William Perry Has a Lot of Size, Plus a Lot of Help

William Perry has a lot of size, a lot of charisma and he’s making a lot of money, but is he any good? Hall of Fame tackle George Connor thinks The Refrigerator has the talent but said, “He needs a lot of work.”

Connor, one of the biggest and baddest of the old Chicago Bears, told Ray Didinger of the Philadelphia Daily News: “Right now he’s mediocre. He wouldn’t be much at all if he didn’t have people like Dan Hampton, Steve McMichael and Richard Dent around him.

“Perry reminds me of Big Daddy Lipscomb. He was a folk hero in Baltimore, a huge guy like Perry. He looked great because he had Gino Marchetti and Art Donovan playing next to him.

“Big Daddy was traded to Pittsburgh, and suddenly, he was no factor. Everybody asked, ‘What happened?’ What happened was he didn’t have the horses around him. He was getting all the double-team blocks.”

Would-You-Believe-It Dept.: The only two members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who didn’t go to college were team owners--Joe Carr of the original Columbus franchise and Tim Mara of the New York Giants.

Carr later became NFL commissioner.

Hall of Fame players Joe Perry and Dick (Night Train) Lane went to junior college only--Perry to Compton and Lane to Scottsbluff in Nebraska.

Said owner Norman Braman of the Philadelphia Eagles after naming Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan as head coach: “We have an individual who I expect will be the next Vince Lombardi of the National Football League.”

Philadelphia fans just hope he’s not the next Bill Arnsparger. Arnsparger, architect of the No-Name defense at Miami, lasted only 2 1/2 seasons as a head coach with the New York Giants. His record: 7-28.

Add Ryan: Former All-Pro defensive tackle Alan Page, who played under Ryan both at Minnesota and Chicago, told Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “Buddy Ryan understands the game in terms of offensive football and knows what works and what doesn’t work against a given defense. He doesn’t just know defense, but offense as well, and he has an incredibly quick brain.

“And that’s just the technical stuff. Beyond that, Buddy knows how to work with and motivate people. He understands people, communicates well, and treats you like a human being.”

Chicago Bears safety Gary Fencik, who went to Yale, said linebacker Mike Singletary, who went to Baylor, couldn’t understand how an Ivy Leaguer could make it in the NFL.

“He wondered if we even had spring football,” Fencik told Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times. “I told him, of course we did. We’d meet one day every spring. Everybody would run a 40-yard dash. We’d look around to see who was coming out next year. And then we’d have a barbecue. Singletary couldn’t believe it.”

Add Fencik: As a prep player in Chicago, he said the only Big Ten school that offered him a scholarship was Wisconsin.

“It came down to deciding whether to take the scholarship at Wisconsin or the challenge of Yale,” he said. “I guess I’m a masochist. I took Yale. I took out a bunch of loans and went to school. I just paid off one of my student loans last year.”

Quotebook

Utah Jazz Coach Frank Layden, known as The Refrigerator of NBA coaches, on why he doesn’t lift weights: “I get a lot of practice just lifting myself out of bed each day.”