Matt Bachman

This is the sixth in a series of articles profiling the 2018 inductees into the Butler County Sports Hall of FameBUTLER TWP — Football played a big part in Matt Bachman's life — years ago.The 1982 Butler graduate started at linebacker and tight end for the Golden Tornado, then went on to start at Rutgers as a linebacker and long snapper. He was the Scarlet Knights' long snapper during his entire career there.Now Bachman is going into the Butler County Sports Hall of Fame. He will be inducted at the organization's 53rd annual banquet at 6 p.m. April 28 at the Lyndora American Legion Hall.“It's a big honor to be going in there and I appreciate it,” Bachman said. “It just feels strange to be recognized for something I did so long ago.“It's hard for me to remember a lot of details, but I played at the tail end of a great era for Butler football.”Bachman was named the Tornado's Defensive Player of the Year and received the McDowell Award in his senior season in 1981. He received the Jeff Trimbur Memorial Award in 1979, his sophomore season.“I was the only sophomore who lettered that year,” Bachman said.Butler finished 5-3-2 during Bachman's senior year. The Tornado were denied a WPIAL playoff berth due to a 7-6 loss to New Castle in the season finale.“We missed an extra point and three field goals in that game,” Bachman recalled. “I think our defense gave up less than 10 points per game that season.”While at Rutgers, Bachman suffered a broken ankle against Penn State early in his junior year. He received a medical red-shirt as a result. Then he suffered a broken collarbone against the Nittany Lions his senior season.Bachman started the first five games of his sophomore year at Rutgers before giving way to Tyrone Stowe. An eventual Pittsburgh Steeler, Stowe went on to a 13-year career in the NFL.“We didn't have good teams at Rutgers, but we played against a lot of great teams,” Bachman said. “Shane Conlan was a first-team All-American linebacker at Penn State. Bill Romanowski was second team.“I made honorable mention All-America that year, which wasn't bad behind guys like that.”Bachman wound up being a three-year starter at Rutgers.“I remember being a freshman on the kickoff team when we were playing at Auburn,” he said. “When we took the field, our coaches warned us their kick returner was pretty good. It was Bo Jackson.“We wound up tying that game, 28-28. We played Florida when they were ranked No. 1 and had guys like John L. Williams, Neal Anderson and Kerwin Bell. Looking back, it's cool to be able to say I was on the field with players of that caliber.“The difference between our team at Rutgers and those teams we played was that they had a lot of depth and we didn't. When we had injuries, we were in trouble,” Bachman added.Despite collegiate injuries that also included a broken hand, Bachman received a free agent tryout with the New York Jets in 1987.“That was a strike year, which increased my chances of making it, but I was still nicked up from college,” he said. “If I was healthy, I really think I would have made it.“I signed the minimum tryout contract of $60,000 and was basically a tackling dummy during practice. That was a good Jets team. Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Ken O'Brien, they were all there.”Bachman wound up getting into the automobile business. He worked for a few Butler area dealerships as a used car manager and had his own used car lot for 20 years.“It's weird talking about it now, but I played in a great era of football,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”Tickets to the BCSHOF banquet are available at Moses Jewelers at the Clearview Mall, Snack n' Pack in Butler, Saxonburg Drug, Parker's Appliance in Chicora and Maddalon Jewelers in Zelienople.