Matthew Preston White "Matt" Wangler (August 15, 1957 – February 11, 2013) was an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, and was later drafted by the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

. He helped lead Penn into the final four of the

1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament The 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament involved 40 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 9 and ended with the championship game on Ma ...

. He played professionally in the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administrated by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, wi ...

for Valladolid Miñón/Grupo Libro Valladolid, RC Náutico Tenerife,

Cacaolat Granollers Club Bàsquet Granollers is a professional basketball team based in Granollers, Catalonia, Spain, which currently plays in Copa Catalunya. History It was one of the historic teams of Liga Nacional and Liga ACB, where he played from 1977 to 1993 ...

, Puleva Baloncesto Granada and Valvi Girona.

Death

White was killed by his wife Maria Reyes Garcia-Pellon, a native of Spain, after she allegedly observed him watching child pornography. Police found no pornography on any of the computers in their home. She stabbed him several times in the throat. In court proceedings, a plea of temporary insanity was entered. His wife was suffering from schizo-affective disorder at the time and had been off her medication. Matthew had attempted to have her admitted to a psychiatric care center the day before his death, but was only able to make an appointment for the following day. In December 2014 a court dropped the murder charges during a

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a trial by jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems (Roman, Islamic) use bench ...

, and she was subsequently found guilty but mentally ill of

voluntary manslaughter Voluntary manslaughter is the killing of a human being in which the offender acted during ''the heat of passion'', under circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to become emotionally or mentally disturbed to the point that they cannot ...

. She was paroled pending availability of a bed at

Norristown State Hospital Norristown State Hospital, originally known as the ''State Lunatic Hospital at Norristown'', is an active state-funded psychiatric hospital located outside the city of Philadelphia in suburban Norristown, Pennsylvania, Norristown, Pennsylvania. It ...

References

1957 births 2013 deaths American expatriate basketball people in Spain Basketball players from Pennsylvania CB Valladolid players Centers (basketball) Gijón Baloncesto players Liga ACB players Penn Quakers men's basketball players Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Place of birth missing American men's basketball players {{1950s-US-basketball-bio-stub