Mathias has had a long and varied career in advertising, starting as a traffic runner and working his way up to creative director. He is proud of his career accomplishments but finds his greatest joy in his role as a father. Now retired, he teaches advertising at UNLV and continues writing screenplays in hopes of winning an Oscar someday.

1. “Sometimes I
have to pinch
lf ”
From traffic person, to account
executive, to copywriter,
Mathias states that he was one
of the first people ever at Doyle
“Sometimes I have to pinch
myself,” he said. “For the past
myself…”
p p y
to have gone from being an
account executive, the business
side of advertising, to
copywriter, the creative side of
advertising.
“I became interested in
By Nidya Rivera
30 years I have made my living
doing work that I love.”
Every morning around 9:30, he
wakes up, drinks a cup of coffee
and eats breakfast. He walks
into his office in the next room
I became interested in
becoming a copywriter while I
was still an account executive,”
said Mathias. “I had to write
memos to the different
departments but instead of
writing them just plain and
From left, Diane Dickerson,
Sonny Mathias and Stephanie
Boixo.
Photo by John Locher.
and listens to the tune of his
computer. “Cling. I love the
sound my computer makes
when I turn it on,” he said.
“I work from my own home.
What more could I ask for?”
“That was one of the smartest
decisions I ever made because
they are one of the best
advertising agencies in the
world,” he stated.
“I learned everything I know
g j p
boring, I added a sense of
humor,” he said. “After I talked
to the creative director about
becoming a copywriter and he
told me to submit a portfolio to
the agency, I knew my dream
Sonny Mathias was born in
Port Chester, NY in 1937.
“That makes me 65-years-old,”
said Mathias. “I know, it’s hard
to believe I am that old.”
After graduating from high
I learned everything I know
about the advertising business
from them.”
After starting out as a traffic
runner where he picked up and
delivered documents and ads,
he was promoted to traffic
would soon come true,” he said.
Accomplishing that goal is one
of the things Mathias is most
proud of, but he states that
nothing compares to the day he
became a father.
After graduating from high
school, Mathias attended
Fordham Catholic University in
Hudson Valley, NY, where he
earned his Bachelor’s degree
in Psychology. “Who would
have known right?” he added
he was promoted to traffic
person. According to Mathias,
the two years he spent as a
traffic runner for the agency
were his most memorable
because he had the opportunity
to witness the creations of the
“I have one daughter that my-ex
wife and I adopted,” he said. “I
tell you, when the nurse placed
that beautiful 18-day-old little
girl in my hands, all of my
priorities changed at thathave known right? he added
with a laugh.
Soon after obtaining his BA, he
attended Columbia University,
also in New York, where he
pursued a master’s in business
management but after
to witness the creations of the
talented copywriters and
creative directors.
“I use to read the copy they
wrote and stared at the ads
they had created while I walked
down the hallway to deliver
priorities changed at that
moment. All I could think about
was becoming that little baby’s
father,” he added almost in
tears.
“Now my daughter is a child
h l i t d h thmanagement, but after
completing two thirds of the
degree, he dropped out to go
work for Doyle Dane Bernbach
Advertising Agency in New
York City.
down the hallway to deliver
them,” said Mathias. “They
were my heroes,” he stated.
“They created excellent work
and still remained honest and
respectful to the audience.”
psychologist and has three
beautiful little babies of her
own,” said Mathias. “She
married a wonderful Air Force
Academy graduate and they
live in California.”

