William Clay Matthews Sr. (August 1, 1928 – March 23, 2017) was an American football tackle and patriarch of the Matthews family of football players. Matthews played for four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers of the NFL, the first in 1950. When the Korean War broke out, Matthews enlisted as a paratrooper for the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. In 1953, he returned to the 49ers for three seasons. He played college football at Georgia Tech. He was drafted in the 25th round of the 1949 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Rams before being traded to the 49ers.