Remembering Our Coach George Perles

I was very sorry to read yesterday of the passing of George Perles. Chris Solari from the Free Press broke the news to the world. Click here to see it. 

Love or hate former MSU Head Coach, Athletic Director, Trustee... I had a unique relationship with him that spanned back to my childhood.

Back in 1990, I was a negative 2 star recruit QB out of Webberville. During one of our many losses, I threw for a bunch of yards and won tickets to see MSU play Notre Dame. The #1 Irish won the Megaphone trophy that day 20-19 over #24 MSU. It was my first college football game ever.

A few years down the road, I got into broadcasting around 2002. One of my first gigs was producing the MSU Tailgate Show with George Perles and Tim Staudt. I got to meet coach and THANK him for all he had done for MSU.

Around 2011, they asked me to join the show as a contributor. I got to do a show with COACH! For a few years, we got together every home game at Spartan Stadium and talked crap. He always loved to talk about that 1988 Rose Bowl team. One of his favorite jokes was about QB Bobby McAllister. How he threw the ball 7 times in the Rose Bowl and Coach Perles thought that was "7 times too many." He liked to run the ball.

The ONE thing I will NEVER forget about the man is the amount of former players who would come see him, hug him and say thanks. There were a lot of grown men in tears when they saw coach.

One year, it was getting hard for him to get around. He had a cart to drive around in but had to get out to walk in certain places. One time, I saw him start to fall as he got up and somehow caught him. (I am 5-9) He looked at me and said "great catch! You probably just saved my life."

He was tough and would have survived but I am glad I was able to catch one for Coach Perles.

Rest in Peace, Coach. Thanks for letting me wear that Super Bowl ring.