By Roscoe Nance
Jerome Mathis may not be among the first names called when talk turns to star MEAC athletes. But the former Hampton University two-sport standout’s credentials put him near the head of the class.
Mathis, who competed for Hampton from 2001-04, set records in both football and track & field – earning All-American honors in both sports.
He averaged a touchdown every 4.4 receptions as a receiver in football for his career, and he led Division I-AA (now the Football Championship Subdivision) in receiving yards and yards per catch (29.8) in 2004 was a kick returner par excellence. He also led I-AA in kickoff returns, averaging 35.5 yards per return average that same year and was a consensus All-American.
He had six career returns for touchdowns, an NCAA record at the time, and he gained 4,541 all-purpose yards while playing just 35 games.
On the track, Mathis was a two-time NCAA East Region champion in the 200-meter dash. He set the regional and school record with a personal-best 20.32 in 2004. He was also a two-time All-American in track & field and finished second in the 200-meter dash in 2003.
Mathis will be recognized for his accomplishments when he is inducted into the MEAC Hall of Fame on Thursday, March 14, starting with a welcome gathering at 9:30 a.m. during an awards program at the Sheraton Norfolk (Va.) Waterside Hotel. The 2019 Hall of Fame Cass, which also includes South Carolina State football All-American Dwayne Harper, Kyle O’Quinn, a two-time MEAC Defensive Player of he Year in men’s basketball at Norfolk State, Florida A&M Assistant Sports Information Director Alvin Hollins, and Jessica Worsley, who led Maryland Eastern Shore to its bowling National Championship, will also be recognized before the 6 p.m. men’s MEAC Conference Tournament game at the Norfolk Scope Arena that same day.
“It means a lot,” Mathis said of his Hall of Fame selection. “It’s not something you grow up focusing on. It’s not something I can say I grew up thinking I would eventually achieve. It makes it that more special that my peers respected me enough to put me in. Initially, I was ecstatic. I was happy. That was my initial reaction. After it set in, I was like, ‘It’s about damn time.’”
Despite not having the widespread name recognition of some other former MEAC standouts, Mathis never considered himself underappreciated, underrated or unsung.
“Coming out of high school, I always knew what my value was, and I knew what my worth was,” he said. “The only thing that mattered to me was how I viewed myself. It didn’t matter what others thought about me because I knew what I was capable of and what I set out to do. That was to go to Hampton, do the best that I could and try to get to the next level.”
Mathis was a six-time state champion in track & field at Petersburg (Va.) High School; he clocked the seventh-fastest time in the nation in the 200-meter dash his senior season. Duke, Virginia, Northwestern and East Carolina all wooed him, but he chose Hampton because it was close to home and his parents would be able to see him compete.
Even though Mathis was a highly-decorated track & field athlete, it was crystal clear from the outset that he would also play football for the Pirates.
“It was never a dispute,” he said.
He says competing in two sports was no easy task.
“It was difficult and challenging to excel in two sports,” he said. “Football is a very barbaric sport. It takes a toll on your body. Once football season is over, everybody else who is playing football is kind of relaxing and enjoying time off, but you have to go and prepare for another sport where you’re pretty good and can actually excel. It was very demanding. There were days when I asked myself, ‘Is this really what you want to do?’ But the competitor in me wouldn’t let me quit. I wasn’t raised to be a quitter. Once I set out to do it, once I started, I knew I was going to do it.”
Mathis won’t say which was his better sport, even though he went on to play three seasons in the NFL with the Houston Texans, who chose him in the fourth round of the 2005 draft. He was selected for the Pro Bowl as a kick returner and named All-Pro his rookie season.
“You have to ask the fans, the people who followed me,” he said. “I try not to answer that question. I was good at both. I feel I could have gone in either direction. The thing that helped me decide was I was going with my heart. I never wanted to be labeled a track guy playing football. I used that to play with a chip on my shoulder. I was like, ‘Look, I’m not a track guy. I’m not just fast. I actually have a skill set I use and take advantage of outside of being fast.’
“Both sports complemented each other. Track kept me in shape for football and football kept me with a competitive edge for track, always wanting to be the best. Any time I stepped on the track, I wanted to be the best. Anytime I stepped on the football field, I wanted to be the best.”
