May 4, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Former Notre Dame pole vaulter Greg Matteo received one of two Young Alumni of the Year Awards Friday from the University of Notre Dame Alumni Association.

Matteo, a 1991 Notre Dame graduate who earned a monogram that same year in track and field, won the award through his work with the Notre Dame Club of Philadelphia. In 1998, he served as a community service coordinator in establishing the club’s food, clothing and blanket drive in support of the Philadelphia Food Bank and the Philadelphia Committee to End Homelessness.

Matteo became known as the “Blanket Man” among the homeless of Philadelphia after he began distributing blankets on the streets of the city by himself on the coldest nights of 1993. He has continued this practice each winter, with family and club members joining in the effort. He also has volunteered with the Lazarus at the Gate food distribution program and the Immaculate Heart of Mary literacy program since 1994.

Matteo, who earned a master’s degree in management from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, is the owner and president of the Centerton Golf Association in Centerton, N.J. He founded the New Jersey Special Olympics Golf Classic in 1993, which has raised more than $100,000. He also has served as a New Jersey Special Olympics board member since 1996, volunteered at the Special Olympics winter games, and coached at the Special Olympics world games.