View source for Perry Moss

{{Short description|American football player, coach, and executive (1926–2014)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{for multi|the basketball player|Perry Moss (basketball)|the golfer|Perry Moss (golfer)}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name           = Perry Moss
| image          = Perry Moss - 1948 Bowman.jpg
| caption        = Moss on a 1948 Bowman football card
| number         = 10
| position       = [[Quarterback]]
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1926|8|4|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]], U.S.
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2014|8|7|1926|8|4}}
| death_place    = [[Deltona, Florida]], U.S.
| height_ft      = 5
| height_in      = 10
| weight_lb      = 170
| high_school    = [[Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma)|Central]] <br> (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
| college        = [[Tulsa Golden Hurricane football|Tulsa]] <br> [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]]
| draftyear      = 1948
| draftround     = 13
| draftpick      = 111
| pastteams      =
* [[Green Bay Packers]] ({{NFL Year|1948}})
| pastcoaching   =
* Illinois (1949) <br> Freshmen
* [[Washington Huskies football|Washington]] (1950-1951) <br> Assistant
* [[LSU Tigers football|LSU]] (1952) <br> Backfield
* [[Miami Hurricanes football|Miami (FL)]] (1955-1957) <br> Backfield
* [[Wisconsin Badgers football|Wisconsin]] (1958) <br> Backfield
* [[Florida State Seminoles football|Florida St.]] (1959) <br> Head coach
* [[Montreal Alouettes]] ({{CFL Year|1960|1962}}) <br> Head coach
* [[Charleston Rockets]] (1964-[[1965 Continental Football League season|1965]]) <br> Head coach
* [[Orlando Panthers]] (1966-1967) <br> Head coach
* [[Marshall Thundering Herd|Marshall]] (1968) <br> Head coach
* [[Chicago Bears]] ({{NFL Year|1970|1973}}) <br> Offensive coordinator
* Green Bay Packers ({{NFL Year|1974}}) <br> Quarterbacks
* [[San Antonio Wings]] ([[1975 World Football League season|1975]]) <br> Head coach
* [[Kentucky Wildcats football|Kentucky]] (1976-1978) <br> Quarterbacks
* Charlotte Chargers (1979) <br> Head coach
* Kentucky (1980-1981) <br> Quarterbacks
* Montreal Concordes ({{CFL Year|1982}}) <br> Assistant
* [[Buffalo Bills]] ({{NFL Year|1983|1984}}) <br> Tight ends
* [[Chicago Bruisers]] ({{AFL Year|1988}}) <br> Head coach
* [[Massachusetts Marauders|Detroit Drive]] ({{AFL Year|1990}}) <br> Head coach
* [[Orlando Predators]] ({{AFL Year|1991|1997}}) <br> Head coach
Baseball:
* Miami (FL) (1955) <br> Head coach
| highlights     =
* ArenaBowl champion ([[ArenaBowl IV|IV]])
* 3× [[Arena Football League Coach of the Year Award|AFL Coach of the Year]] (1988, 1992, 1994)
* Second-team [[List of All-Big Ten Conference football teams|All-Big Nine]] ([[1947 All-Big Nine Conference football team|1947]])
| statlabel1     = Passing yards
| statvalue1     = 20
| statlabel2     = [[Touchdown|TD]]-[[Interception|INT]]
| statvalue2     = 0-0
| statlabel3     = [[Passer rating]]
| statvalue3     = 39.6
| regular_record = College football: {{Winning percentage|4|15|1|record=y}} <br> AFL: {{Winning percentage|86|35|1|record=y}} <br> College baseball: {{Winning percentage|15|7|0|record=y}}
| pfr            = MossPe20
| pfrcoach       = MossPe0
}}

'''Perry Lee Moss''' (August 4, 1926 – August 7, 2014) was an [[American football]] player, coach, and executive. Moss played tailback at the [[University of Tulsa]] and [[quarterback]] at [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]] during the 1940s. As a Tulsa tailback, he was on the [[Orange Bowl]] team that beat [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech]], 26–12, in the 1945 Orange Bowl and later as an Illinois T-quarterback, he directed a [[Rose Bowl Game|Rose Bowl]] team which routed [[UCLA Bruins football|UCLA]], 45–14, in 1947. Moss served two years in the [[United States Air Force]] between his playing time at Tulsa and Illinois. At Illinois, he was named to All-[[Big Ten Conference]] and All-American teams. He was drafted in 1948 by the [[Green Bay Packers]] in the 13th round (111th pick overall) and played at the professional level for one year before returning to Illinois as an assistant. He started one game at quarterback for the Packers.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~maxymuk/home/qbabstract/startless10lm.html | title=The Quarterback Abstract: Ranking the Quarterbacks in Modern Day History | publisher=rci.rutgers.edu | access-date=December 16, 2016 | archive-date=September 24, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085227/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~maxymuk/home/qbabstract/startless10lm.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MossPe20.htm | title=Perry Moss | publisher=Sports Reference LLC | work=pro-football-reference.com | access-date=December 16, 2016}}</ref>

Moss served as head baseball coach and backfield coach at the [[University of Miami]] in 1955 and [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] in 1958. In 1959, he was named as the head football coach and [[athletic director]] at [[Florida State University|Florida State]], and compiled a 4–6 record and later at [[Marshall University]] in 1968 where he compiled an 0–9–1 record before resigning in the wake of [[NCAA]] recruiting violations. Twenty-eight members of the 1969 Thundering Herd presented a petition to West Virginia Governor [[Arch A. Moore Jr.]] to reinstate Moss for 1970, but the university instead named 1969 interim coach [[Rick Tolley]], known as a brutal disciplinarian, to the post permanently. The decision undoubtedly saved Moss' life, for Tolley, 37 players and 37 others perished on November 14, 1970 in the crash of [[Southern Airways Flight 932]] following Marshall's loss at [[East Carolina Pirates football|East Carolina]].

