General Manager, West Virginia Black Bears
By Samantha Cart
“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 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 Morgantown 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.
