Percy Adolphus Perry (June 12, 1930 – January 5, 2005) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

coach from

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with a population of 148,625 in 2021, and one of the 21 municipa ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Personal life

Perry was born in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, and played on Trinidad's national

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team before immigrating to Canada. Perry worked for the city of

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

, and was responsible for the design of the Westminster Quay

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of bridge ...

.Coquitlam Now
Coquitlam loses coach, mentor
Retrieved on 27 December 2009

Career

Perry took over as head coach of

Coquitlam Cheetahs The Coquitlam Cheetahs are a non-profit Canadian track and field club based in Coquitlam, British Columbia. Their home track is Percy Perry Stadium, named after former Cheetahs' coach Percy Perry. The Cheetahs were founded in 1962, and the team ...

track and field club in 1989 when it was on the verge of folding. He stabilized the club's operations, and then worked as an advisor for the construction of Town Centre Stadium, which the Cheetahs moved to after the 1991 B.C. Summer Games. During Perry's tenure with the Cheetahs, the club produced five Canadian Olympians, including Perry's daughter, Tara Self. Perry also worked on training several college football players who went on to pro careers, including

Bret Anderson Bret Anderson (born April 23, 1974) is a former Canadian football placekicker and slotback who played his entire career for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League. Anderson is 6'3" and 215 lbs. He played 13 years in the CFL, mostly a ...

Sandy Beveridge Sandy Beveridge (born December 9, 1981) is a Canadian former football defensive back who played eight seasons on special teams and as a defensive back for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Tiger-Cats as a ...

, and most notably Doug Brown, who stated that Perry "pretty much taught me how to run". Perry was a past member of the B.C. Athletics board of directors, and founded the Cheetahs' Jesse Bent Memorial Invitational track and field meet. Norma and Percy Perry were inducted into the B.C. Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002.

Death

Perry died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on Wednesday, January 5, 2005. ''Town Centre Stadium'' was renamed to Percy Perry Stadium the following year.City of Coquitlam
Town Centre Stadium Renamed to Honour Percy Perry
15 May 2006

References

External links

People from Coquitlam 1930 births 2005 deaths Athletics (track and field) coaches {{Canada-athletics-bio-stub