Mathew Knowles has lived a life of prestige.
Go to his Wikipedia entry, and the first references to him are that of American record executive, businessman and university lecturer. He was the manager of the former R&B group Destiny’s Child, and of course is famous for being the father of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.
But on Friday, another Mathew Knowles was present: former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga basketball player.
Knowles, a native of Gadsden, Alabama, spent two seasons with the Mocs from 1970-72 and helped the team to a 20-7 record in his sophomore season. Ask him his favorite memory, and he’ll bring up a 12-8 game against Oglethorpe University — or one against Tennessee State that was the first time that a historically Black college or university had played any school in the University of Tennessee system.
“The coach at the time in my junior year in high school,” Knowles said of UTC Hall of Fame coach Leon Ford, “we had this Christmas Classic and all of the major teams in Alabama played. He (Ford) came to look at a senior on my team. I’m a junior, but we played three games and I averaged 23 points, 12 to 13 rebounds, eight to nine assists, and that’s when the letters started flowing in.
“I wanted to live as far away from Gadsden, Alabama, as I could, and I had a number of scholarship. My parents — specifically my mother — did not want me to go far from home, and I loved my visit here. It allowed me the opportunity to be close to home, and it had a great basketball program, and they had other black players. All of that was very intriguing to me.”
After those two seasons in Chattanooga, Knowles transferred to Nashville’s Fisk University. Prior to this past week, he hadn’t been back to UTC since — he was speaking on campus Friday evening — but he has kept up with the success of the basketball program, tweeting out a congratulatory note when the Mocs won the program’s first National Invitation Tournament title last April.
Friday afternoon, the part owner of the WNBA’s Chicago Sky had a chance to walk down memory lane and check out the updated athletic facilities, while also remembering what Maclellan Gymnasium — where his teams played — used to be, along with former teammate Albert Woodard.
(“I want this on the record: We were the Moccasins,” Knowles said.)
When it came to his daughters and sports, he never pressed them to follow his path and instead encouraged them to create their own.
“They were focused on music,” he said. “I wanted them to learn their passion, find their passion and support it. I never forced them to do anything; I didn’t care as long as it was their passion.”
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Said Woodard: “It’s amazing, because he and I hadn’t seen each other in 54 years, and when he and I was talking, he was saying it’s like a virtue. It’s not the education that’s a virtue, it’s passion.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.