Sacramento State’s Lois Mattice – a longtime athletic trainer and administrator for Hornet athletes – is moving away after 40 years of service.

Growing up, Mattice never truly found a place to call home – until she came to Sacramento State.

Mattice’s father worked for the United States Agency for International Development, and therefore the family moved around a lot. They moved from Montana to Iowa to Africa to Kentucky and, finally, to California. 

“My dad had the opportunity of either Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) or (UC) Davis,” Mattice said. “And thank God he picked Cal Poly.”

Mattice moved with her family to San Luis Obispo just in time for her to start high school. After graduating, she attended Cuesta College near her home. Soon, however, it was time for Mattice to leave the comfort of the familiar.

“If I would have had my choice, I would have stayed at home forever,” Mattice said. “My mom said no, you’re going away to college. And so we came up (to Sacramento) at Thanksgiving, and you know, it’s just beautiful. And I just decided I liked Sacramento State.”

A career in athletics

Although never an athlete herself, Mattice always had an interest in athletics. She spent her high school years as a team manager and stats keeper and knew she wanted to have a career in athletics. 

“I knew I wanted to be involved in athletics,” said Mattice. “I didn’t know what or how it was gonna look. I didn’t know how to get into it. I knew nothing.”

Soon, however, Mattice stumbled across a relatively new brand of career called athletic training. She decided to pursue it and soon graduated from Sacramento State with a degree in physical education with an emphasis on athletic training. 

“Then I was just in the right place at the right time,” Mattice said. “The program director, who was also the head athletic trainer, had just had her third child. So they brought me in part-time.”

Finding ways to connect

Mattice would spend the next 15 years of her career in the training room caring for all kinds of athletes across many sports. Then she was offered a promotion to be associate athletics director for internal affairs/senior woman administrator of the athletics program. But despite making the move into administration, Mattice still found ways to stay connected and interact with her student-athletes, such as traveling with the volleyball team throughout her career. 

“I really missed the one-on-one with student-athletes,” Mattice said. “Being able to travel … kept me connected, and that’s the part I love the most. Y’all kept me young.”

However, with a career such as Mattice’s had to come sacrifice. 

“My family suffered,” said Mattice. “I missed a lot. I do regret it, in some respects, but I was the breadwinner. My husband didn’t make the money, I made the money.”

A second family

Despite being away from home a lot, Mattice found a sort of second family in her coworkers in the athletics department. 

“The high point of my career is the relationships and the friendships that I’ve developed throughout the last 40 years,” Mattice said. “I mean, lifelong friends.”

Mattice managed to make an impact on just about every person who crossed her path throughout her 40 years at Sac State. Mattice, who plans to move home to Montana with her husband in June, will leave a gaping hole in the Sacramento State athletics department. Pamm Zierfuss-Hubbard, who replaced Mattice as senior woman administrator after her retirement during the pandemic, is already dreading Mattice’s physical departure from the Sacramento area. 

“We’re all going to miss not only her just being here,” Zierfuss-Hubbard said, “but I think her deep, historical knowledge – not only just of this department, but of this entire campus. She has a very deep legacy within this department, and I think her presence and her ability to be a powerful female role model – not only for the staff, but for our student athletes – those are the things that we’re really going to miss with her moving.”

She’s ready to “enjoy life”

Mattice, who is originally from Montana, said she is moving in order to be closer to her mother and her aunt and that, in retirement, she just plans to “enjoy life.”

“I worked hard when I was here,” she said. “There were not a lot of days off.”

Ashtin Olin, a former Sacramento State student-athlete, experienced having Mattice as a trainer back in 2017 when she started her collegiate volleyball career. 

“At the time it was an all-male coaching staff, so having Lois was much needed,” Olin said. “Many of us, including myself, confided in her for things we couldn’t with our male coaches, and I was always grateful to have her. She was like a mother to us.”

Mattice has created a legacy at Sacramento State, and her presence and deep love and knowledge of Hornet Athletics will be missed by the athletes, her coworkers and the lifelong friends she has made here.

“She’s just kick-ass,” Zierfuss-Hubbard said, “and I’m gonna miss her a lot.”