Rev. Robert Matzinger, C.S.B. - 1947

Matzinger, who would later become a very successful baseball coach and athletic director at St. Thomas, was on the baseball team for four years and the basketball team for two years as a student. He played outfield on the baseball team of 1945 that included All-American pitcher Johnny Finch.

After graduation Matzinger entered the Basilian seminary in Canada. He was ordained a priest on June 29, 1957, and after a year in Toronto was assigned to his alma mater as a Latin teacher. For the next two decades, he taught incoming freshmen the refrain “amo, amas amat.” Father Matzinger took over the duties as coach of the varsity baseball team from Father in 1958. Under his tutelage the team was state champion in 1960, 1961, 1965 and 1966. He coached scores of all state players with many receiving athletic scholarships to college.

In 1960 Father Matzinger was made athletic director, taking over from Father Allnoch. He was in charge of persuading the football coach at St. Pius, Joe McDonald, to come to St. Thomas in 1962 and approved the hiring of assistant football coach Harold “Burr” Davis the following year. During Father Matzinger’s tenure as athletic director the school won 17 state championship trophies and gained a reputation throughout the state as a private institution with the ability to compete and win against schools with much larger enrollments. The Basilian order assigned Father Matzinger to local parishes after he left teaching. He served at St. Catherine in Spring Branch, Sacred Heart in Manville and St. Theresa. He continues to enrich the lives of Catholics as parish priest at St. Clare of Assisi.