From Pirate to Panther Legend: Matt ‘Bob’ Pedersen Joins UNI Hall of Fame

Here’s a memory test for longtime Hudson residents: Do you remember when Bob  (then known as Matt) Pedersen, a Hudson Elementary student, won the 9-year-old  bracket of the Punt, Pass and Run contest?  

“No, it only happened once, and it was way back when I was in the fourth grade,” he  laughed. “Nobody’s going to remember that. It was only a big deal to me because it  was the one and only time I beat Justin Urbanek. He was the most talented athlete of  our class.”  

Here’s another quiz for the memory bank: In the early 1990s, do you recall watching  Pedersen play football alongside classmates like Bill Marsau, Miah Lehr, Ryan Burry,  Jeremy Trotter and D.J. Holbach? That team earned both a state championship and a  state runner-up title during their high school careers.  

Several of those athletes went on to play college football after graduating from Hudson  in 1995. A few earned full-ride scholarships—including Matt “Bob” Pedersen, who had  by then taken on his nickname full time.  

As a freshman at the University of Northern Iowa in the fall of 1995, Pedersen quickly  made his mark as one of the fiercest defensive players in Panther history. Over three  seasons and 33 starts, he racked up 426 tackles—second-most in program history. His  265 unassisted tackles remain a school record to this day.  

In 1999, he set another single-season school record with 107 unassisted tackles and  notched 16 solo stops in a single game against Western Illinois. He also recorded 150  total tackles that season—the third-most in a single season for UNI—and tallied 23  total tackles in a single game against Youngstown State, another mark that stands  among the best in school history. In 1997, he became the first Panther to record four  sacks in a single game, accomplishing the feat against Indiana State.  

But his success wasn’t limited to the field. Pedersen was a three-time Gateway  Scholar-Athlete First Team selection and earned a spot on the 1998 Division I-AA  Athletic Academic All-Star Team. He was also a seven-time All-American selection by  the Associated Press, Football Gazette, Sports Network, and Phil Steele.  

On Friday, Aug. 29, Pedersen was among six individuals and one team inducted into  the 2025 UNI Athletics Hall of Fame. Fellow inductees included James Lindgren,  Michael “Mike” Allen, the 1975 UNI football team, Diane (Roberts) Harms, Marv  Reiland, and Crystal (Cook) Hanson.  

“It felt surreal to be introduced like that—among those really great former UNI  athletes,” he said. “It meant even more that several of my Hudson teammates were  there to support me. We’ve had this bond since we were kids. Jereme Trotter, Miah 

Lehr, Bill Marsau, Ryan Burry—even our high school coaches Mark Urbanek and Les  Burns—came to the ceremony.”  

After graduating from UNI in 2000, Pedersen spent a year studying at a university in  France, where he earned his master’s degree. Upon returning to the U.S., he and his  college roommate—also named Matt Peterson (yes, it gets confusing)—moved to  California. Peterson pursued a law degree at Berkeley, while Pedersen took a job with  Wells Fargo.  

Today, Pedersen and his wife, Kelly, live in Minnetonka, a suburb of Minneapolis, where  they’re raising their two sons: 13-year-old Dillon and 8-year-old Tommy. Pedersen  works in sales for Carestream, a medical x-ray film business.  

“With my parents, Sven and Kay, still living in Hudson, we get back fairly often. And  with so many of my football and high school classmates living nearby, I can usually  make a call and get six to 12 of us together,” he said. “Being inducted into the Hall of  Fame was such an honor. But I have to say, it’s an honor that belongs just as much to  my UNI teammates, my Hudson teammates, and my coaches—because those guys  made me.”