Matt Anderson is convinced that all roads lead back to Buffalo, and in some cases, to Orchard Park.
West Seneca’s Matt Anderson, second from right, high-fives Max Holt during a match last year. Anderson is competing in his fourth Olympics.
Anderson, an outside hitter/opposite on the U.S. Olympic men’s volleyball team, lives in California but is always quick to note that he’s a native of Western New York. Wherever he travels, he almost always ends up meeting someone with a connection to the region, whether it’s a relative who lives in the area, a past trip to Western New York, or, of course, someone who is a die-hard Bills fan.
Anderson isn’t shy about his fandom for the Bills, either.
“I grew up and I’m still a Buffalo Bills fan,” Anderson told The News, prior to the start of the Paris Olympics. “The Bills Mafia is my family, and we’re a group of people who’ve dealt with major heartbreaks. I just try to inspire and try to carry that responsibility, of being from Western New York.”
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The United States faces Japan at 3 p.m. Friday in the final game of pool play. Quarterfinals in men’s volleyball begin Aug. 5.
When Anderson played for the U.S. at the 2016 Rio Olympics, he was approached by U.S. wrestler Jordan Burroughs. Burroughs wanted to meet Anderson so he could introduce Anderson to his wife, Lauren Mariacher, a former Canisius University track athlete, an Iroquois High graduate and a former Buffalo News reporter whose uncle is Pro Football Hall of Famer and legendary Bills running back Thurman Thomas.
“It’s a small world, and that Bills fan group is another way to connect to that community,” Anderson said.
Anderson has not yet met a Bills fan from a far-flung place such as Mongolia or Vanuatu, but can list the places he’s met Bills fans: He met some in Russia when he was playing professional volleyball for Zenit-Kazan. He’s met teachers in different countries who have a connection to the Bills or to Western New York.
He also met a volleyball player from Puerto Rico whom he described as a “huge” Bills fan.
“But I have no idea how.”
Maybe that’s the power of being a part of the Mafia.
No word yet if Anderson has met Jasmine Jones, a U.S. hurdler whose father is former Bills safety Henry Jones.
Rachel Lenzi
College/high school sports enterprise reporter