From Shiloh To World Series

Simpson's Journey Takes Him Through Harvard To Giants' Office

Matt Simpson, former Shiloh Christian quarterback, looks for a receiver in the 3A State Championship game at War Memorial Stadium in 2006.

Matt Simpson, former Shiloh Christian quarterback, looks for a receiver in the 3A State Championship game at War Memorial Stadium in 2006.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Matt Simpson will receive his World Series ring in a few months. It takes time to design after all.

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MATT SIMPSON

Former school: Shiloh Christian

Former position: Quarterback

Notable: A two-star recruit who threw for 9,673 yards and 108 touchdowns during his time at Shiloh. ... Passed on a scholarship offer with Troy University to sign with Harvard, where he was used mostly as a backup quarterback. ... Now works as a sales representative for the San Francisco Giants, who recently won their second World Series championship in three years.

Sometime this summer, though, Simpson can expect to get a new piece of jewelry from his bosses. His World Series ring will look identical to those that should be given to the San Francisco Giants’ players around Opening Day.

Talk about receiving a nice perk for spending a season in the Giants’ front office.

“To be a part of the organization is amazing in itself,” Simpson said last week during his lunch break as a sales representative with the Giants. “But it all coming together in one year, it’s kind of an unbelievable experience and still I have a hard time soaking it in.”

Six years ago, Simpson appeared closer to earning a Super Bowl ring. He was a strong-armed, two-star quarterback at Shiloh Christian, and he caught the attention of college football coaches with his ability to drop back and rocket passes to his wide receivers.

Troy University offered Simpson a scholarship, and Duke, Tulsa and Arkansas State were interested in signing the record-breaking passer. But a freak injury three games into Simpson’s senior season caused him to re-evaluate his plans, leading to his unique journey from Shiloh to Harvard to the Giants’ front office.

Simpson, 24, calls AT&T Park his office a decade after visiting the stadium for the first time to watch the now-defunct Emerald Bowl.

“I remember getting a chance to go by and see Barry Bonds’ locker and just thinking, ‘Damn, it must be so cool to be a team like this,’” Simpson said. “It’s such a nice stadium.”

Ivy League Bound

Simpson admitted he didn’t intend to go to an Ivy League school. Growing up in Springdale, he envisioned himself signing with a large NCAA Division I program and playing in front of huge crowds.

Shiloh coach Josh Floyd said Simpson had one of the strongest arms he has ever seen from one of his players, and the two often spent time studying film on other quarterbacks. They watched videos of Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, and Simpson didn’t his best job trying to emulate what he saw.

“His specialty was just get in the three-step drop, five-step drop and sling the football,” Floyd said. “The thing that was fun to coach was that he could make every single throw he needed to, so it was a lot of fun with that type of offense because you’re not limited to anything.”

However, Simpson’s future plans — the ones he had been forming since he was a kid — changed after the third quarter of a game against Greenwood early in his senior season in 2006. He didn’t get hit by a defender, but instead suffered a Lisfranc injury in the open field.

Former Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, now with the Oakland Raiders, was sidelined last year after suffering the same midfoot injury as Simpson. Six years ago, though, Simpson wasn’t sure if he’d be able to return from it and he began to re-evaluate his college plans after several schools showed less interest in him following the injury.

“At the time, Troy was where I was pretty intent on going prior to the injury,” Simpson said. “So I think it really put things into perspective for me, and who can say what I would have done. But certainly that played a big part of that in just kind of shifting my perspective on a lot of different things.”

Simpson admitted he wouldn’t have considered signing with an Ivy League school as strongly if he hadn’t suffered the injury. But he was concerned about his future after football, so the quarterback who threw for 9,673 yards and 108 touchdowns during his time at Shiloh decided to sign with Harvard.

“If you can say you played quarterback at Harvard, that’s a pretty impressive thing to say,” Floyd said.

To The West Coast

Simpson was like a jack of all trades at Harvard, where he spent his first three seasons as a backup quarterback and saw action as a wide receiver and holder on kicking situations. He never started a game at quarterback, but has fond memories of juggling a heavy academic workload with football.

He graduated from Harvard in the summer of 2011 with a degree in government, but he admitted he never had any intentions of getting into politics like many other Harvard graduates. Instead, he moved to the West Coast to work first for the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and now the Giants.

Simpson started working in the Giants’ front office on Feb. 1 to bring in new business, whether through season tickets, or special events at AT&T Park. But his job took a twist when the Giants made the postseason and swept the Detroit Tigers for their second World Series championship in three seasons.

“This is my first time even going to a playoff game, much less the World Series and going to all those games,” Simpson said. “Certainly business slowed a little bit when you’re in the moment for what I was doing.”

But soon he’ll have a World Series ring to show for it.