Mary Margaret Perry (January 3, 1943 – June 3, 2012) was an American

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player. She competed at the

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

and the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. She died at home of the rare disease,

multiple system atrophy Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by autonomic dysfunction, tremors, slow movement, muscle rigidity, and postural instability (collectively known as parkinsonism) and ataxia. This is caused by progr ...

Early life

Perry was born in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, in 1943. Her passion for volleyball began when she enrolled in Pierce Junior College and grew after she formed the South California volleyball team, the Renegades.

Olympics

In 1963, Perry was chosen for the US Women's Volleyball Team to compete at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

in São Paulo, Brazil. The team won the gold medal. At the top of her sport throughout the 1960s, she went on to participate in two Olympiads in 1964 in Tokyo and the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City.

Life after the Olympics

After graduating from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1971, Perry taught and coached in Honolulu and at Cal State Hayward, where she earned her master's degrees in P.E. and Education. Perry moved to Ashland, Oregon in 1986 and assisted coaching women's volleyball at Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University). She received her third master's degree in psychology from S.O.S.C. and coached senior citizens in fitness through Elderhostel. She produced the acclaimed fitness video, "Early Morning Stretch" and worked with geriatric patients through Jackson County Mental Health until her retirement in 2002.

Awards

In 1984, Perry was inducted into the Cal State Northridge Athletics Hall of Fame. In 2009, she was awarded the Flo Hyman All-Time Great Player Award and was inducted into the U.S. Volleyball Hall of Fame.

Death

Perry died at home of the rare disease,

. At first she was diagnosed as having

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

but that was later defined as Multiple System Atrophy, aka

Parkinson plus syndrome Parkinson-plus syndromes (PPS) are a group of neurodegenerative diseases featuring the classical features of Parkinson's disease (tremor, rigidity, akinesia/bradykinesia, and postural instability) with additional features that distinguish them fr ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Mary 1943 births 2012 deaths American women's volleyball players Olympic volleyball players for the United States Volleyball players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1968 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1963 Pan American Games Volleyball players at the 1967 Pan American Games Pan American Games gold medalists for the United States Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Volleyball players from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Ashland, Oregon Southern Oregon University alumni Neurological disease deaths in Oregon Deaths from multiple system atrophy Pan American Games medalists in volleyball Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1967 Pan American Games Cal State Northridge Matadors women's volleyball players