On the plaque: Penn's second NCAA champion, winning at 157 pounds in 2000. At time of his induction, still the only Penn wrestler to win four EIWA championships. In 2000 he was EIWA Wrestler of the Year, won the Coaches' Trophy as Outstanding Wrestler at the EIWA Championships and the Fletcher Award for most points scored at EIWA Championships over his career. A member of three EIWA and four Ivy League championship teams at Penn, he graduated with a school-record 128 wins. A two-time team captain and EIWA Hall of Fame inductee.

Wrestling has always been part of Brett Matter's family DNA. How could it not be? His father Andrew was a two-time NCAA champion for Penn State back in the early 1970s. And that can run deep.
 
"He obviously was a tremendous asset for me to have," Matter said, emphatically. "He was my coach for a long, long time when I was growing up."
 
So when it came time for Matter to pick his college destination, many probably assumed he was heading to State College too. Again, why not? There was quite a legacy in place.
 
Still, at some point the son simply had other ideas about his future.
 
"I could have gone (to PSU) on a full scholarship," Matter explained. "I knew the guys who offered me. They used to babysit me. I knew the whole staff and a bunch of guys on the team. It was a pretty awesome thing for a young kid."
 
Instead, Matter opted to spend the most influential four years of his journey at the University of Pennsylvania. And that's the kind of career decision that should never be questioned by anyone, regardless of whatever relationships are involved in the equation. And nobody understood that more than the person who had helped shape him as an athlete and an individual.
 
"I remember very clearly once my dad found out," Matter recalled. "He looked at me and said very matter-of-factly, 'There are critical moments in your overall life, and this is one of them. And you will point to this, when you look back.' And he said that with all the stress in the world (on him), with all his buddies up at Penn State coming down on him. But he wanted me to go where I felt would be best for me.
 
"He told me, 'Brett, if you can get into the Wharton School of Business, we'll figure out (the tuition part).' It was a defining point in my life."
 
And so the two-time state champion from South Jersey's Delran High School was off to West Philly, where his brother Clint was already a part of the team.
 
"My dad was always there for me. But I had so much support from a lot of people. My brother was one of the best leaders I've ever been around. That was huge for me, to watch him and learn. And my mother (Rebecca) and sister (Michi) spent hundreds of hours in the gym watching me wrestle. My girlfriend at the time (Shannon), who's now my wife, was there too. How do you put a value on all of that, what they went through and sacrificed for me? It makes you really appreciate what you have."
 
The couple, by the way, are raising four children, ages 13 to 5, including three daughters. They live in North Jersey, about 25 miles west of New York City, where Matter works as a trader for an investment firm that manages hedge funds. In other words, he's carved out a rather successful professional niche for himself. But not before he put together a wrestling resume at Penn that remains one of the best in program history.
 
He'll never know what might have happened had he gone to his dad's alma mater. He can only be judged by what did transpire with the Quakers. And it was something memorable. Personally, and collectively. Because it seemed as if the two were intertwined.
 
In 1996, Matter was the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Rookie of the Year. In 2000 he was the EIWA Wrestler of the Year. He's the only wrestler from Penn, and one of just 12 total, who won four career EIWA titles. A two-time All-America, he won the 2000 NCAA championship at 157 pounds. Matter was the 2000 Fletcher Award recipient for having the most points scored over his career at EIWA Championships. He helped the Quakers win their first EIWA crown in 55 years as a freshman. They would end up winning four straight, the first time anyone had done that since Navy in the mid-1940s.
 
For all of those accomplishments, Matter is being inducted into the latest Penn Athletics Hall of Fame class, along with 14 others both male and female.
 
"It's just very humbling," he acknowledged. "What an honor. When you think of all the great athletes Penn has had over the years. And it goes back such a long way. You really have to take a step back and go 'Wow, that's something.'
 
"I loved competing for the University. As you grow older, you realize how valuable that is now. That's kind of the mindset you take with you when you leave to go out into the world. I think that's one of the reasons I try to give back as much as I do. I really do."
 
And the reality is, the things that Matter is doing these days out in the community to give those who might be less fortunate a better chance are just as worthy of our admiration as what he achieved on the mat for the Quakers.
 
Maybe there should be a Hall of Fame for that too.
 
About a decade ago he and his brother and a group of their friends from high school started "Beat The Streets Philadelphia," an organization that reaches out to youngsters in need to try and elevate their life trajectories. It's a mentoring program, for those who need it most. And it's worked, maybe better than anyone could have ever envisioned. They impact over 1,000 people annually. It's not just about him. But he's been a big part of it. And when it comes to something like this, it doesn't really matter who gets the credit. Just that the effort gets put in, and the results are evident.
 
"Just to see that has been special," Matter said. "At the end of the day, winning awards is all well and good. Being a national champion, after you've worked so hard at something, is really cool. But in comparison, it doesn't really mean anything.
 
"When you start trying to value what we're trying to build in Philly, the wrestling ecosystem, developing student-athletes and good, solid people, that's so humbling. They're going to go out and make our society better by being better themselves. We've got kids at Drexel, Temple, just countless stories. They may not make 'headlines' and they may not make it to some big-name college, but maybe they didn't drop out of high school, or they didn't make bad decisions that will follow them, stuff like that. So it's pretty priceless, to see the pieces come together. And you don't do it to win awards.
 
"You know, we were all that age once. And all of us didn't have the same advantages. We're just trying to level things out a little."
 
Penn coach Roger Reina, a Hall of Famer himself, doesn't have to be convinced. He's hardly alone.
 
"The first word that comes to mind with Brett is his competitiveness," he began. "He carried that into everything and it spread to our other guys. As a freshman, he didn't wait for his turn. He competed at the national level.
 
"He was a good-hearted, fun-loving guy. But he could switch it on when it was time to take the mat. It was like a fire ignited in him. It was really something to see. And we had some other high-quality kids. They inspired each other.
 
"You never know how good someone's going to be. But all the signs were there. And he realized the potential. He avoided the pitfalls and the hurdles that you have along the way. The sign of a champion is consistency. And that was Brett."
 
Then, and now.
 
"He's gone on to become an incredible servant," Reina marveled. "He's president of our alumni group. And the after-school opportunities that he's giving to all those inner-city kids and their families is tremendously important, in so many ways. It allows them to have goals and aspirations, too, that maybe they wouldn't otherwise be able to. He's continued to stay involved. He just didn't walk away from it. That's quite a responsibility. And an even better legacy to pass on. I feel so proud watching them."
 
In some cases, maybe the two are just meant to go hand in hand. It's what sets them apart. And it's a gift that never stops providing.
 
And the snapshots, past and current, will last forever.
 
"I remember in '97, the team broke the scoring record and it still stands today," Matter said. "I think we had eight of 10 guys in the finals. Six of us won. To have that happen in The Palestra was phenomenal. The bonds we formed are incredible. We had a lot of fun. We make sure that we stay in touch. It's actually kind of scary that it's been 20 years. I guess I'm getting old.
 
"I'm not the busiest guy in the world. I'm just the guy who tries to figure out how to make everything work seamlessly. There's a lot of calls, a lot of strategizing. But it's all worth it, when you see the looks on the faces. You know, as a parent if you do your job your children go to college and they don't come back. That's how it works. We're just trying to do the same thing with kids who maybe don't have that. And it can make all the difference."
 
Sometimes we just need a nudge in the right direction. And the right person in position to do the necessary nudging.
 
Brett Matter is one of the lucky ones. As his dad once insisted, he's indeed sorted it out.