Arthur Matsu
Encyclopedia
Arthur A. Matsu was an American football
player and coach. He was the first Asian-American student at The College of William & Mary and the quarterback and captain of the school's football team. He was later selected by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
as the best quarterback to play at William & Mary in the first half of the 20th century. He played one season of professional football for the Dayton Triangles
and was the first Asian-American quarterback in the National Football League
. He was an assistant football coach at Rutgers University
for more than 20 years.
, Scotland in 1904. His father was Japanese, and his mother was Scottish. He moved with his family to Canada as a young child and then to Cleveland, Ohio. By age 13, Matsu had shown himself to be an exceptional athlete and was being compared to Jim Thorpe
. Sportswriter Paul Purman
wrote a nationally-syndicated story about Matsu in July 1917. Purman wrote that Matsu played first base on an undefeated baseball team, played halfback for a high school football team, played forward on an amateur basketball team, set the Cleveland junior records in the 50, 75 and 100-yard dashes, pole-vaulted 7 feet, 4 inches, was a champion swimmer at the Cleveland Y.M.C.A, played "a fair game of tennis," and caddied at a golf course. Purman concluded: "Even Jim Thorpe
and Howard Berry, all around athletes de luxe, will have to doff their chapeaux to this Japanese youth who claims Cleveland as his home and who doesn't balk at anything in the athletic line except auto racing and poker."
Matsu continued to excel as an athlete and became a multi-sport star at Cleveland's East Technical High School
. In August 1923, he won the national scholastic diving championship. He was recruited as an athlete by both Princeton University
and The College of William & Mary.
, Matsu chose William & Mary, the second oldest college in the United States located in Williamsburg, Virginia
. Matsu was the first Asian-American student at William & Mary and a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball, and track (as a pole vaulter). He gained national acclaim as the quarterback
for the William & Mary Tribe football
team from 1923 to 1926. In December 1925, he was selected by his teammates as the captain of the 1926 team. He was the first Asian-American to be selected as the captain of an American college football team.
Matsu was considered a "triple-threat man" due to his ability to pass, run, and punt. While much of the press coverage focused on the novelty of a Japanese football player, the coverage also emphasized his athleticism. In October 1925, one writer noted:
He gained further notice for scoring against every major college football team that he played against from 1923 to 1925. In February 1926, another sportswriter observed: "An able, consistent punter, good ball carrier, and sure tackler, the Japanese makes up in brains and speed what he lacks in poundage." A nationally-syndicated profile on Matsu was published in the fall of 1926; the article reviewed his academic and sporting accomplishments and concluded: "The college with its 1,100 students, half of whom are coeds, are proud of their Jap Captain, the first of his nationality to gain fame on the gridiron." After a game against Harvard
in 1925, The New York Times
wrote:
Matsu also served as a campus leader at William & Mary and was elected as the president of the Varsity Club and a member of the school's secret society, the 13 Club. In 1924, while Matsu was attending William & Mary, the State of Virginia passed a law prohibiting marriage between whites and Asians, a law under which the marriage between Matsu's parents would have been illegal. One author has suggested that the law may have passed in response to the presence and popularity of Matsu on the William & Mary campus: "[F]ears that Matsu's popularity would spark interracial fraternization may have helped prompt Virginia's Legislature to pass the Racial Purity Act in 1924, extending the state's miscegenation law and explicitly forbidding intermarriage between Asians and whites."
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
later selected Matsu as the best quarterback to play at William & Mary in the first half of the 20th century, and the New York Sun
rated him as the second best quarterback in the school's history.
in 1928. He joined Walter "Sneeze" Achiu
on the Daytons. A native of Hawaii, Achiu joined the Daytons in 1927 to become the first Asian-American to play in the National Football League
. Matsu followed as the first Asian-American quarterback in the NFL. Matsu appeared in six of seven games played by the Triangles in 1928, including four as a starter. The Daytons finished the season with a record of 0–7 in last place in the NFL.
On January 1, 1930, Matsu was the quarterback for a Virginia all-star team that played against Benny Friedman
's all-star professional team in a game at Richmond Stadium. Matsu completed a touchdown pass that covered more than 60 yards for the Virginia squad.
in Ashville, North Carolina. He was reported by the Associated Press
to be "the first Japanese football coach." In 1930, Matsu moved to Richmond, Virginia
, as the head football coach at Benedictine Preparatory School
. His 1930 Benedictine team became renowned for its aerial attack.
