Truman State University Athletics

Earl Perry, a native of Glasgow, Mo., attended Culver-Stockton College and was a starter on the Wildcat basketball and baseball teams as a freshman. He then transferred to the university as a sophomore in 1948-49. He played that season and the next two years for the Bulldogs and was named to the All-MIAA first team as a junior and senior. In his final campaign against Missouri Valley he set a new Bulldog single game scoring record with 35 points, which was broken in 1961 by Larry Swift, a Hall of Fame member. Mr. Perry was selected as the 1950-51 team captain. After his graduation with B.S. and B.S.E. degrees in 1951 he was offered a teaching job but was drafted into the Army that summer. He spent 13 months on the DMZ in Korea and received a commission in 1952. After leaving Korea he was assigned to Special Services for a year and a half at Fort Eustis (Va.) athletic office. He went from there to Fort Bragg, NC Army Security Agency for two years. In the next few years his Army career took him to Fort Benning, Ga., Fort Riley, Kan., Hawaii and college ROTC duty at North Dakota State University. He was then assigned to Vietnamese language school in El Paso, Texas followed by an assignment to a Vietnam military assistance advisory group. He was decorated with the Legion of Merit and Air Medal for air action in Vietnam. After leaving Vietnam he served as an instructor in Air-Ground Operations School at Elgin Air Force base in Florida. In August of 1971 after reaching the rank of Lt. Col. he joined the high school Army ROTC program in the Alabama Public Schools administered by retired officers and remained in that capacity until June of 1988.