College will honor four Distinguished Alumni at a Luncheon on Oct. 3
A cherished Amarillo College tradition that was interrupted by the pandemic will be revived in a big way when four outstanding individuals receive AC's Distinguished Alumni Award, which was last presented in 2019.
The honorees are Dr. Pablo Diaz-Esquivel, Dr. Clint Esler, Mr. Matt Griffith, and Dr. Paul Matney, who not only attended the College as a freshman but went on to serve as its president from 2009-2014.
The quartet will be guests of honor at the Distinguished Alumni Luncheon, which will be hosted by the AC Foundation at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 3 in the Amarillo Country Club Ballroom.
The Honorees
Dr. Pablo Diaz-Esquivel, who graduated from Amarillo College in 1970, is a board-certified doctor of obstetrics and gynecology. He completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Texas at Austin, and earned his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
Diaz is a longstanding member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and he proudly belongs to the distinguished Winfred L. Wiser Society. He has been a fellow of the American College of OBGYN since 1983, and is a founding member of the Children’s Health Foundation. He has served as president of the medical staff at Northwest Texas Hospital, and he was a recipient in 2019 of the Vitalis Patients’ Choice Award.
Dr. Clint Esler is a doctor of dental surgery who attended Amarillo College from 1972-74 and transferred his credits directly to the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in San Antonio – the only student at that time accepted to the dental school there without a bachelor’s degree. Following his successful completion of that program, Esler returned to Amarillo and practiced dentistry for 42 years before retiring in 2020.
A 1972 graduate of Amarillo High School, Esler credits his memorable AC professors for providing him with the stellar educational foundation that led to his successful transition to dental school. It is believed that he is the only AC student who has successfully transferred with only an associate degree to dental school.
Matt Griffith has served as vice president of Rockrose Development, LLC since 1993. A graduate of Caprock High School, where a drafting class initially sparked his passion for architectural design, Griffith became a planner for the city of Amarillo while pursuing higher education, first at Amarillo College and later at West Texas A&M University.
Since leaving the city for Rockrose about 30 years ago, he has contributed to a wealth of major regional projects, just some of which are Westover Park, Westover Village, City View and Pinnacle. Griffith’s commitment to education is underscored by his volunteer work with AmTech, Junior Achievement, and Caprock High, which inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2013. He holds leadership roles in the Texas Panhandle Builders Association and Arrow Child and Family Ministries.
Dr. Paul Matney, whose unprecedented odyssey swept him through the corridors of Amarillo College as a student, instructor, professor, dean and, ultimately, to the presidency, retired in 2014 after 35 years on the AC workforce. A product of Amarillo High School, he became an AC student in 1967, then furthered his education at University of Texas at Austin. He received his master’s degree from West Texas State University, and a doctoral degree from Texas Tech University. Matney joined the AC faculty in 1979. By 2005 he had risen to vice president and dean of instruction, and in 2009 he was named president. He retired in 2014.
Matney, who additionally spent 19 years as a local weekend weatherman, has been the voice of Amarillo High School Sandies’ baseball games for more than 20 years. He was inducted into the Sandie Hall of Fame in 2011. He serves on the board of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum, and on the advisory board of the Center for the Study of the American West.