In 1931, J. Wilder Tasker, who had coached Matsu at William & Mary, was hired as the head football coach at Rutgers University
. He promptly recruited Matsu to join him as the backfield coach at Rutgers. Matsu also taught physical education at Rutgers and was promoted from instructor to assistant professor in June 1934. Matsu remained an assistant football coach at Rutgers from 1931 until the 1950s. He served as the freshman coach in the late 1930 and was assigned to do publicity work in the spring of 1941. He was Rutgers' backfield coach in the early 1950s and resumed responsibility as the freshman coach in 1955. Frank Burns, who played quarterback for Rutgers in the 1950s, said of Matsu: "He was a master of offensive football, a true innovator."
. He died in May 1987.
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player and coach. He was the first Asian-American student at The College of William & Mary and the quarterback and captain of the school's football team. He was later selected by the Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
as the best quarterback to play at William & Mary in the first half of the 20th century. He played one season of professional football for the Dayton Triangles
Dayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north...
and was the first Asian-American quarterback in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He was an assistant football coach at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
for more than 20 years.
Early years
Matsu was born in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland in 1904. His father was Japanese, and his mother was Scottish. He moved with his family to Canada as a young child and then to Cleveland, Ohio. By age 13, Matsu had shown himself to be an exceptional athlete and was being compared to Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
. Sportswriter Paul Purman
Paul Purman
Paul R. Purman was an American sportswriter. Purman had a lengthy career in journalism, but he is best known for his work in the years from 1916 to 1918 when his sports column was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers and he selected an annual All-America football team for the Newspaper Enterprise...
wrote a nationally-syndicated story about Matsu in July 1917. Purman wrote that Matsu played first base on an undefeated baseball team, played halfback for a high school football team, played forward on an amateur basketball team, set the Cleveland junior records in the 50, 75 and 100-yard dashes, pole-vaulted 7 feet, 4 inches, was a champion swimmer at the Cleveland Y.M.C.A, played "a fair game of tennis," and caddied at a golf course. Purman concluded: "Even Jim Thorpe
Jim Thorpe
Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...
and Howard Berry, all around athletes de luxe, will have to doff their chapeaux to this Japanese youth who claims Cleveland as his home and who doesn't balk at anything in the athletic line except auto racing and poker."
Matsu continued to excel as an athlete and became a multi-sport star at Cleveland's East Technical High School
East Technical High School
East Technical High School or East Tech is a secondary school under the operation of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in Cleveland, Ohio.-History:...
. In August 1923, he won the national scholastic diving championship. He was recruited as an athlete by both Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and The College of William & Mary.
William & Mary
At the urging of football coach J. Wilder TaskerJ. Wilder Tasker
-External links:...
, Matsu chose William & Mary, the second oldest college in the United States located in Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
. Matsu was the first Asian-American student at William & Mary and a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball, and track (as a pole vaulter). He gained national acclaim as the quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
for the William & Mary Tribe football
William & Mary Tribe football
The William & Mary Tribe are a college football team representing the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. William & Mary currently competes in the Colonial Athletic Association of the NCAA's Division I Football Championship Subdivision. As of 2010, Jimmye Laycock is in his 31st...
team from 1923 to 1926. In December 1925, he was selected by his teammates as the captain of the 1926 team. He was the first Asian-American to be selected as the captain of an American college football team.
Matsu was considered a "triple-threat man" due to his ability to pass, run, and punt. While much of the press coverage focused on the novelty of a Japanese football player, the coverage also emphasized his athleticism. In October 1925, one writer noted:
"Harvard probably will face something new Saturday in playing William and Mary College to the extent of being opposed by a Japanese quarterback. Yale had a Chinese shortstop but so far as known, Art Matsu is the only Japanese playing college football in the east. ... Matsu ... is a splendid player and good field general."
He gained further notice for scoring against every major college football team that he played against from 1923 to 1925. In February 1926, another sportswriter observed: "An able, consistent punter, good ball carrier, and sure tackler, the Japanese makes up in brains and speed what he lacks in poundage." A nationally-syndicated profile on Matsu was published in the fall of 1926; the article reviewed his academic and sporting accomplishments and concluded: "The college with its 1,100 students, half of whom are coeds, are proud of their Jap Captain, the first of his nationality to gain fame on the gridiron." After a game against Harvard
Harvard Crimson football
The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision . Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873...
in 1925, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
wrote:
"Matsu, the quarterback, who is of Scotch and Japanese parents, played a splendid game. Besides punting in fine fashion and making some steady advances when he carried the ball, the tall and thin player saved his team many times when he called the plays so that the Crimson defense was baffled."
