'Nova great Matthews headed for Hall

INDIANAPOLIS - Villanova track and field great Vince Matthews, a two-time Olympic gold medalist and world-record holder, was one of four to be selected for the USA Track & Field Hall of Fame class of 2011, the organization announced Monday.

Matthews was a member of the United States 1,600 relay team that won the gold medal at the 1968 Olympics in a world-record time of 2 minutes, 56.16 seconds - a mark that stood for 24 years. He also won the 400 meters at the 1972 Olympics.

"To tell the truth, I wanted it, but I had kind of given up on the thought that it was going to come my way," Matthews said about entering the Hall of Fame, according to the USA Track & Field official website. "So when it did come my way, it came as a surprise - and a good one."

Other inductees include three-time Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers, coach Bob Timmons, and seven-time Boston Marathon winner Clarence Demar, who died in 1958. They will be inducted - along with 2010 selection Craig Virgin - in a ceremony in St. Louis on Dec. 3.

"It means a lot to me," said Matthews, according to the website. "A few of the guys that I ran with have been inducted, like Larry James [who died in 2008] and Lee Evans. I have been looking forward to putting my name alongside theirs."

According to the website, Matthews, at a warm-up meet before the 1968 Olympic trials, broke the world record in the 400 meters by running 44.4 but had his mark disallowed due to his use of brush spikes.

Matthews was also known for a protest he and a teammate took part in during the 1972 Olympics in Munich. After winning the 400, Matthews and Wayne Collett, who won the silver, "paid little attention to the American flag and were visiting with one another during the playing of the national anthem at the medal ceremony," according to the website. It was seen as a continuation of the civil-rights protests by U.S. track stars John Carlos and Tommie Smith in the 1968 Games in Mexico City.

Matthews and Collett were subsequently banned by the International Olympic Committee from Olympic competition.

"Back then our big thing was beating the Soviet Union. For some reason that was a big deal. We were able to get up and be sure we had more athletes than the Soviet Union," said Matthews, according to the USA Track website. "It was our own from cold war. We also had the whole civil-rights movement going. We got caught up in that movement. But through it all I loved being a quarter-miler."