Former Andalusia High School standout basketball player, DeWitt Mathews, passed away on Monday after a battle with leukemia.

“He was good basketball player and a great person,” legendary Bulldog basketball coach Richard Robertson said. “DeWitt worked with me at the Coleman Center and he was always a great mentor to the kids. After high school, he went on to play basketball at Alabama A&M and he never moved back down here.”

Robertson said that Mathews was a key part in the Bulldogs’ state tournament runs in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

“DeWitt was very important to our team and he was a big man for us inside” Robertson said. “He and Robert (Horry) played a few years together and they helped us get into the state tournament. They were probably the best two players I coached.”

Following his senior year, Mathews was named AHSAA’s Class 5A Player of the Year and he finished runner-up to Alabama’s Mr. Basketball award.