Matthew Drayer
General Manager, West Virginia Black Bears
“ANY TIME YOU HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY to make a difference
in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time
on this earth.”
This quote by professional baseball player Roberto Clemente
is a mantra for Matthew Drayer, general manager for the West
Virginia Black Bears.
A native of Jamestown, NY, Drayer has been involved in
athletics since childhood with dreams of playing professional
baseball or hockey. However, his life took a slightly different
turn when he decided to major in sports management at West
Virginia University (WVU). It was there he found a way to
integrate his love of sports with his values of integrity, honesty
and laughter in management roles. He began his career in
athletics as the director of hockey operations for WVU before
landing his first professional job with the Jamestown Jammers,
a minor league baseball team in his hometown.
“I learned a great deal from the Jammers, which helped me
build my current career,” says Drayer. “The biggest takeaway
was how the baseball system flowed and how to maintain and
balance all the various duties and responsibilities.”
Drayer worked for the Jammers for 16 seasons. Beginning as
an intern in 1999, he climbed the ranks, overseeing operations and
sales and marketing before being named the general manager in
2005 at the age of 26. The biggest challenge of his career came
when he accepted his position with the West Virginia Black
Bears in 2015 and relocated to Morgantown with his family.
“My family, my friends, my church and everything I was
familiar with was in Jamestown,” he says. “My wife had to
Drayer feels right
at home on the
pitcher’s mound on
the baseball field at
the Shawnee Park
Multi-Sport Complex.
quit her job, and we had to sell our house and put our children
in new schools. Even though it was a very stressful period in
my life, I am blessed to have had the open doors the move
provided me and my family. Morgantown is home now, and
I am proud to be a resident of this beautiful state.”
Drayer really began to take Clemente’s words about making
a difference to heart in his early 30s.
“I knew there was more to life than just being the general
manager of a baseball team, and I began to get more involved
in the local community and build my personal and career
schedule around accommodating the fact that I wanted to be
more impactful,” he says. “Ever since then, it has always been
a top priority for me to give back.”
As a father of two, Drayer is committed to setting an example
of service. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Cheat Lake,
continuing the Rotarian service he began in Jamestown where he
was named a Paul Harris Fellow. He also serves as an assistant
coach for the Morgantown Pony Baseball League and a board
member for Operation Welcome Home and the Greater Morgan
town Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Drayer has also led community service programs within
the West Virginia Black Bears organization, including food
drives for Empty Bowls Monongalia and victims of flooding
in Southern West Virginia and fundraising for WVU Medicine
Children’s Hospital, the American Heart Association, Stepping
Stones and the American Cancer Society.
Drayer’s position as general manager also allows him the
privilege of mentoring and molding youth in the West Virginia
Black Bears’ internship program.
“I strive to be a positive and impactful influence for our
student interns, and I love to watch them grow, enjoy their
internship and become young professionals,” he says.
When he isn’t at Monongalia County Ballpark or serving
his community, Drayer enjoys spending time with Kelly, his
wife of 17 years, and their sons, Jacob and Joshua. He is also
an avid runner who frequents the trails along Cheat Lake, and
ran his first half-marathon this year at age 42. Even though
he is a Mountain State transplant, Drayer and his family are
proud to call West Virginia home.
“I feel compelled to stay here and continue to make West
Virginia home,” he says.
SAMANTHA CART
TRACY A. TOLER PHOTOGRAPHY
W W W. W V E X E C U T I V E . C O M
FALL 2019
103