From 1960 through 1962 he was head coach of the [[Montreal Alouettes]] in the [[Canadian Football League]]. In the mid-1960s and again in the early 1980s he coached the [[Charleston Rockets]] of the semi-pro American Football Association. In the 1970s and early 1980s Moss was the offensive coordinator for the [[Chicago Bears]], quarterbacks coach for the [[Green Bay Packers]], had two stints as a position coach for the [[Kentucky Wildcats football|University of Kentucky]] under head coach [[Fran Curci]], and was head coach of two teams in the [[American Football Association (1977–1983)|American Football Association]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://packerspastperfect.wordpress.com/2020/08/04/the-peripatetic-perry-moss/ | title=The Peripatetic Perry Moss | date=4 August 2020 | publisher=Packers Past Perfect | access-date=September 1, 2021}}</ref> In 1987, Moss was hired as the head coach of the [[Chicago Bruisers]] of the [[Arena Football League]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/02/23/the-silver-fox-is-on-the-scene/ |title=The Silver Fox is on the scene: Blackhawks General Manager... |date=February 23, 1988 |author=Linda Kay & Mike Conklin |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=February 11, 2013}}</ref>

In 1991, he was named as first coach of the [[Orlando Predators]] of the [[Arena Football League]] and compiled a record of 59–25 before leaving the team in 1997. From 1986 to 1987, Moss was the Defensive Coordinator of the University of Central Florida, where he introduced the Chicago Bears '46' Defense, enabling UCF to record its first winning season in history. The following year, Moss's Defense led UCF to its first Division I-AA play-off appearance. Moss then resigned from UCF, and thereafter began coaching Arena Football.

Perry's son [[Les Moss (American football)|Les]] is also an American football coach.

Moss is a member of the [[Florida Sports Hall of Fame]] and [[Arena Football Hall of Fame]]. On August 7, 2014, Moss died at his home in [[DeBary, Florida]], aged 88.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tallahassee.com/story/sports/college/fsu/football/2014/08/07/former-seminole-football-coach-moss-dies/13760455/|title=Former Seminole football coach, Perry Moss, dies|publisher=Tallahassee.com|access-date=August 8, 2014}}</ref>

==Head coaching record==
===College football===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Florida State Seminoles football|Florida State Seminoles]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1959
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1959 college football season|1959]]
 | name         = [[1959 Florida State Seminoles football team|Florida State]]
 | overall      = 4–6
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Florida State
 | overall    = 4–6
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Marshall Thundering Herd football|Marshall Thundering Herd]]
 | conf      = [[Mid-American Conference]]
 | startyear = 1968
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1968 NCAA University Division football season|1968]]
 | name         = [[1968 Marshall Thundering Herd football team|Marshall]]
 | overall      = 0–9–1
 | conference   = 0–6
 | confstanding = 7th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = no
 | ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Marshall
 | overall    = 0–9–1
 | confrecord = 0–6
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 4–15–1
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = no
 | polltype = 
 | legend   = no
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.arenafan.com/history/?page=coaches&coach=27 Coaching Page on ArenaFan.com]

{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Tulsa Golden Hurricane quarterback navbox}}
{{Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback navbox}}
{{Miami Hurricanes baseball coach navbox}}
{{Florida State Seminoles athletic director navbox}}
{{Florida State Seminoles football coach navbox}}
{{Montreal Alouettes coach navbox}}
{{Montreal Alouettes general manager navbox}}
{{Marshall Thundering Herd football coach navbox}}
{{Chicago Bruisers}}
{{Massachusetts Marauders}}
{{Orlando Predators}}
{{ArenaBowl IV}}
{{Green Bay Packers 1948 NFL draft picks}}
{{AFL COYs}}
{{Arena Football Hall of Fame members}}
}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moss, Perry}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:American Football Association (1977–1983)]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:Continental Football League coaches]]
[[Category:Chicago Bears coaches]]
[[Category:Chicago Bruisers coaches]]
[[Category:Florida State Seminoles football coaches]]
[[Category:Florida State Seminoles athletic directors]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers coaches]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers players]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini football players]]
[[Category:Kentucky Wildcats football coaches]]
[[Category:LSU Tigers football coaches]]
[[Category:Marshall Thundering Herd football coaches]]
[[Category:Massachusetts Marauders coaches]]
[[Category:Miami Hurricanes baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Miami Hurricanes football coaches]]
[[Category:Montreal Alouettes coaches]]
[[Category:Montreal Alouettes general managers]]
[[Category:Orlando Predators coaches]]
[[Category:San Antonio Wings coaches]]
[[Category:Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players]]
[[Category:Washington Huskies football coaches]]
[[Category:Wisconsin Badgers football coaches]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Volusia County, Florida]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Tulsa, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Coaches of American football from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Baseball coaches from Oklahoma]]
[[Category:United States Air Force airmen]]