Men's Basketball Alum Matt Loebbaka Uses Personal Story To ‘Be The Match’

Bill Loebbaka was a fixture in Skibo Gymnasium when his son Matt was playing basketball for the Tartans from 2011-15. Despite the distance from Chicago, Bill and his wife Sue regularly made the trek to Pittsburgh for University Athletic Association (UAA) weekends and were beloved by fellow parents, players, coaches and staff. Bill was a positive force, always believing his Tartans would pull out a big victory in the waning seconds.

During Matt's senior year, Bill was diagnosed with leukemia and was unable to continue making trips to see the Tartans. Sadly, he passed away after a courageous battle in 2018.

"Bill was a wonderful person and I loved spending time with him during those UAA weekends," said Director of Athletics Josh Centor. "Matt was one of the hardest-working student-athletes I can recall at Carnegie Mellon and there is nobody who had a more team-first attitude. He is such a wonderful young man, and I know he was deeply influenced by his parents and their support. Carnegie Mellon is forever a stronger place because of Matt's impact on our community."

Following graduation in May of 2015 and shortly after his dad received his first of two bone marrow transplants, Matt joined a registry list through Be the Match. The organization is a global leader in bone marrow transplantation that connects patients with their donor match for life-saving marrow or blood stem cells. This past November, five years after joining the registry, Matt was contacted regarding the potential to be a donor. Following a health history screening over the phone, he was considered the primary donor to a potential recipient. He was asked to consider donating and immediately accepted.

"The process for joining the registry is extremely easy to complete, even during the pandemic," said Matt. "It involves a mail-in mouth swab that Be the Match uses for genetic marker testing."

The genetic marker test involves Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) markers. These genes determine the compatibility of the donation within the recipient. Research has found that a donor must match a minimum of 6 HLA markers. A best match is found through the detailed testing. Because some HLA types are more common than others, some patients may face a greater challenge in finding a matching donor. Some HLA types are found more often in certain racial and ethnic groups.

In addition to his personal journey as a donor, Matt is committed to sharing with as many people as possible that there are two ways to donate. The first is a blood donation where the donor receives a medication that boosts production of bone marrow and stem cells in the body. The second type, which Matt was informed he will be doing, is when the donor's bone marrow is physically harvested through the hip.

Matt's bone marrow donation is tentatively set for the end of February in Chicago or Cleveland based on hospital availability. As the donation date approaches, Matt completes physicals and more extensive health history screenings to ensure nothing has changed since his discussion in November.

"During this process I've learned that approximately 30,000 people a year go without a donation because they don't find a match," said Matt. "My hope is that my family's story will help others learn how easy the process is to become a donor and the impact donation has on a family dealing with this disease. Also, with the diverse group of people within athletics and the CMU community we might get a bigger mix of backgrounds in the registry."

The Mt. Prospect, Illinois, native currently works for Oleon, a Belgian Chemical Supplier, in Greenville, South Carolina. During his playing career for the Cardinal and Gray, he was a four-year letter winner and played in 88 games. He was chosen as a member of the Division III NCAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and represented the student-athletes from the UAA and the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC) during his three-year term. Matt became the third UAA student-athlete to have had the honor of serving on the National SAAC.

"One of the pillars of our program is 'selflessness' and Matt Loebbaka epitomizes that characteristic better than anyone I have coached. He is simply one of the best teammates in Tartan history," said head men's basketball coach Tony Wingen. "Throughout his dad's ordeal, Matt's daily work in practice and his leadership never wavered. He carried out his duties with the National SAAC, performed at a very high level in the classroom, and continued to participate in all of our community service projects. Be the Match is the perfect platform to honor Bill's memory."

"Bill Loebbaka was an inspiration to all of us," added Wingen. "His love of Carnegie Mellon basketball continued even through his battle with leukemia, and now Matt's selflessness inspires us again through his work with Be the Match. I am proud to be Matt's coach and his friend."

Be the Match is also working on research that involves lowering the genetic marker requirements for donors and recipients. Matt has opted into this research program as well, which is studying different samples to see how compatibility changes. Learn more about Be the Match and how easy it is to donate today.