James J. Perry (2016) - Hall of Fame - Brown University Athletics

James J. Perry

Induction:
2016
Class:
2000

One of the greatest quarterbacks in Ivy League Football history, James Perry ’00 led the Bears to an Ivy League Championship while earning Ivy League Player of the Year, and winning the Bulger Lowe Award as the Best Offensive Player in New England. Perry was also a Walter Payton Award Finalist as a senior in 1999.

Over his career, Perry was a three-time First Team All-Ivy honoree (1997-99) and All New England selection in 1999. Perry was the New England Football Writers Gold Helmet of the Year Award Winner, the Rhode Island Athlete of the Year and won the Asa S. Bushnell Cup in 1999. A three-time Gold Helmet Award winner, he earned four Ivy League Player of the Week accolades in 1999, garnering national honors as the ESPN/USA Today Player of the Week.

Perry holds 10 Ivy League passing records, which include career records for passing yards (9,294), completions (1309) and touchdowns (74). He threw for over 400 yards in a game six times during his career. Perry also has the longest passing play in program history, with a 92-yard pass to Sean Morey against Fordham in 1997. In 2003, Perry was elected as one of two quarterbacks to the Brown Football 125th Anniversary Team which recognized the top 50 players in the program’s history. After his time on College Hill, Perry played in NFL Europe and the Arena Football League in 2001.

Perry began his coaching career in the fall of 2001 with a graduate assistant position at Dartmouth. The following year, he became the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator at Williams College (2002-03), and served as offensive coordinator in 2004 before moving on to Maryland later that season, where he was a graduate assistant with the offense in 2004 and 2005. In 2006, Perry was the running backs coach at the University of Delaware.

Perry returned to his alma mater in 2007 as the quarterbacks and receivers coach. Over his two years with the Bears, Perry helped guide the team to an Ivy League title and molded Bears’ quarterback Michael Dougherty ’09 into one of the top quarterbacks in the League.

In 2010, Perry joined the Princeton staff as its offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2013, his offense broke the conference records for both scoring offense (43.7 points per game) and total offense (511.6 yards per game) during Princeton’s Ivy League Championship season. Princeton concluded the year ranked second nationally in scoring offense, sixth in turnover margin and eighth in total offense.