Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame
From the moment Matt Craven stepped on the campus for the first time, he could sense Linfield was the place he wanted to study mathematics and compete for championships in football and track & field.
The 2022 Linfield Athletics Hall of Fame inductee was a standout in both sports and a strong student in the classroom.
Matt remembers having positive interactions with track coach Garry Killgore, and football coaches Chris Casey and HD Weddel, who encouraged him to make an overnight visit.
That initial visit, Matt says, would alter the course of his life. “When I arrived, I could tell Linfield was a first-class operation. Visits to the admissions office, the math department and the athletic facilities convinced me it was the place where I needed to be for the next four years.”
Matt went on to a distinguished career at Linfield, earning NAIA All-America honors five times on the track while competing in the pole vault. He developed into an all-star defensive back in football who nearly single-handedly kept The Streak of winning football seasons alive when it was in jeopardy of being broken.
It was the sport of track & field where Matt enjoyed his greatest success. After placing fourth nationally in the outdoor pole vault as a sophomore in 1995 and fifth – both indoors and outdoors – as a junior, Matt came tantalizingly close to winning the NAIA national championship the following season. As a senior, he won the Northwest Conference pole vault championship and went on to claim national runner-up honors at both the NAIA Indoor and Outdoor Championships. His all-time best mark of 16 feet, 0 inches, set at the Northwest Regional Championships, ranks fourth all-time at Linfield, a school with a deep history of national success in the pole vault.
“Matt epitomizes what we expect of our scholar-athletes at Linfield,” says retired coach Garry Killgore. “Not only was he an excellent student, but he is one of the best pure competitors I’ve seen in my 33+ years at Linfield. He really knew how to compete when there was a lot on the line…the bigger the competition, the better he was.”
In football, Matt is perhaps best known for his two season-altering pass breakups in a 1996 game at Lewis & Clark, which effectively saved The Streak from being broken. On a third down-and-goal play from the 7-yard line, Lewis & Clark was in position to take the lead with 8 seconds remaining, but a fade pass to Aaron Schmidt was broken up by Matt. Then on fourth down with 4 seconds remaining, the Pioneers tried another pass to Matt’s corner of the end zone, and again he knocked the ball out of the receiver’s hands.
Matt’s late-game heroics enabled the Wildcats to even their season record at 4 wins and 4 losses, and they would eventually finish 5-4, both preserving and extending The Streak of consecutive winning seasons.
Former Wildcats football coach Jay Locey says: “I loved Matt as a player and person. He was as great a competitor as I ever have been around. He was reliable and steady as they come. He developed his speed, and along with his height, became a strong defender. He was a great competitor and person and a super leader for our team.”
In 34 career games, Matt piled up 126 tackles, 16 pass breakups, five interceptions and three fumble recoveries. He earned first team all-conference honors as a senior and was a member of the Wildcats’ 1994 CFA Mount Hood League championship team.
Since graduating from Linfield in 1997, Matt has returned to teach and coach at his alma mater, Bend High School, first as an assistant football coach for 14 years and head track coach for seven years. He’s now in his 11th season as head football coach of the Lava Bears. Matt applied the lessons learned at Linfield toward a prosperous coaching career.
“As a teacher, I always tell high school kids they need to find ‘their tribe.’ What kind of people do you want to be around? Linfield had my kind of people. Whether it was the calculus class taught by Stephen Bricher, the attention to detail of Jay Locey or the intense competitive spirit of Garry Killgore, it was obvious that I had found ‘my tribe.’”
Matt and his wife, Eris, a former Wildcats cross country and track athlete, have been married for 19 years. They are raising two teenagers, 18-year-old Sean, a Bend High School senior who competes in football, wrestling and track, and 16-year-old Leah, a sophomore who enjoys participating in cross country and swimming.
