With more than 25 years of baseball umpiring experience at the high school, collegiate, and various upper-level classifications and divisions, Bob Matekel’s umpiring career has brought him from San Antonio, Texas, to our own South Puget Sound.

 

A graduate of Baylor and Brigham Young Universities, Matekel made first joined the Texas Association of Sports Officials in 2000. Since 2003, he has been a consistent officiating presence on baseball diamonds in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout that time, he has been a member of numerous umpiring associations at the high school, collegiate, and premier summer ball level.

 

Matekel has twice umpired the WIAA 3A/4A state finals championship tournaments (2017 and 2022), and also umpired in seven state regional tournaments and many more postseason games and district tournaments. He was named the Washington Officials’ Association (WOA) Official of the Year for baseball in 2022, selected for “outstanding skills, abilities and service to officiating in the state of Washington. That same year, he received the George Eshelman Award from the Northwest Baseball Umpires Association (NBUA). During his time in the Western Washington Baseball Umpires Association (WWBUA), he earned the Iron Man Award for umpiring more than 100 games in a season on three different occasions.

 

Matekel has served on the WWBUA Board of Directors and was president from 2016-19, and he currently serves as a Pierce County Umpires Association (PCUA) training instructor.