3 minute read
The Sporting Life
by Darien Koons, Development Coordinator
EACH YEAR, the Leon M. Abbott Scholarship Fund is able to help hundreds of eager students pursue their dream of higher education. The courses of study that they choose and the career paths that they ultimately pursue vary greatly. Some go on to become lawyers. Others become doctors, teachers, accountants, engineers, or any number of different things.
In each case, the individuals helped by the Abbott Scholarship program are using their education to improve themselves and create opportunities to enrich their future. One Abbott Scholar who has been able to leverage his education into an awesome career is Matthew Hoffman.
Matt first became involved with the Masonic family when, in his youth, he joined his local DeMolay chapter. Like many of us, he was exposed to the fraternity by a close friend. “I had known him since kindergarten, we played baseball together,” Hoffman said. “And he came up to me and told me about this cool organization that he was a part of.”
Coming up through DeMolay, Matt was very involved. He held various offices in his local DeMolay chapter and with New Jersey DeMolay eventually culminating in serving as State Master Councilor of New Jersey DeMolay in 2017-2018.
As he approached the end of his DeMolay career, Matt turned his eye to college. From a very young age, he had been enthusiastic about sports. Listening to broadcasters call play-byplay, Matt had a vision of becoming a sportscaster. “Growing up, I always wanted to do sports broadcasting,” he said, “but I realized two things: one, I really didn’t have the voice for broadcasting and two, unless you make it big on national television, there aren’t a lot of opportunities for you.”
Instead, he began to look at other options for careers in the world of sports. Having been introduced to the business world in high school marketing, he knew he had an interest in the field, but it wasn’t until he began to look at college programs that he found sports management as an option.
Matt went on to further his education through the School of Sport, Tourism, and Hospitality Management at Temple University. The program at Temple allowed him to explore the world of sports and the business components that make it run. He received hands-on experience working as an intern with Temple Athletics and the Philadelphia 76ers.
At the end of his academic career, Matt walked away with hundreds of hours of industry experience, valuable connections, and a job in sales with the ownership group for the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers. It was a dream come true. “I grew up loving sports and was always interested in the behind the scenes of everything as well as the business side of it. I get to work in sports, go to an NBA arena every day…that’s my job, so it’s really cool.”
Today, Matt has moved on to a new job as a senior sales associate with the Washington Wizards. As part of his job, he is able to meet with businesses throughout DC, sharing with them the value that the NBA gameday experience can create for their employees and clients. His aspirations are to one day lead the business operations of a franchise as a team president.
When asked what the Abbott Scholarship did for him, Matt was quick to acknowledge the incredible impact that his Masonic mentors had on his life and the value of the assistance provided by the Leon M. Abbott Scholarship program.
“I got the Abbott Scholarship toward the end of my college career, and it was incredibly helpful,” he noted. “In today’s day and age when college debt is what it is, that scholarship meant that I didn’t have to take out nearly as much in loans. Especially for someone like myself who didn’t come from a Masonic background, finding the Masonic family by luck and having them be there for me…it made a difference.”
