Perry Deane Young (March 27, 1941 – January 1, 2019) was a journalist, author,playwright, historian, and professionalgardener.^[1] He was the author ofTwo of the Missing, about fellow journalistsSean Flynn andDana Stone, who went missing during theVietnam War and whose fates remain unknown, and the co-author ofThe David Kopay Story, a biography of 1970's professionalfootball playerDavid Kopay, who revealed in 1975 that he wasgay.^[1]

Young was born on March 27, 1941, inWoodfin, North Carolina,^[2] nearAsheville, the youngest of 13 children.^[3] His mother was Rheba Maphry Tipton Young.^[2] His father, Robert, died in 1958.^[3] He edited his high school newspaper and earned a scholarship toUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1959.^[1] He graduated in 1994.^[2]

Dropping out of UNC, Young worked for several newspapers, including theDurham Morning Herald, theRaleigh News & Observer and the Chapel Hill Weekly. In 1963, he covered the N.C. General Assembly for UPI. He also worked as part ofRichardson Preyer's unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1964, and joined theArmy Reserves in 1966.^[3] He then went to work forUnited Press International in 1967.^[1]

Young took an assignment with UPI in Vietnam, arriving inSaigon on January 29, 1968,^[3] and his first story was about theTet Offensive, which began later that night.^[1][3] While covering the war, he roomed with fellow journalistsTim Page,Sean Flynn, andNik Wheeler.^[1] He left after witnessing the near-fatal injuries to Page.^[1] In 1975, his bookTwo of the Missing was published. Thememoir was based on a magazine article of the same name that Young wrote inHarper's Magazine in December 1972,^[4][5] with the intention of later writing a book about the disappearance of Flynn and Stone.^[3][4] He had met and worked with them in Vietnam covering the war, and they went missing after Young had left.^[3]

After reading of the American football player Dave Kopay's post-retirement revelation of being gay, Young offered to help Kopay write a book. The offer was accepted, and in 1977, the book appeared on theNew York Times Best Seller list.^[6] For a time, Young and Kopay lived together inWashington, D.C.^[7]

A Killing Cure, about Evelyn Walker's malpractice suit against psychiatrist Zane Parzen, was published in 1982.^[8] In a 1998 profile, Young revealed that "[the] book made no money at all, and it was a disaster."^[3]

He was a columnist forThe Chapel Hill Herald from 1996 to 2003.^[2]

In addition to the books, Young pennedthree plays with William Gregg. All three were produced by the Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre: Frankie in 2001; Mountain of Hope in 2004; Home Again, 2009.

Young long acknowledged that he wasgay, writing candidly about it inTwo of the Missing,^[1] and authored or co-authored books with gay-related themes, includingThe David Kopay Story andLesbians and Gays and Sports. He lived in the basement of a non-profit counseling and support group inChapel Hill, North Carolina, working around the building in lieu of rent, from 1993 until his death.^[1]

Young died from cancer on January 1, 2019, aged 77.^[9]

• Two of the Missing: Remembering Sean Flynn and Dana Stone.Press 53. 2009.ISBN 978-0-9816280-9-7. (originally published in 1975)
• Hanged by a Dream.iUniverse. 2005.ISBN 0-595-80734-8.
• Our Young Family. Overmountain Press. 2003.ISBN 1-57072-274-9.
• The David Kopay Story. Advocate Books. 2001.ISBN 978-1-55583-638-2. (withDavid Kopay; originally published in 1977)
• The Untold Story of Frankie Silver. Down Home Press. 1998.ISBN 0-595-37725-4. (reissued 2005 byiUniverse)
• Lesbians and Gays and Sports.Chelsea House. 1994. p. 196.ISBN 978-0-7910-2951-0.
• A Killing Cure.Henry Holt and Company. 1986.ISBN 0-03-069906-1. (with Evelyn Walker)
• God's Bullies; Native Reflections on Preachers and Politics.Holt, Rinehart and Winston. 1982.ISBN 0-03-059706-4.

• Frankie, Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre August 2001 (with William Gregg)
• Mountain of Hope, SART, July 7, 2004 (with William Gregg)
• Home Again, July 29, 2009 (with William Gregg)

• Official web site

• American gay writers
• American war correspondents of the Vietnam War
• Writers from Chapel Hill, North Carolina
• People from Buncombe County, North Carolina
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
• 1941 births
• 2019 deaths
• LGBTQ people from North Carolina
• 20th-century American writers
• 21st-century American writers
• 20th-century American male writers

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata