Gonzaga student dies in cliff fall in Scotland

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, January 4, 2006

SPOKANE – A Gonzaga University student died after slipping from a rock wall and falling down a cliff near Scotland’s St. Andrew’s Golf Course, school officials said.

Matthew C. Madison, 20, a junior from Bozeman, Mont., was pronounced dead at the scene early Tuesday after he apparently slipped off a rock wall and fell about 60 feet from cliffs overlooking the North Sea near the course, the university said.

“The collective heart and prayers of the Gonzaga University family go out to Matthew’s family and friends,” Gonzaga University President Rev. Robert Spitzer, S.J., said.

Madison, an avid golfer and former all-state high school golfer in Montana, was on Christmas break from the school’s one-year study abroad program in Florence, Italy. He was scheduled to play a round at the course later Tuesday and had gone there with friends to check it out, the university said.