Mathis struggled with the transition from high school to college initially.
“Hampton was a culture shock coming from a small town like Petersburg, Va., being out on your own with no parents there to make sure you were doing the right thing,” he said. “You had to be on top of your game, especially with the grades. If you didn’t do the work, obviously you couldn’t stay in school. Things were happening fast. Once I got control of it, it was fun. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
Once Mathis settled into college life, he established himself as a star in football and track & field. He has many fond memories of the Pirates playing at NFL venues such as Browns Stadium and Giants and his dominance on the track.
“Going into those stadiums was the big stage for us,” he said. “Playing at Hampton University and playing at an NFL venue, of course it looked nothing like Hampton’s stadium. Going in there, when the lights went on, I was able to dominate and play at a high level.”
His best track & field memory is of the 2003 MEAC Outdoor Championships in Orlando, Fla. He won the 200-meter dash in 10.49 while barely breaking a sweat.
“I was out there just having fun,” he says. “I was never arrogant or cocky, but I was confidant. I was out there just having fun. I trolled people the whole time I was running. I’m barely trying to run and I’m dominating.”
Following his freshman football season, Mathis began to realize he could have an NFL career.
“I saw the gap between myself and my competition,” he said. “It was like night and day. I was like, ‘I’m pretty damn good. Let’s be humble about it, not let it go to your head and use it in the wrong way. Let’s figure out a way and make this a positive thing and turn it into something good.’”
He declared for the NFL Draft in 2005 with a year of eligibility remaining.
“I felt like there was nothing more I could accomplish on the collegiate level in football,” he said. “If anything would have made me stay (in school), it would have been track & field. But football was my heart. There was nothing else for me to do.”
Mathis was invited to the 2005 NFL Combine and dazzled scouts and personnel executives by running a 4.26 40-yard dash. It was the third-fastest time ever at the combine at the time. That led the Texans to draft him on the fourth round.
While Mathis says there was nothing left for to accomplish in football when he left school. Track & field is a different story.
“I had unfinished business in track,” he said, “a whole lot of unfinished business.”
He was the runner-up in the 200 meters in a photo finish to Leo Bookman of Kansas University at the 2003 NCAA Outdoor Championships. Bookman was clocked at 20.47 seconds, Mathis 20.47.
“To come that close to winning the 200-meter title…” he said. “For whatever reason, they felt like I lost the race. You can’t win them all. I had the race right there in my hands. I couldn’t get it done that day. I would say I won the race. I feel like with my speed, I’m never caught from behind. The judges had reason to say the guy from Kansas, Leo Bookman won by a hundredth of a second. I think about that all the time. That definitely was tough.”
Mathis’ NFL career was derailed by a fractured foot that he suffered in the Pro Bowl in January 2006. The injury wasn’t discovered until OTAs months later. He was sidelined for six months, rather than four months as projected. He missed the first nine games of the 2006 season and was placed on injured reserve. He returned for the 2007 season and only played in three games. He returned a kickoff for a touchdown before going back on injured reserve.
Mathis was a restricted free agent in 2008 and signed with the Washington Redskins, who waived him before training camp. He signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League for the 2009 season, but was cut by the end of training camp. Mathis resurfaced with the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League in 2011 and played nine games. He set Power single-game records for yards receiving (195), longest reception (46 yards), and longest kick return (57 yards).
He also tied the franchise single-game record with 12 receptions and had the first kick return touchdown in Power history. Mathis caught 30 passes for 418 yards and seven touchdowns. He also returned 31 kickoffs for 688 yards and one touchdown.
Mathis has returned to his hometown, where he is a volunteer football coach in Petersburg, where he is a member of the Petersburg Athletic Hall of Fame.
“That’s where my heart is,” he said of his decision to serve as a volunteer football coach.
Even though it has been almost two decades since Mathis first made his mark in Petersburg, he says younger athletes are aware of his exploits.
“Most of them know who I am and what I’ve done,” he said. “I get challenged by them all the time. It doesn’t go well for them, but I will admit I’m not the 22, 23-year old Jerome of 2004-05. I pick my battles wisely.”