UMKC Hall of Fame Spotlight - Matthew Voelker
12/30/2008 1:00:00 PM | General, Athletics
by Elyssa Brogdon
Matthew Voelker is best known at UMKC for his 7-3 1/4 high jump record. But the high jump is not where he got his start.
“I started out as a triple jumper,” Voelker said. “I never really focused on high jump since I was such a good triple jumper. I was only about a 6-4 high jumper in high school, but I beat the freshman triple jump record by eight feet. Triple jump actually got me into college.”
Originally Voelker jumped for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., but after deciding to pursue medical school he “ended up just leaving one day.”
So how did he end up setting high jump records for UMKC?
“Literally in the airport I called Chris Brown who was the triple jump and long jump coach at that time at UMKC,” Voelker said. “And I said, ?So, it looks like I'm leaving the Naval Academy; got a spot on your roster for me?'”
While Voelker had tried high jump throughout his athletic career it wasn't his focus until Tim Thompson joined the coaching staff as the high jump coach.
“Tim Thompson was so important to me and my journey in high jumping. He was really the key to unlocking my jumping ability and technique,” Voelker said.
Thompson came to UMKC during Voelker's junior year, but Voelker didn't get the opportunity to train with Thompson until one year later because of a tragic and almost fatal accident.
During the first week of winter practice, the track and field team was doing pole vault drills with gymnast rings hanging eight or nine feet in the air.
“After they were done I thought it looked like so much fun so I started playing on them, swinging and hanging upside down,” Voelker said. “I was about half way up the middle of the rings, about nine feet in the air, and hanging upside down when the ring snapped in half. I fell just off the pad and hit the gymnasium floor. I was knocked unconscious, almost broke my neck, almost killed myself, and I was rushed to the emergency room.”
But even a nine-foot fall couldn't keep Voelker down; he made a full recovery and was constantly in the weight room and with coaches when he returned after his medical redshirt year. All the hard work paid off.
“It was my senior year, first time ever having a high jump coach, and I jumped just under seven feet four inches,” Voelker said. “That's when I set all the records, track records, school records, won conference, qualified for the Olympic trials, qualified for the NCAA Division I Championships, and when I became an All-American.”
That jump, to Voelker, was his greatest athletic achievement.
“What I take away from my experience in coaching Matt is really cementing my belief that through hard work and careful planning, anything is possible,” Thompson said. "Matt was a 6-4 high jumper out of high school and to end up jumping 7-3 1/4 by his senior year is remarkable. Probably the one thing that I, or anyone who spends just a few minutes with Matt, will tell you that his energy and his enthusiasm for life are infectious."
After leaving UMKC with degrees in biology and chemistry, Voelker ventured out to Las Angeles, Calif., where he not only trained for the Olympic Trials, but modeled for sport magazines and acted in independent films and commercials. Now Voelker is back in Kansas City, where he started a new company, Divinescience Wellness, which offer holistic healing and massage therapy. In the near future he plans on coaching jumping at Shawnee Mission High School, not to mention joining the UMKC Athletic Hall of Fame.
“Being inducted into the inaugural UMKC Hall of Fame is a wonderful honor for Matt and I think his selection is very deserving,” Thompson said. “Matt exemplifies what UMKC Athletics is all about. He made academics his priority while still busting his butt every day to succeed at the highest level in track and field. Matt truly deserves and more importantly has earned the right to be called an All-American.”
And, while he no longer does it competitively, he hasn't completely left jumping behind.
Voelker said with a laugh, “I can not, usually, walk down the street without jumping on to something, over something, or jumping up and touching something.”
(This is the seventh of a nine-part series featuring the inaugural UMKC Athletics Hall of Fame class.)
Hall of Fame Features
- Bill Frerking - Men's Basketball- Katie Houlehan - Women's Basketball- Robert Russell - Men's Golf- Larry Scheller - Men's Soccer- Ronnie Schmitz - Men's Basketball - Catalina Suarez-Moss - Volleyball
