Matías Ferreira

Induction year: 2025

Category: Service and Softball

Matias Ferreira is an American hero … Born in Uruguay and immigrated to the U.S. (Atlanta) with his family when he was six, he joined the Marines at 19. He took his oath to become an American citizen in September 2010, days before he deployed to Afghanistan as a machine gunner with the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines.

In January 2011, during his first deployment, Lance Corporal Ferreira lost his legs and broke his pelvis after stepping on an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

If that service wasn’t enough, Ferreira became the first double-amputee officer on the police force and in the nation with the Suffolk County Police Department.

He actively plays with the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team and has run marathons, including the Disney Half Marathon in 2012, just one year after his accident. 

Matias has saved a baby from a burning vehicle, and also stopped a gunman during an incident in Farmingdale … and now he’s in the Suffolk Sports Hall.