Matt Horn

Classroom

Horn holds a 3.925 GPA. He has made the President’s List two times and Dean’s List four times. He was named to the 2011 Big South All-Academic team and the 2011 Academic
All-District 4 First Team. He is a three-time Big South Conference Presidential Scholar. He was on the 2010 Big South All-Academic Team and 2010 NSCAA University Men Scholar All-South Region Second Team. He was the 2010 Big South Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year and has been accepted into Winthrop University’s Honors Program. Horn is president of the Winthrop University Student Athletic Advisory Committee, is the Big South Conference Chair for SAAC and is the NCAA Division I National SAAC Respresentative for the Big South Conference. He’s also a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Leadership Council. Horn did an Oncology Internship in 2010 with Dr. Steven Limentani MD at Charlotte Hematology & Oncology and Blumenthal Cancer Research Center, Charlotte, NC. Part of the internship was experience also in Surgical Oncology, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Influenza A Department Research. He is currently a microbiology teacher’s assistant. His awards include: Board of Trustees Scholarship in 2008-present and the Henrietta-Hopkins Scholarship for continued academic excellence (2009-11). He has been accepted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society and Book and Key Honor Society. He was awarded the Griffin-Guettler Award for Winthrop’s male athlete with the highest GPA, the Ken Stanton award for going above and beyond the call of duty in leadership, the Big South Conference Student-Athlete of the Year Award in 2010 and Winthrop’s Student Life Award for Student Service Project of the Year that involved Samaritan’s Feet Initiative (award presented to Winthrop’s SAAC 2010). He had an abstract published on The Evolution of Human, Avian, and Swine H5N1 Influenza A in Southeast Asia and participated in the 2010 BigSURS research convention which was held at Winthrop where he presented his honors thesis as part of his honors degree requirements.

Character

Head Coach Rich Posipanko: “Matt Horn has been the most active student-athlete both within the community and the university that we may have ever had at Winthrop. He has excellent manners, has an outstanding work ethic and strong leadership qualities. He has always given his best effort at all times and continually works hard to improve any short comings he feels he may have. Dependability and efficiency also show themselves as he fulfills his daily responsibilities. Matt has always demonstrated a high degree of intelligence with the capacity and eagerness to perform any task you ask of him.  He is a very independent person who can make the right decisions and is very mature in the way he approaches his daily life.  Matt has a positive attitude and takes full responsibility for all his actions.  If things are not going right, he has the ability to make decisions and take the action necessary to correct those things in a positive way.  He is very compassionate towards others and has all the qualities to be successful in life.  He relates well with everyone he comes in contact with and has the social skills to be a leader and comfortable in any situation. He is a world class person and outstanding role model.”

Community

Horn serves as a student-athlete Bible Study Leader. He has made the alternative Spring Break trip since 2008, where he participated in the New Orleans disaster relief outreach and was a student leader on a mission trip to New York City where he worked with Interfaith Hospitality in local food pantries, homeless shelters, and AIDS awareness and prevention. He has been the Relay for Life Athletic Recruitment Chairperson since 2010. He is a participant in the annual “Kickers Against Cancer” soccer match that has helped raise more than $40,000 in just two years for the American Cancer Society. He is a volunteer at the Winthrop Men’s Soccer Camp as an instructor. He is a participant in Read Across America where he volunteers regularly at local elementary schools helping children read and play games. Horn is one of the leaders in the Sumaritan’s Feet project that helped gather 2,400-plus pairs of shoes and helped Winthrop earn the Big South Conference’s Community Service Challenge for 2009-10 known as the Kallander Cup. He helped Winthrop earn the Kallander Cup for 2010-11 as well. He recently spent time in Peru as part of a mission trip to distribute shoes to needy children, help rebuild their communities and try to instill hope into their dreams.

Competition

Horn is a two-year team captain and starter on defense and has played in 48 games with 24 starts. As a freshman, he provided depth off the bench with action in 14 games. He started as a sophomore and picked up his first career point on an assist in a game against Brevard College. He was part of the 2008 and 2009 Big South Conference Championship Teams and played in both NCAA tournament games.