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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; On ESPN Monday night, Scott Van Pelt gave Brandon Matthews&#8217; good deed a national audience when he featured it for his popular &#8220;1 Big Thing&#8221; segment on ESPN&#8217;s SportsCenter.</p><p>Van Pelt heaped praise on Brandon and went so far as to suggest he be awarded an exemption into The Open for the way he handled the situation at this month&#8217;s VISA Open de Argentina.</p><p>That&#8217;s when a fan yelled out during a crucial putt. Brandon missed the 8-foot putt and a chance to continue the playoff at the tournament and, if he won it, earn a spot in the 2020 Open Championship.</p><p>All because of a missed putt? Not at all. The missed putt was not the issue. But the fan&#8217;s actions did give the world the opportunity to see what being a compassionate human being is all about.</p><p>The fact is that Brandon has been doing &#8220;one big things&#8221; for most of his life &#8212; showing his genuine concern and compassion for people with disabilities.</p><p>So that&#8217;s why it came as no surprise to Brandon&#8217;s parents, family and friends when they heard what he did.</p><p>Initially Brandon was upset about what had happened and he headed for the locker room. There, he was informed that the man who unintentionally yelled out &#8212; his name is Juan &#8212; had Down syndrome.</p><p>Brandon&#8217;s reaction was immediate.</p><p>&#8220;As soon as I was told who yelled, I said take me to him,&#8221; said Matthews, who grew up in Dupont and graduated from Pittston Area High School. &#8220;I knew I had to meet him and make sure he wasn&#8217;t upset &#8212; that he was OK.&#8221;</p><p>And that was Brandon&#8217;s concern &#8212; his only concern. There would be other tournaments, he would say, other opportunities over a long career still to be played out.</p><p>&#8220;I guess we don&#8217;t see feel-good stories as much as we should in the media,&#8221; Matthews said. &#8220;I was glad I could be a small part of making people feel good.&#8221;</p><p>But maybe with people like ESPN&#8217;s Van Pelt bringing it to a national audience, the awareness Brandon speaks of has arrived because of the compassion he showed for Juan.</p><p>The story has gone viral, as they say. So I contacted ESPN, seeking more from Van Pelt, who sent these words:</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;m always struck by people&#8217;s capacity to have compassion for their fellow man. In this case, you&#8217;re talking about missing out on a potential life-changing opportunity. In that moment, Brandon&#8217;s instinct was to make sure the fan was OK. Even as (Brandon) had to be crushed. That resonated with me. As I said on the show, had he made it and won the playoff, it&#8217;s unlikely I&#8217;d have heard about it. But I heard about this and wanted to amplify it in any way I could. So that people would know there&#8217;s a guy out there named Brandon Matthews who is worth rooting for. I know I will be from this point forward.&#8221;</p><p>When I talked to Brandon, he told me he was worried that the man and his family could be upset at what had happened. The golf part of the story was not a big deal to Brandon. Reaching out to Juan, the Spanish-speaking man with Down syndrome who unintentionally yelled during Brandon&#8217;s putt, was far more important.</p><p>&#8220;It was never about looking to get something out of this,&#8221; Brandon said. &#8220;It wasn&#8217;t a golf issue &#8212; it was a human issue.&#8221;</p><p>And then Brandon added this:</p><p>&#8220;The world would really be a better place if this wasn&#8217;t a big story. Yes, it&#8217;s great that it&#8217;s touched so many people. But my only concern was that the man was OK and not upset by what had happened.&#8221;</p><p>Brandon, who also starred at Temple University, grew up in a world where he learned at an early age to appreciate the abilities of people with disabilities. His mother, Donna, who managed group homes for Goodwill, and his father, Ted, instilled in him the compassion and the basic belief that all human beings deserve respect and that all came through last Sunday in Argentina.</p><p>When Brandon met Juan, they hugged. Brandon gave Juan an autographed glove and ball, and chatted with him for a few minutes.</p><p>&#8220;My only concern was that he didn&#8217;t feel badly about what had happened,&#8221; Brandon said.</p><p>Making sure Juan was OK was all that mattered.</p><p>Brandon said when he talked to his parents, they were, as you might expect, very proud of their son, but not surprised.</p><p>&#8220;My dad told me he would have been surprised had I not gone back out to meet the man,&#8221; Matthews said.</p><p>Through an interpreter, Brandon asked Juan if he was OK and he asked him if he was having fun. Brandon told me he wanted to be sure there were no hard feelings and that Juan wasn&#8217;t mad at himself and that Juan knew Brandon was not mad at him at all.</p><p>Brandon said Juan was just out on the golf course enjoying himself. He didn&#8217;t know what really happened. Brandon wanted to make sure Juan and his family continued to have fun and follow golf.</p><p>Brandon said he owes much to his parents and to Northeastern Pennsylvania. He said when he visits Dupont, he loves to go out for pizza. When he was in high school, Brandon volunteered with Challenger Little, helping the participants who have physical and/or mental challenges.</p><p>&#8220;It just goes to show you, obviously what I&#8217;ve become in life, could not have happened if not for my parents, my home town and who I grew up around,&#8221; Brandon said. &#8220;I love NEPA &#8212; it&#8217;s an incredible place.&#8221;</p><p>Back to last Sunday.</p><p>&#8220;Some things are bigger than golf,&#8221; Matthews said. &#8220;And this was one of them.&#8221;</p><p>Those words offer great insight into Brandon Matthews and his character.</p><p>Brandon said he hopes everyone would do the same thing in a similar situation.</p><p>After seeing Brandon do what he did, the chances of the rest of us doing the same thing skyrocketed.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Bill O&#8217;Boyle </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_Oboyle_Bill-2-1-4.jpg</photo0><caption0>Bill O&#8217;Boyle </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_matthews-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Brandon Matthews and Juan chat after last week&#8217;s VISA Open de Argentina. Juan, who has Down syndrome, unintentionally yelled out as Matthews attempted a putt during the tournament playoff. Matthews missed the putt, lost the tournament and a trip to The Open in 2020. None of that mattered &#8212; Matthews said his only concern was that Juan was OK and not upset. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/web1_matthews-2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Brandon Matthews and Juan chat after last week&#8217;s VISA Open de Argentina. Juan, who has Down syndrome, unintentionally yelled out as Matthews attempted a putt during the tournament playoff. Matthews missed the putt, lost the tournament and a trip to The Open in 2020. None of that mattered &#8212; Matthews said his only concern was that Juan was OK and not upset. </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Beyond the Byline: The human story of Brandon and Juan