 Moss on a 1948 Bowman football card | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1926-08-04)August 4, 1926 Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | August 7, 2014(2014-08-07) (aged 88) DeBary, Florida, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1944 | Tulsa |
| 1946–1947 | Illinois |
| 1948 | Green Bay Packers |
| Position(s) | Quarterback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1949 | Illinois (freshmen) |
| 1950–1951 | Washington (assistant) |
| 1952 | LSU (backfield) |
| 1955–1957 | Miami (FL) (backfield) |
| 1958 | Wisconsin (backfield) |
| 1959 | Florida State |
| 1960–1962 | Montreal Alouettes |
| 1964–1965 | Charleston Rockets |
| 1966–1967 | Orlando Panthers |
| 1968 | Marshall |
| 1970–1973 | Chicago Bears (OC) |
| 1974 | Green Bay Packers (QB) |
| 1975 | San Antonio Wings |
| 1976–1978 | Kentucky (QB) |
| 1979 | Charlotte Chargers |
| 1980–1981 | Kentucky (QB) |
| 1982 | Montreal Concordes (assistant) |
| 1983–1984 | Buffalo Bills (TE) |
| 1988 | Chicago Bruisers |
| 1990 | Detroit Drive |
| 1991–1997 | Orlando Predators |
| Baseball | |
| 1955 | Miami (FL) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 4–15–1 (college football) 86–35–1 (AFL) 15–7 (college baseball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| ArenaBowl IV | |
| Awards | |
| |
Perry Lee Moss (August 4, 1926 – August 7, 2014) was anAmerican football player, coach, and executive. Moss played tailback at theUniversity of Tulsa andquarterback atIllinois during the 1940s. As a Tulsa tailback, he was on theOrange Bowl team that beatGeorgia Tech, 26–12, in the 1945 Orange Bowl and later as an Illinois T-quarterback, he directed aRose Bowl team which routedUCLA, 45–14, in 1947. Moss served two years in theUnited States Air Force between his playing time at Tulsa and Illinois. At Illinois, he was named to All-Big Ten Conference and All-American teams. He was drafted in 1948 by theGreen Bay Packers in the 13th round (111th pick overall) and played at the professional level for one year before returning to Illinois as an assistant. He started one game at quarterback for the Packers.[1][2]
Moss served as head baseball coach and backfield coach at theUniversity of Miami in 1955 andUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison in 1958. In 1959, he was named as the head football coach andathletic director atFlorida State, and compiled a 4–6 record and later atMarshall University in 1968 where he compiled an 0–9–1 record before resigning in the wake ofNCAA recruiting violations. Twenty-eight members of the 1969 Thundering Herd presented a petition to West Virginia GovernorArch A. Moore Jr. to reinstate Moss for 1970, but the university instead named 1969 interim coachRick Tolley, known as a brutal disciplinarian, to the post permanently. The decision undoubtedly saved Moss' life, for Tolley, 37 players and 37 others perished on November 14, 1970 in the crash ofSouthern Airways Flight 932 following Marshall's loss atEast Carolina.
From 1960 through 1962 he was head coach of theMontreal Alouettes in theCanadian Football League. In the mid-1960s and again in the early 1980s he coached theCharleston Rockets of the semi-pro American Football Association. In the 1970s and early 1980s Moss was the offensive coordinator for theChicago Bears, quarterbacks coach for theGreen Bay Packers, had two stints as a position coach for theUniversity of Kentucky under head coachFran Curci, and was head coach of two teams in theAmerican Football Association.[3] In 1987, Moss was hired as the head coach of theChicago Bruisers of theArena Football League.[4]
In 1991, he was named as first coach of theOrlando Predators of theArena Football League and compiled a record of 59–25 before leaving the team in 1997. From 1986 to 1987, Moss was the Defensive Coordinator of the University of Central Florida, where he introduced the Chicago Bears '46' Defense, enabling UCF to record its first winning season in history. The following year, Moss's Defense led UCF to its first Division I-AA play-off appearance. Moss then resigned from UCF, and thereafter began coaching Arena Football.
Perry's sonLes is also an American football coach.
Moss is a member of theFlorida Sports Hall of Fame andArena Football Hall of Fame. On August 7, 2014, Moss died at his home inDeBary, Florida, aged 88.[5]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida State Seminoles(Independent)(1959) | |||||||||
| 1959 | Florida State | 4–6 | |||||||
| Florida State: | 4–6 | ||||||||
| Marshall Thundering Herd(Mid-American Conference)(1968) | |||||||||
| 1968 | Marshall | 0–9–1 | 0–6 | 7th | |||||
| Marshall: | 0–9–1 | 0–6 | |||||||
| Total: | 4–15–1 | ||||||||