George Perles Dies at 86; Coach Revived Michigan State Football

He remained in Michigan for the rest of his life, helping to create the Motor City Bowl and serving on the Michigan State board of trustees from 2006 to 2018. His coaching record in 12 seasons at Michigan State was 73-62-4 overall and 58-37-2 in the Big Ten.

In 2018, a California woman accused Perles in a lawsuit of covering up a rape by Lawrence G. Nassar, the former doctor for Michigan State and the national gymnastics team. The woman said that Dr. Nassar had raped her and videotaped the assault while she was a member of the women’s field hockey team and that Perles, who was head football coach and athletic director at the time, had covered it up when told about it.

Nassar was later convicted of multiple counts of rape and sexual abuse. But a state investigator’s report found “no credible evidence” to support the claim against Perles, who was not listed as a defendant in the suit.

George Julius Perles was born on July 16, 1934, in Detroit and starred on the baseball and football teams at Western High School there, earning all-state honors in football. In 1954 he began a two-year stint in the Army before enrolling at Michigan State.

He was briefly a lineman for the Spartans until a knee injury ended his career. He then became a student assistant to the coach, Duffy Daugherty. He graduated in 1960.

After coaching high school ball and serving as an assistant at the University of Dayton, he returned to Michigan State as an assistant to Daugherty in 1967.

He is survived by his wife, Sally; their children, Kathy, Terry, John and Patrick; and six grandchildren.

The New York Times contributed reporting.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/sports/ncaafootball/george-perles-dead.html?emc=rss&partner=rss