When Taylor Mathis graduated from Carthage High School last May, the present he received from his grandparents, a homemade sports quilt, posed a question that so far hasn’t been answered. Where does he put it?

In other words, does it go up on the wall, neatly folded at the foot of the bed or securely locked into a wall niche for safekeeping? His grandmother, who pieced together the absolutely beautiful quilt — four months of labor, nearly a year of planning — says the answer to that question is a rather simple one.

“He can simply do what he wants with it,” said Pam Noble Wednesday, flashing a warm grin at her grandson. “I want him to wrap up in it.” But her daughter, Fairview teacher Nancy Mathis, has a different idea. Teasing her son, she said she recently discovered an empty pizza box in his bedroom, implying there’s no way her mother’s quilt, now a cherished family heirloom, should ever come within feet of a sloppy slice of pepperoni pizza.

“Grandma says use it, mom says no way — I’m not allowed to even look at it,” Taylor quipped good-naturedly. Actually, both mom and son plan to hang the quilt on a wall.  And what a quilt it is…Large enough to comfortably drape a King-sized bed, the quilt is comprised of identical square patches with the face of numerous Carthage-sported related T-shirts and practice jerseys Taylor wore throughout his distinguished sports career.

While many of the shirts center around his varsity careers atop the grid iron (he played center on the offensive line), hardwood (center beneath the basket) and diamond (first base and third base), others highlight his play on Carthage All-Star baseball or Southwest Super Bowl teams when he was 10- and 12-years old. There’s one patch dedicated to former St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire, while another shows off the Mathis family crest. One shirt, located on the right side of the second horizontal row, is a breast pocket sewn on, with a raised sports emblem.

“That’s one of my favorites,” Taylor said. Added Nancy about the 90x100 quilt she and her husband, Tom, built together: “It is so beautiful, if I do say so myself. They cut out and pieced Taylor’s sports jerseys, T-shirts, competition jerseys, etc., from the past 12 years or so. It’s on navy blue (or Carthage blue) backing with little Carthage tiger paws” around the border trim. “It took them months and months to cut out and piece it together and it’s a real keepsake for our family… filled with lots of love.” For everyone involved, eyeing the quilt brings back a flood of fond memories.

“We’re just so glad to be a part of” Taylor’s sports career “and we have traveled quite a bit over the years because we’re both retired and we wanted to be with the kids,” Pat said.  But Pat’s work isn’t done yet. After all, Taylor has a younger sister, Audrey, who is now a sophomore in high school. “We have something similar planned for her too,” Pat said, a sparkle in her eye.