Ronald Stanley Perry (born May 22, 1932) is an American athlete, coach, and athletics administrator who served as athletic director at the College of the Holy Cross from 1972 to 1998.
Athletic career
Perry was born on May 22, 1932. He was one of three sons born to Portuguese immigrants Manuel to Tiolinda Pereira, who Americanized their name to Perry. Perry a standout athlete at Somerville High School and is the school's all-time leading scorer in basketball. He led Somerville to a state championship his junior year and to the New England title game as a senior. He also led the school's baseball tea to the state championship game his senior year.
Perry attended the College of the Holy Cross, where he pitched for the Holy Cross Crusaders baseball team and played point guard for the basketball team. As a sophomore, he helped lead Holy Cross to victory in the 1952 College World Series. As a senior he pitched a no-hitter against Harvard on his 22nd birthday. He finished with a career record of 23–2. As a junior, Perry was the second leading scorer on the Crusaders' basketball team (averaging 13.3 points per game) behind Togo Palazzi and helped lead Holy Cross to the Elite Eight in the 1953 NCAA basketball tournament. The following year he took a lesser scoring role in favor of Palazzi and newcomer Tom Heinsohn. As a senior, Perry averaged 12.6 points on a Holy Cross team that won the 1954 National Invitation Tournament.
Perry was drafted in the 4th Round of the 1954 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics, but instead decided to sign with the Milwaukee Braves. However, his playing career was halted by a three-year stint in the United States Marine Corps. In 1957 he was named the Armed Forces Player of the Year in both basketball and baseball. He attended spring training with the Braves in 1958, but at 26 years old, decided it was too late to begin a baseball career and returned to Massachusetts to coach and officiate.
Coaching
In 1959, Perry became the athletic director at Catholic Memorial School and established the school's basketball and baseball programs. He led the basketball team to a 292–34 record, including two state basketball titles, five Tech tournament championships, and ten consecutive Catholic Conference championships. He also coached the baseball team to a 186–53 record. Perry was offered the position of director of recreation for the city of Boston in 1971, but turned it down to remain at Catholic Memorial.
Athletic director
On April 6, 1972, Perry was named athletic director at Holy Cross. As AD, Perry oversaw the construction of the school's $2.5 million athletic complex, which included the Hart Center, a renovation of Fitton Field, the construction of a new track and field facility, and the development of a $1.5 million wellness center. He also saw the school expand from 9 varsity sports to 25, including the addition of women's teams after the school went co-ed. In 1979, Holy Cross was asked to become a charter member of the Big East Conference, however school president John E. Brooks overruled Perry and rejected the invitation.
From 1976 to 1981, Perry's son, Ron Perry Jr., played baseball and basketball for the Crusaders. He set a then school-record by scoring 2,542 points for the Crusaders basketball team.
In 1985, all four of the black players on the Crusaders men's basketball team, including leading scorer Larry Westbrook and leading rebounder Walter Coates, walked out following a fight between a black player and a white player. Westbrook accused coach George Blaney had a double standard when punishing black players and that the team's "environment is one where racist sentiment can grow and grow". Blaney decided not to invite two of the players, Larry Westbrook and Jim Runcie, back due to their conduct after the fight. One of the other two players, Walter Coates returned to the team after a short absence while Doug McCrory chose to transfer to another school.