"I have always wanted to give back to the community in some way. Growing up, I witnessed community leaders, including my dad, strive for a better Brownwood"
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atthew McCrane has traveled plenty in his football career, enjoying many victories. Now, he's back home with a winning formula to revitalize the downtown area of his beloved Brownwood. "I have always wanted to give back to the community in some way. Growing up, I witnessed community leaders, including my dad, strive for a better Brownwood," Matthew said. "With the Brownwood Reunion Celebration and many other events in the early 2000s, Brownwood was trending in the right direction. There are many people to thank that led us to where we are today. "Over the last few years, the revitalization as some call it, has had a major impact on the local economy. In downtown specifically, we have seen an appreciation for local history." Matthew, a placekicker, attended Brownwood High School and Kansas State University. He kicked the longest field goal in Brownwood Lions history, 52 yards. As a Wildcat at KSU from 2014-17, he converted 133-of-134 extra point attempts and 57-of-66 field goal attempts. He ranks second in Big XII Conference history and seventh in NCAA history for career field goal percentage (86.4). Following college, he entered the professional ranks. He had two stints with the Arizona Cardinals, along with stops with the Oakland (now Las Vegas) Raiders, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns of the NFL. His most recent team was the New York Guardians of the XFL. However, his contract ended when the league suspended operations in April because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"My wife (Megan) and I lived in Manhattan, Kansas while I traveled to three NFL teams my rookie season. We ultimately decided to make the move to Fort Worth to be closer to her family as I stayed ready to get a call from another organization," he said. "The call came late in the year and I had been drafted to the XFL New York Guardians in November of 2019. We were ready for the adventure and made the road trip to New York state, where we lived until March of 2020 when the XFL got shut down. "We packed up all of our belongings and made the trip back to our Fort Worth apartment. It didn’t take long for us to realize we needed a place we could be outdoors and remain productive, H O MET O W N L I VI NG A T ITS B EST
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