healthy and then it kind of goes out a bit,\u201d Matthews said. \u201cI\u2019m 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\u2019ve won at every single level that I\u2019ve been at when healthy. I\u2019m not worried about where my golf game is going to be at once I get healthy.\u00a0But I don\u2019t want to have a scenario, especially being 32 years old, where I can\u2019t come home and pick up my 2-year-old daughter. That\u2019s the most important part of my life along with my wife.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matthews is grateful for the support he has received throughout the years from the people in Northeast Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine a community to grow up in that\u2019s better than the one I have,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people around Northeast Pennsylvania have shaped me and are a big part of the reason why I\u2019m 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\u2019s definitely not done.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of Matthews\u2019 friends at Temple, football player Tyler Matakevich (2012-15), is also among this year\u2019s Hall of Fame class. The others are Bruce Arians, football coach (1983-88); NaDeen Bridgeforth Richardson, women\u2019s track and field (1984-88); the late Wally Hayes, men\u2019s gymnastics (1948-50); Rebecca Joseph, women\u2019s lacrosse (1990-93); Dr. Walter Strosser, wrestling (1965-69); Mark Tyndale, men\u2019s basketball (2004-08); and Amber Youtz, field hockey (2011-14).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Player liaison Jerry Preschutti addresses the all-star players who competed in the 92nd Scranton Lions Club Dream Game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2300,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-261399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-college-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Player](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-dreamgame-01.jpeg?w=620\")
<\/p>\n![\"Jerry](\"https:\/\/www.thetimes-tribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/STT-L-DREAMGAMEMEDIA-071425-01.jpg?w=620\")
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