Chris Matthew swam into uncharted waters when she signed on to teach and coach at Wooster High School 31 years ago.
Matthew and her family — at the time, husband Steve and young children Madeline and Clay — moved from city to city as Steve’s career skyrocketed.
“I literally knew not a soul in Wooster,” said Matthew, who grew up just outside Pittsburgh. “It’s not like I lived here for 10 years (and decided), ‘I’m going to start coaching.’ I didn’t know Susie from Jenny.”
Wooster could have just as easily been another stop on the Matthew highway of life — another city to pass through.
Flash forward to 2025, Matthew is still going as strong as ever as the head coach of both the boys and girls swim programs at Wooster while bringing the same type of enthusiasm and leadership a few hundred yards down the hall, entering the home stretch of her teaching career.
“The best job ever”
Matthew isn’t the type of person to live with regrets. And she certainly doesn’t regret her choice of profession.
“I picked the best job ever,” Matthew said. “I never once questioned, ‘Why am I teaching?’ I love coming to school every day.”
A trip to Greece with friends while she was still in high school helped Matthew fall in love with foreign language. And while teaching Greek in the U.S. wasn’t a viable career option, she took to Spanish, finding her path of educating students on how appreciating other cultures can change their lives.
But along the way, Matthew realized something. As much as she’s dedicated to teaching, she’s received just as much love and appreciation back from students.
“I feel like the kids have given me more than I’ve given them,” said Matthew, who plans to retire from full-time teaching at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
Mom Matthew
Matthew has taught and coached thousands of students over the years.
But three people have experienced a different side of her. Matthew counts herself lucky to play the role of mom to daughter Madeline and sons Clay and Thomas.
“I think it was a really good balance,” Matthew said. “Our kids were always part of it — in (YMCA), summers and high school — so that helped. You could be a football coach and have three girls. They’re never going to be (part of it). I feel really blessed that my kids were part of swimming.”
Part of swimming is putting it lightly. Madeline, Clay and Thomas all took swimming very seriously, with Thomas, the youngest, 10 years younger than Clay and 13 years younger than Madeline, graduating Wooster in 2019 and recently wrapping up a successful college career at the University of Cincinnati.
“It was so amazing,” Matthew said. “It really was. Thomas was such an unexpected blessing. And he turned out to be the best swimmer. He wants to be a coach. He wants to be an athletic director. That’s such a huge giveback to me that our son wants to do what I did.”
While spending so much time around a parent can push some children toward a different path, Thomas Matthew couldn't help but be inspired by his mother’s enthusiasm around teaching and coaching.
“We spent almost all day together (in high school),” he said. “She was my study hall teacher. Then I would go to practice, two hours in the morning and two hours at night. There were a few hiccups, like any teenage son and mom getting in some tiffs. But it was awesome because she’s so passionate about it, and that passion fueled me to do what I wanted to do and accomplish my dreams.”
Still at Cincinnati getting his master’s degree in sports administration, Thomas Matthew hopes to carry on that passion for sports and wants to be a positive influence on the future generations.
“She had such a burning passion to be around the sport and be around the pool at all times. It just made me realize that whatever I do in life, I want to be exactly like her,” Thomas Matthew said. “It’s so motivating to see her always smiling, always happy, always being so energetic. She never has a frown on her face when she’s at the pool. It’s so motivating to me to see that passion. It’s truly like no other.”
Finding a home
If there was any doubt Matthew had left her mark on Wooster, anyone who walks into Ellen Shapiro Natatorium can see it in big block letters.
Those letters spell out “Chris Matthew Aquatic Center” just below the grandstands overlooking the pool. Very few coaches will ever coach in a venue named after themselves. Only those who’ve left a large legacy behind get that honor.
Not too shabby for someone who didn’t know Susie from Jenny in the same town three decades ago.
But legacy isn’t something Matthew is too worried about. She found something better for herself in Wooster over the past 31 years.
“It says so much that all three of my kids are hopefully going to be back in Wooster. Hopefully, for Thomas, if it’s not right away, it’s going to be eventually,” Matthew said. “A friend has kids in Alaska, San Francisco and San Diego. You never see them. It just breaks my heart. I would be crushed if I couldn’t see my grandkids. We’re so blessed that they’re here with us.
“They want to be here. They want to raise their kids in Wooster. We feel like we did something right. Wooster did something right.”
When Matthew decided to teach and coach at Wooster 31 years ago, it could have been just another stop.
But it became something much more than that.
She found a place to call home.
