BURLINGTON, Vt. – William Clarence Matthews, Class of 1905, who broke several color barriers in baseball in the early 20th century including playing professionally in Burlington, will be honored at historic Centennial Field prior to the Vermont Lake Monsters game on Thursday, August 4, 2022.
 
Matthews will be honored with a large banner to be unveiled on the ballpark's concourse that afternoon and will be recognized in a pregame ceremony prior to the Lake Monsters game with Worcester that evening. A brief video on Matthews will also be shown. The recognition is a joint effort between the University of Vermont, the Vermont Lake Monsters, and the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.
 
Matthews was one of the first Black student-athletes in collegiate baseball, leading the Crimson in batting average in his final three seasons and playing one year of professional baseball prior to a successful career in law and politics.
 
Born in Selma, Ala., on January 7, 1877, Matthews attended the Tuskegee Institute from 1893-97, and with the help of Tuskegee Principal Booker T. Washington went on to enroll at Phillips Academy Andover (1897-1901) prior to coming to Harvard in 1901.
 
During his time with the Crimson, Matthews led the team in batting average in 1903 (.333), 1904 (.343), and 1905 (.400 with 22 stolen bases). Joining the Crimson as a first-year, Matthews earned one of 12 spots for the varsity team out of 140 candidates. After missing half of his first season with a knee injury, Matthews – measured at 5-foot-8 and 145 pounds – distinguished himself as a multi-tool player with his combination of clutch hitting, defensive range, and speed on the basepaths. Over his four seasons, he helped the Crimson post a 76-18-1 overall record and take the Yale series three times.
 
The racism of the era created controversy when Harvard went to make its annual trip to the South for early season games as other teams refused to play the Crimson if Matthews took the field. From 1902-04, Harvard held Matthews out of games against Virginia, Navy, and Georgetown, but in 1905 the Crimson cancelled its Southern road trip just prior to its departure, choosing instead to remain in the Northeast during the first weeks of April.
 
After Harvard, Matthews played one season of independent professional baseball in the Northern League for Burlington in 1905, making him the only Black player competing alongside whites in any professional baseball league at the time. Considered one of Harvard's best pro prospects, playing alongside future MLB players Eddie Grant and Walter Clarkson, the Boston Traveler reported in 1905 that Boston's National League team was interested in signing him, but Matthews was ultimately not given an opportunity to play in Major League Baseball.
 
In 1905, Matthews began his study at the Boston University School of Law, passing the bar in 1908. He became one of the first Black Assistant District Attorneys in the country in 1912, worked as a legal counsel to Marcus Garvey, and went on serve in Republican Party politics, helping Calvin Coolidge win the presidency in 1924. From there, he served as a U.S. Assistant Attorney General before passing away on April 9, 1928 at the age of 51 from a perforated ulcer.
 
Matthews' legacy lives on. Since 2006, the Ivy League baseball team to win the conference title receives the William Clarence Matthews Trophy donated by the Friends of Harvard Baseball. He is featured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame's exhibit "Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience." Matthews earned induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in the Class of 2014.
 
Representatives from the sponsoring organizations including retired Middlebury College faculty member Karl Lindholm, who is the leading authority on the life and career of Matthews will be in attendance. Also, representatives of the Harvard baseball program and other special guests are expected to be on hand. The Matthews Trophy will be on site that evening, on loan from the Ivy League.
 
The banner will be on display at all future events at Centennial Field and a permanent historical marker is in the works. Also scheduled for late summer is a longer, informative video on Matthews available for educational institutions in Vermont and around the nation.