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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | George Perles |
| Address | 6153 W Longview
East Lansing, Michigan , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | None |
| Born |
July 16, 1934
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| Died | January 07, 2020
(85 years)
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| Contributor | J.R. |
| Last Modifed | David
Jul 16, 2020 10:41pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | George Julius Perles
George J. Perles is a retired American football coach. He was a defensive line coach, defensive coordinator, and assistant head coach for the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers from 1972-1981 and the head coach of the Michigan State Spartans from 1983-1994. He was later elected to the MSU Board of Trustees on November 11, 2006.
Perles was born in Detroit, Michigan on July 16, 1934. The only child of Julius and Nellie Perles, George grew up in Detroit and attended Western High School. Upon graduating, Perles and 17 of his high school friends jointly enlisted in the U.S. Army.
After returning from active duty, Perles returned to Michigan where he enrolled at Michigan State University and played football under legendary coach Duffy Daugherty. Perles played the 1958 season before his playing career was cut short by a knee injury. Perles then started his football coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State before moving on to the high school ranks in Chicago and Detroit, where his St. Ambrose High School team won their first Detroit City League Championship in 1961. Perles returned to Michigan State as defensive line coach under his mentor, Daugherty, in 1967.
In 1972, head coach Chuck Noll of the Pittsburgh Steelers reviewed dozens of resumes and interviewed numerous candidates before deciding to offer Perles the position of defensive line coach. In Perles’ first season, the Steelers made the NFL playoffs for the second time in franchise history (the first coming in 1947), losing to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game.
In 1974, the Steelers won the first of six consecutive AFC Central Division championships and also their first Super Bowl. Perles later became the defensive coordinator for the Steelers in 1978 and then assistant head coach under Noll in 1979. During Perles' 10 years with Pittsburgh (1972-1981), the Steelers won a then-unprecedented four Super Bowls and became known as the team of the decade for the 1970’s, largely on the back of their dominating defense.
In 1982, Perles was hired as the head coach of the Philadelphia Stars of the fledgling United States Football League. Perles worked for one year with the Stars during the development and formation of the league and the team, but left the team prior to the start of the first season when he was offered the Michigan State head football coaching position. The Stars hired Jim Mora to coach the team assembled by Perles, which made it to the first USFL Championship Game in 1983, losing to the Michigan Panthers.
Perles returned to Michigan State University on December 3, 1982, where he would lead the Spartans to seven bowl games, two Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl victory. In 1987 he was named National Coach of the Year. In 1990 and 1991 Perles lost consecutive home games to Central Michigan University, the first coach in MSU history to lose to the same MAC school in consecutive years.
After an internal investigation in 1994 uncovered infractions involving grade tampering by an Athletic Department administrator, MSU President M. Peter McPhereson ordered self-imposed forfeiture of all 1994 victories. Perles was found "not culpable" by the NCAA. However, he was fired by McPherson after the season.
In 1995, George Perles and former Michigan State University Sports Information Director, Ken Hoffman, founded and initiated the Motor City Bowl, a collegiate football bowl game in Detroit. In 2007, the Motor City Bowl enjoyed a record crowd of more than 63,000 people in its 11th game with Perles as chief executive officer and Hoffman as executive director.
In November 2006, George Perles([Link] was elected as a Democrat to the Board of Trustees of Michigan State University. He began serving an eight-year term beginning January 1, 2007.
In May 2007, the MSU Board of Trustees voted to name the plaza adjacent to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building the George J. Perles and Sally A. Perles Plaza in honor of the couple’s $500,000 gift to the university.
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