Hall of Fame
When flipping through the pages of men’s basketball history at Towson the mid-70’s stands out as an exciting era when the Tigers created a stir in the Baltimore metropolitan area with their incredible record, national ranking and plethora of local talent with Brian Matthews right in the thick of it.
Unheralded coming out of high school at Baltimore City College, Brian made the short trip to Towson where he found a home with the Tigers. “I wasn’t getting a whole lot of attention,” Brian recalled, “so I visited Towson and liked it. Besides, Pat McKinley was there and it was a chance to hook up with him again since we’d played together at City.”
Brian became a four-year starter for the Tigers. His first two seasons were somewhat inconspicuous when he averaged 10 points and 7.5 rebounds. He exploded in his junior year to lead the Tigers in scoring with a 17.9 clip and a 10.0 rebound average. The Tigers posted their best record in their 57-year history of basketball, going 27-3, closing out the regular season as the NCAA’s Division II poll champion. Two of their losses were to local rivals; NAIA defending national champion Coppin State and the University of Baltimore. The Tigers and 25-4 UB Super Bees met five times in sold-out games during that 1976-77 campaign with the Tigers winning four of those contests, handing their then-arch rival its only losses of the season.
In his senior year Brian showed the way with an 18.8 scoring average as the Tigers forged a 26-4 record. Towson finished with a number three ranking in the Division II national poll. The accolades piled up for Brian. He became only the second Towson basketball player to earn first team All-American honors when he was selected to the Converse and American Basketball Coaches Association teams. He repeated as a first team All Mason-Dixon Conference selection. He was named for a second time to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional tournament team in addition to spots on the conference and Baltimore Metro tourney teams. He was Towson’s 1978 Male Athlete of the Year.
At the time of his induction Brian still ranked 4th on Towson’s all-time scoring list with 1,665 points that he scored before the three-point field goal was instituted. He was one of only two Tigers to grab over 1,000 rebounds as he remained the program’s 2nd all-time leading rebounder with 1,062. He was also the program’s career leader in steals with 269.
He later attended the Philadelphia 76ers rookie free agent camp. “I lasted three days,” Brian said. “That was really the end of my playing career. I didn’t consider playing overseas because in those days it was quite different from what it is now.”
Brian was employed in the U.S. Postal Service for several decades until his retirement.
