"[5] Matsu continued to excel as an athlete and became a multi-sport star at Cleveland's East High School.

At the urging of football coach J. Wilder Tasker, Matsu chose William & Mary, the second oldest college in the United States located in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Matsu was the first Asian-American student at William & Mary and a star athlete in football, basketball, baseball, and track (as a pole vaulter).

In October 1925, one writer notedHarvard probably will face something new Saturday in playing William and Mary College to the extent of being opposed by a Japanese quarterback.

Yale had a Chinese shortstop but so far as known, Art Matsu is the only Japanese playing college football in the east.

[12][13] In February 1926, another sportswriter observed: "An able, consistent punter, good ball carrier, and sure tackler, the Japanese makes up in brains and speed what he lacks in poundage.

Besides punting in fine fashion and making some steady advances when he carried the ball, the tall and thin player saved his team many times when he called the plays so that the Crimson defense was baffled.

[4] One author has suggested that the law may have passed in response to the presence and popularity of Matsu on the William & Mary campus: "[F]ears that Matsu's popularity would spark interracial fraternization may have helped prompt Virginia's Legislature to pass the Racial Purity Act in 1924, extending the state's miscegenation law and explicitly forbidding intermarriage between Asians and whites.

"[19] In 1930, Matsu moved to Richmond, Virginia, as the head football coach at Benedictine Preparatory School.

[4][20] Matsu also taught physical education at Rutgers and was promoted from instructor to assistant professor in June 1934.

[25] Frank Burns, who played quarterback for Rutgers in the 1950s, said of Matsu: "He was a master of offensive football, a true innovator.