The
Prototypical 1960’s Rice Man
A
Tribute to Chip Matthews
10/14/25
My name is Kirwin Drouet and as you may have guessed,
I went to Rice University. I met Chip in
1967 in Wiess College at Rice where I was a freshman and Chip was a junior. Chip and I had an immediate liking for each
other because we both respected Rice for its academic stature and the fact that
the school played at the highest level of sports (Southwest Conference). In the 60’s, the SWC was considered one of
the best football conferences in the country.
This lured Chip to Rice from his small town in Alabama.
I specifically remember the first Rice home game in
September 1967. I had never been to a
college football game so I was amped up for the game or should I say a little
drunk! In those days, Rice was still lightly hazing the freshmen and we had to
wear beanies showing our college colors (Wiess), waited on tables in the
Commons for upper classmen at dinner, and, of course, bowed to a statue of
Sammy the Owl throughout our assigned quarter of football during the
season. I had just met Chip that first
week of school and was impressed by his friendliness and knowledge of
Rice. He was also quite a card player in
the Commons during lunch hours! We were
playing the Naval Academy that first game and there were several cadets in
attendance for the game. I specifically remember
seeing Chip in the color guard carrying the US flag at the game during the
national anthem. I later learned he was in
the Naval ROTC program at Rice while in school.
This was no small feat then as the Viet Nam war was ramping up
significantly in 1967! This did not
deter Chip, and he proudly did his ROTC duty while at Rice. Oftentimes I’d see him with three or four
others ROTC students marching in the stadium parking lot on weekends. Little did I know he would go on to serve our
country for four years active duty and another 18 years in the Naval Reserves,
retiring as a Navy Commander.
I saw Chip often at Rice sporting events where he excelled
at scorekeeping with his trusty typewriter.
By being on the Rice sports staff, he had access to coaches, players and
other school officials where he’d glean little, juicy tidbits of Rice history
and lore and he relished sharing this information with his friends. For example, he told me that in 1967 when
Rice was looking to replace the legendary Jess Neely, the UCLA football coach,
Tommy Prothro wanted the Rice job. Tommy
had won some Rose Bowls and a Coach of the Year title during those days so it
was surprising he would want to come to Rice then. Unfortunately, the Athletic Director/Board of
Directors chose Bo Hagan instead and we all know how that worked out for
us. Chips said they turned down Tommy
because the board was afraid he’d integrate the football program in 1967 since Tommy
was playing with African American athletes at UCLA. Rice ended up integrating the program in 1968
anyways….
Another tidbit from Chip was the story of the Rice-UT
basketball game at Autry Court on March 5th, 1992. That happens to be my birthday and I, of
course, was at that game as was Chip keeping score. The Horns were coached by Tommy Penders, and
the team was known as the Runnin’ Horns.
The game was nationally televised, and the crowd was standing room
only. Texas was having a good season and
was heavily favored in the game. The
Owls were coached by Scott Thompson, who was having some success at Rice as
well. Chip told me he overheard the Rice
coaches in the huddle on the court discussing the strategy for the game and
decided to let the Rice guys go running along with the Horns rather than
slowing the game down as was their usual pace.
The switch paid off, and Rice ended up beating the Horns 103-97 on that
magical night (if you were a Rice fan)!
Chip brought that story back up to me and Gary Horn when we went to
visit him in hospice care. I brought him
a photo of himself keeping score in that game at the scorer’s table! He loved it!
Chip and I kept in touch with each other the rest of
his life. We both got Masters of Accounting
degrees at Rice and worked at Arthur Andersen & Co. together. Chip and I also both worked for Gary Horn’s
company as contract CFO’s and controllers over the years. When Chip began teaching in the Sam Houston
State University business college, he asked me to make a presentation to his entrepreneurial
class about my successful efforts to get the first Class I horse track license
in the state of Texas. He also asked me
to be a judge for his class’s business plan competition, which was generously
funded by Horn Solutions in honor of their deceased partner, Randy Wallace.
Through the professional years and friendship, the
strongest bond that held us together was our continued love for Rice and our
disappointment in the way the Athletic Department was managed over the years
due to the lack of support from the board of directors. Chip often expressed those views in the Rice
message board and many of you here know Chip from his significant participation
on that forum. Chip was always
respectful in his views on the board but was not shy about sharing his thoughts
on various athletic matters. He was very
well respected for his current views on Rice Athletics and at one point when
Rice was searching for a new athletic director, several message board
participants wanted Rice to hire Chip as its athletic director due to his legal
background and history with Rice. Of course,
that didn’t happen. Some perspective on
Chip’s participation on the Rice forum:
|
Owl
69/70/75's Forum Info |
|
|
Joined: |
09-26-2005 |
|
Last
Visit: |
06-27-2025
08:43 AM |
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Total
Posts: |
82,197 (11.23
posts per day | 0.41 percent of total posts) |
|
Time
Spent Online: |
2 Years, 9
Months, 4 Weeks, 2 Days, 9 Hours, 32 Minutes, 2 Seconds |
All forum participants can create a signature for
their posts to the Rice forum. Chip’s
signature was more like his Apostle’s creed rather than a signature. I would like to quote his signature to give you
some insight into what made Chip tick:
- People who
work should live better than people who don't.
Treat your friends better than you treat your enemies.
Never fight a war you don't intend to win.
If you can't afford it, you don't need it; if you don't need it, you can't afford it.
My life isn't your business; your life isn't my problem.
In theory, theory works well in practice; in practice, it doesn't.
Live free or die.
Without the 1st and 2nd Amendments, all the rest are meaningless. That’s why they are numbers 1 and 2.
"Block ‘til God blows the whistle." - Jim Kelly
"The more that government decisions replace private decision-making, the more various groups will be at each others' throats in a desperate race to see to it that the one and only decision in each vital area goes its own way." - Murray Rothbard
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote." -- Attributed to Benjamin Franklin
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ (MOH-lon: lah-BAY: Come and Take Them)
"A man's rights rest in three boxes. The ballot box, jury box and the cartridge box." - Frederick Douglass, November 15, 1867.
Let's go, Brandon.
Finally, I want to share two messages Chip sent to me
in recent years to show you what kind of man he was. These are his words and they relate to the
love he had for his father, Will, and Felicia:
The first message:
“I did not go see my dad the last six months of his life. He was
always a larger than life person. Football player, was headed to West Point
when Pearl Harbor happened. Joined the Air Corps, flew B-24s on the Ploiesti
raids, was transitioning to B-25s for the invasion of Japan when Truman dropped
the bombs, came home and married his 3rd grade sweetheart, flew for a couple of
years, his brother got him a gig with Allegheny, but my mom's dad didn't want
his daughter that far away, so bought them the farm/ranch next to his. So he
had 3 jobs in his whole life--football player, airplane pilot, and cowboy.
Seeing him wracked by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's was not the father I knew.
Last time I saw him was the first time he didn't recognize Will. The next week,
I went to see that Pearl Harbor movie with Affleck. Not a great movie, but last
scene, war is over and he's back in Tennessee flying crop dusting again.
There's a Stearman in front of the house, and he asks his war child if he wants
to go for a ride. As they roll the credits, the Stearman in flying in and out
of the picture. That was my dad and me in 1952, and that is the closure I
wanted with him.”
The second message:
“Married my best friend since Ash Wednesday 1997. We had both gone to
church and gotten the ashes at noon, and happened to stop at the same sandwich
shop for lunch on the way back to work. Standing in line, she said, “I know
where you’ve been,” and I said, “And I know where you’ve been,” and it started
from there. She loves me and I love her
and she and Will really love each other.”
Fair weather and following seas, my dear friend.
###
