Matthew Kale Snider (January 26, 1976 – October 9, 2023) was a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

fullback. He graduated from the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia, United States. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approxim ...

in 1999 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

Sports Science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally i ...

and Health. The

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

offered him an

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

contract in April 1999, but he was waived from the

Charlotte Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

-based team in June. The

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

then offered him a two-year contract in July 1999, and Snider made the roster as the back-up fullback and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their position. Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

performer after coming into camp as the fourth-string fullback. One highlight of his career at Green Bay was a preseason 66-yard touchdown reception at

Lambeau Field Lambeau Field () is an outdoor athletic stadium in the East North Central states, north central United States, located in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The home field of the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL), it opened in 1957 Green ...

. He played two seasons for Green Bay, who released him at the start of the 2001 season. The

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

picked him up soon after. Snider played four games with the Vikings before they released him, and for the rest of the 2001 season he was not on a roster. The newly formed

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

signed Snider as a free agent in December 2001, making him one of the first ten players the franchise ever signed. The Texans released Snider after training camp in August 2002, ending his NFL career. Snider graduated from

Lower Merion High School Lower Merion High School is a public high school in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, in the Main Line suburbs of Philadelphia. It is one of two high schools in the Lower Merion School District; the other one is Harriton High School. Lower Merion serves ...

Ardmore, Pennsylvania Ardmore is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) spanning the border between Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Montgomery counties in the U.S. ...

, a suburb outside of Philadelphia, in 1994. He played football and basketball for the Lower Merion Aces, and he played two years of high school basketball with

Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...

. In 1994, Snider's senior season and Bryant's sophomore season, he and Bryant were named team MVPs for the season. Snider was also named to the first-team all

Philadelphia Main Line The Philadelphia Main Line, known simply as the Main Line, is an informally delineated historical and Social class in the United States, social region of suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lying along the former Pennsylvania Railroad's onc ...

roster.

Personal life

Snider died in San Diego on October 9, 2023, at the age of 47.

References

External links

* Obituary: https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/qctimes/name/matthew-snider-obituary?id=53372087 {{DEFAULTSORT:Snider, Matt American football fullbacks Living people 1976 births Green Bay Packers players Minnesota Vikings players Richmond Spiders football players Players of American football from Des Moines, Iowa Lower Merion High School alumni