User:Eyliu/Robert Clayton Matthews

Robert Clayton "Red" Matthews (December 14, 1878 in Monmouth, Illinois – 1978 ) was the Secretary of the Tau Beta Pi Association from 1905 to 1912 and Secretary-Treasurer from 1912 to 1947. In 1978 the Executive Council of the Tau Beta Pi Association renamed the Outstanding Chapter Award in his honor; it is now known as the R.C. Matthews Outstanding Chapter Award. In 1998 the Tau Beta Pi Association established the Matthews Fellowship in his honor.

Matthews received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1902. He became the national secretary for the Tau Beta Pi Association in 1905, and when he took up a post as an assistant professor of drawing and machine design at the University of Tennessee in 1907, the national headquarters of the Association was relocated there, where it remains today. He was annually reelected to the position of secretary until 1912, when the position was combined with that of the treasurer to become the secretary-treasurer position. He was annually reelected to the secretary-treasurer position from 1912 to 1924, at which time it became a permanent position to which he was appointed. He held the position of secretary-treasurer until his retirement in 1947.

Matthews is also credited as a pioneer in the development of modern acrobatic cheerleading. He has been called the University of Tennessee's "first cheerleader".