Matsu also served as a campus leader at William & Mary and was elected as the president of the Varsity Club and a member of the school's secret society, the 13 Club. In 1924, while Matsu was attending William & Mary, the State of Virginia passed a law prohibiting marriage between whites and Asians, a law under which the marriage between Matsu's parents would have been illegal. One author has suggested that the law may have passed in response to the presence and popularity of Matsu on the William & Mary campus: "[F]ears that Matsu's popularity would spark interracial fraternization may have helped prompt Virginia's Legislature to pass the Racial Purity Act in 1924, extending the state's miscegenation law and explicitly forbidding intermarriage between Asians and whites."
The Richmond Times-Dispatch
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The Richmond Times-Dispatch is the primary daily newspaper in Richmond the capital of Virginia, United States, and is commonly considered the "newspaper of record" for events occurring in much of the state...
later selected Matsu as the best quarterback to play at William & Mary in the first half of the 20th century, and the New York Sun
New York Sun
The New York Sun was a weekday daily newspaper published in New York City from 2002 to 2008. When it debuted on April 16, 2002, adopting the name, motto, and masthead of an otherwise unrelated earlier New York paper, The Sun , it became the first general-interest broadsheet newspaper to be started...
rated him as the second best quarterback in the school's history.
Professional football
Matsu played professional football for the Dayton TrianglesDayton Triangles
The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north...
in 1928. He joined Walter "Sneeze" Achiu
Walter Achiu
Walter Tin Kit Achiu was an American football player. He was a graduate of Saint Louis College in Honolulu, Hawaii. Walter was most notably known as the first Asian to play in the National Football League...
on the Daytons. A native of Hawaii, Achiu joined the Daytons in 1927 to become the first Asian-American to play in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. Matsu followed as the first Asian-American quarterback in the NFL. Matsu appeared in six of seven games played by the Triangles in 1928, including four as a starter. The Daytons finished the season with a record of 0–7 in last place in the NFL.
On January 1, 1930, Matsu was the quarterback for a Virginia all-star team that played against Benny Friedman
Benny Friedman
Benjamin "Benny" Friedman was an American football quarterback who played for the University of Michigan , Cleveland Bulldogs , Detroit Wolverines , New York Giants , and Brooklyn Dodgers .He is generally considered the first great passer in professional football...
's all-star professional team in a game at Richmond Stadium. Matsu completed a touchdown pass that covered more than 60 yards for the Virginia squad.
Coaching
In September 1929, Matsu was hired as the head football coach at Asheville High SchoolAsheville High School
Asheville High School in Asheville, North Carolina, United States, is one of two secondary schools in the Asheville City Schools system. It is located at 419 McDowell Street, in a building designed by Douglas Ellington. Construction of the original building was begun in 1927 and completed in 1929...
in Ashville, North Carolina. He was reported by the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
to be "the first Japanese football coach." In 1930, Matsu moved to Richmond, Virginia
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...
, as the head football coach at Benedictine Preparatory School
Benedictine High School (Richmond, Virginia)
Benedictine College Preparatory is a private, Roman Catholic military high school in Richmond, Virginia. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond, and is owned and operated by the Benedictine Society of Virginia.-History:...
. His 1930 Benedictine team became renowned for its aerial attack.
In 1931, J. Wilder Tasker, who had coached Matsu at William & Mary, was hired as the head football coach at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
. He promptly recruited Matsu to join him as the backfield coach at Rutgers. Matsu also taught physical education at Rutgers and was promoted from instructor to assistant professor in June 1934. Matsu remained an assistant football coach at Rutgers from 1931 until the 1950s. He served as the freshman coach in the late 1930 and was assigned to do publicity work in the spring of 1941. He was Rutgers' backfield coach in the early 1950s and resumed responsibility as the freshman coach in 1955. Frank Burns, who played quarterback for Rutgers in the 1950s, said of Matsu: "He was a master of offensive football, a true innovator."
Later years
Matsu moved to Arizona in the late 1950s. During his later years, he worked as a real estate salesman and did scouting for Arizona State UniversityArizona State University
Arizona State University is a public research university located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area of the State of Arizona...
. He died in May 1987.