Matzdorf, a Junior at the University of Wisconsin, entered the July 3, 1971 meet against the Soviet Union with a personal best of 7'-3" (2.21 m.) achieved earlier that year in March.

Patrick Clifford Matzdorf worked for AT&T Bell Labs at Indian Hill in Autoplex.

During his life at AT&T, according to co-workers, he played softball, which every time at the plate he stroked a home run.

A company teammate, Tom Giammarresi, remembers "his throws from left field that were, not far off the ground, and traveled all the way to home plate like bullets."

According to Sheila K. Brown Klinger, she stated "we all played volleyball together at IH (Randy Downing, director, and Dave Carbaugh, DH, were also on our team)."