2. Mathias’ passion for writing
took him to Hollywood, where
h d id d t d
PAGE 2 SOMETIMES I HAVE TO PINCH MYSELF
the good things I had done,”
said Mathias.
he decided to move and
pursue a career as a screen-
writer.
“I wrote a sequel to Casa
Blanca, I called it Return to
Casa Blanca,” he said.
“I still get checks for that show
for about $82 bucks from the
Writers Guild of America when
the show airs in countries like
Spain,” he said. “It’s not
much money, but it’s a way of
“Apparently, they were going
to do the film, but as it turned
out, they didn’t. I had gotten
all excited because I thought I
was finally going to become
famous and win an Academy
A d b t I it ’t
recognizing my hard work.”
As well as writing and
designing advertising
campaigns, Mathias has
experience in the area of
television production. That
Award, but I guess it wasn’t
meant to be,” said Mathias.
After he divorced his wife in
the late 1970s, he decided to
open his own advertising
agency and work from his
television production. That
experience brought him to Las
Vegas in 1994.
Prior to moving to Las Vegas,
he worked for companies
such as Nissan, Colgate,
Gallo Wines Nestlé and had
Mathias’ famous episode on Knight
Rider was aired on Sunday, October
30, 1983. The title of the episode was
Return to Cadiz, where Michael Knight
is involved in a diving incident and
di hi t i (G St k ll)
David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight and
K.I.TT.
home to raise his 5-year-old
daughter.
“I had a beautiful three story
house in the Hollywood Hills,”
he said.
Hi t l t i iti b ht
Gallo Wines, Nestlé and had
the opportunity of directing a
music video for Huey Lewis
and the News and Magic
Johnson’s video for kids.
From creating, writing,
d i d di ti fil
discovers a historian (Guy Stockwell)
illegally salvaging a treasure from a
sunken galleon.
His talent in writing brought
Mathias to work in one of the
Warner Brothers famous late
70s and early 80s show,
Knight Rider. He states that
he wasn’t too excited at first
because he was a movie
producing and directing films,
videos, and hundreds of
television and radio
commercials, he earned the
reputation of a phenomenal
creative director.
because he was a movie
writer and not a “one-hour”
show writer, but realized that
any writing he did would
make him a better writer.
“I guess I hadn’t realized the
k I d i til th
“I worked with him when he
was the creative director at
R&R Partners,” said Audrey
Boixo, then a runner. “He was
such a goofball, but he was
always working on the coolest
t ff d did ll t j bwork I was doing until the
executive producer of the
show invited himself to my
house the night the show I
had written aired on
television, and pointed out all
stuff and did an excellent job
at everything he did,” she
said.
Magic Johnson’s Basketball for Kids,
DVD release 1996.

3. got me excited about
advertising. After I graduate in
May, I am applying to Chiat Day
SOMETIMES I HAVE TO PINCH MYSELF PAGE 3
Mathias became the creative
director of Merica-Dickerson in
1994, an agency that belonged
“I am driven by respect for
the audience, and I am
attracted to the dreams ofMay, I am applying to Chiat Day
Advertising Agency in Los
Angeles,” she said.
“I have also tried to teach
Advertising Campaigns at
UNLV, but because I do not
have a Ph D I haven’t been
1994, an agency that belonged
to an old friend from Los
Angeles named Diane
Dickerson. Dickerson is now
the assistant athletic director of
events at the University of
Nevada, Las Vegas.
attracted to the dreams of
dreamers. I wish only for
more time in the day, and
more hair on my head,” he
added.
- 03/21/02
have a Ph.D., I haven t been
approved to do so,” said
Mathias.
He states that he is most proud
of his corporate campaigns and
television productions and the
l thi h t i t
“When Dickerson divorced her
partner and husband, Joe
Merica, three and a half years
later after I had become the
creative director, the agency
went to pieces,” said Mathias.
only thing he regrets is not
being a better businessman.
“I am happy with what I have
done because it has brought me
a tremendous amount of
experience and recognition,”
went to pieces, said Mathias.
“I didn’t want to return to L.A.,
so I formed my own agency
called Mathias Communication.”
In 1997, Mathias began to teach
at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas as a part time instructor
said Mathias.
“I have learned over the years
that if you work hard and put
your heart into your work,
anything is possible,” he said.
“Things may not always turn out
Vegas as a part-time instructor
in the communication
department. “I never thought
about teaching, but when Hugh
Branigan, communication
instructor, strong influence in
the department and friend, Things may not always turn out
the way you wanted them to be,
but anything can and will
happen.”
“I want to be remembered as a
good man who left good behind
him A good father a good
the department and friend,
moved to Phoenix to care for
his ill wife, and UNLV asked me
to take his place, I was deeply
flattered and graciously
accepted,” he said.
“I love teaching Introduction to him. A good father, a good
friend, a good teacher. An
honest and caring person. I will
continue to submit a proposal to
teach Advertising Campaigns as
long as it takes for me to be
allowed to do so,” he said.
I love teaching Introduction to
Advertising because I have the
chance to teach the basics and
influence those students
interested in advertising,” said
Mathias. “It brings me such joy,
that it keeps getting better every allowed to do so, he said.
“I will also continue to write
screenplays until I win an
Academy Award,” said Mathias.
that it keeps getting better every
semester.”
“He is an awesome teacher,”
said Boixo, currently a UNLV
student. “He was the one who