Former Michigan State head coach and mentor of Alabama head coach Nick Saban, George Perles passed away in East Lansing Mich., Tuesday night. He was 85 years old. Perles had deep roots at Michigan State where he was a player, coach, athletic director and a member of the board of trustees at the university throughout his storied life.
He had also been battling Parkinson’s disease over the past two years.
Below is Saban’s full statement on the death of Perles:
“George Perles meant a tremendous amount to not only me, but the entire Saban family. He was one of my mentors in this profession, and he gave me my first opportunity to be in a position of leadership as the defensive coordinator at Michigan State. George was always a great friend and someone who I turned to for advice on many occasions. I learned an incredible amount on both football and life from him over the years.
“George did an outstanding job at Michigan State building that program. He was a great leader who impacted the transformation at Michigan State from the top down. Those five years at Michigan State, which culminated with a Rose Bowl victory at the end of the 1987 season, showed us the type of foundation necessary to build a program. We are so very close to his family, wife Sally, and their children, Kathy, Terry, John and Pat, and they are in our thoughts and prayers. It is a sad day for the Sabans when it comes to losing one of our great mentors and the fantastic memories that we had with them.
Perles was the first person to give Saban a shot at a major coaching job as he hired the current Alabama head coach as his defensive coordinator with the Spartans for the 1983 season. Saban would go on to replace Perles as the head coach of the team in 1995.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
