George Perles - RIP

Henning: George Perles adored life, and those who made his so full

My George Perles story: At the inaugural news conference for the Motor City Bowl, I interviewed Perles, who was the front man. I asked him if he had a couple of minutes. He said: “Sure, but can we move over here?” He took a couple of steps and arrived at the Swedish meatballs, took a few, and started the interview.

 

Oh, the cruel twists and turns of heartless fate. There was the apple-cheeked little lamb George Perles all set to take the job, when all of a sudden out of a cold and gray East Lansing morn, some idiots in administration decided to hire Muddy Waters!!!!

Perhaps if George wanted the job so bad, he should've stopped trying to renegotiate his deal on the fly, demanding more and more with each phone call right up to the scheduled press conference and demanding stuff (like the new football building) the trustees were simply not going to approve at that time. When word came back MSU was not going to give him everything he wanted, he said, "no thanks, I'll stay in Pittsburgh." Again, some 60 minutes before the scheduled PC.

Nobody -- at all -- in the MSU administration gave five seconds thought to Muddy Waters until Perles had screeched his tires and peeled outta town.

As they waved their arms trying to clear the smoke of burnt rubber, they said, "holy shit!! National signing week is zooming up fast and we ain't got no football coach!!"

And THAT's when somebody said, "what about Muddy Waters?"