2009 All-Time Great Player - Mary Perry
Mary Perry
2009 All-Time Great Player
(Self Bio)
FAMILY:
I was born in 1943 in Burbank, California. I was the youngest of four children and the only girl. Growing up with three brothers (Irv, Doug and Charles) led me down an active path -- lots of playing hide and seek, and Cowboys and Indians, instead of dolls and dress-up! Both my mother and father were involved in sports -- my mother taught Physical Education, my father was a tennis player and decathlete. From them I gained my lifelong interest in sports, competition, fitness and fairness.
One of my best childhood memories is of my father showing me photographs of Olympians. I especially liked the runners, and then and there I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics as a sprinter. Even though I wasn't sprint material, my interest in running did not dampen. In junior high, my brother Doug started training me to run distances. I loved it and running became a mainstay throughout my life. No matter where I lived -- Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii, Northern California, Oregon -- I always made time for my running. Most of the time I ran just because I enjoyed it, but I also trained for and ran two Honolulu marathons, and several 10Ks. Often I finished in the top ten of my age group. My last competitive run was a 10K in 1996 -- much to my surprise I took 1st place in the 50's division.
GETTING INTO VOLLEYBALL:
Growing up I was a- wanna-be athlete in the pre-Title IX era. In high school I played at sports, but didn't have the opportunity to compete at a high level. We didn't have a girl's athletic program, our only competition came when we had play days -- softball play day, basketball play day, volleyball play day -- these were not very intense or organized.
And then at 18 a confluence of events led me deeper and deeper into volleyball. I had enrolled at Pierce Junior College where I played some volleyball and tennis, but my main interest was track and field. The javelin was my passion, and I had joined a club track team. To keep in shape, my club coach encouraged me to play volleyball in the off-season. One day I was volleying in my backyard when a neighbor spotted me and asked me if I wanted to play on a team. My neighbor told me I could go to McCambridge Park in Burbank and get on a team. And so I did. I played on a "mom's team" and was consequently asked to play on the Drakes Steel AA team. That year I went with them to my first nationals in Duluth, Minnesota. Bernie Holtzman coached the Drakes team -- I credit him with developing me as a volleyball player in terms of skills and fundamentals, as well as my love of the game. Under Bernie, I discovered just how much I liked the team aspect of volleyball. There's something so extraordinary in working with others to have the whole become better than the individual. Thanks to Bernie, I felt a real pull to keep playing volleyball, and track became a secondary interest.
From Pierce Junior College, I went on to Arizona State University -- no organized volleyball there, but the previous summer Mary Jo Peppler and I had formed a team called the Renegades in Southern California. Other team members included Nancy Fortner Owens and Kathy Gregory. During the week I played at studying in Arizona, and then on the weekends, I would return to California to play USVBA. I loved it!
Then my mother was killed in an auto accident. I dropped out of Arizona State and returned to California. During this time it was volleyball and the Renegades that saved me from extreme depression.
1964 OLYMPICS:
In 1963 at the national championship a in San Antonio, Texas, I was chosen to be on the Pan American team. I was thrilled. The team went to San Paulo, Brazil. We wanted to qualify the USA team for the 1964 Olympic Games. Japan was hosting these Olympics, and this would be the first time volleyball would be in included. Our hopes were dashed when due to injuries and one-eyed officials; we came in second to the Brazilians. But as luck would have it, due to political and monetary issues, Brazil could not attend the '64 games, so the USA was invited to represent North and South America.
With the team qualified, I now had to make the Olympic team ...... I still had to be selected. Selections were made based on three tournaments held in '64 -- the AAU Nationals, the USVBA Nationals and the Olympic Trials. The USVBA nationals were held in New York. I went to the nationals as a member of the Renegades. Prior to the nationals, the Renegades had won the '64 AAU nationals held at the Westside Jewish Community Center in California. We did well at the nationals, but in the end we caved into New York's humidity and placed second. Next came Olympic trials where we placed third. When the tournament was over, we were taken to a room to find out if we were selected. Names were called in alphabetical order -- they finally got to the P's and my name was called. I could not have been happier. We didn't medal in Tokyo, but it sure whet my appetite for a medal at the next Olympic games.
IN-BETWEEN OLYMPICS:
After the Tokyo Olympics, I continued to play with the Renegades. Some of us from the Renegades, including Mary Jo Peppler, Marilyn McReavy, Nancy Owen and myself were chosen to be on the US National Training Squad to prepare for the Pan AM games and hopefully the '68 Olympics. In October of 1965, we spent six days on a tour across Canada playing the Russians. I really enjoyed the experience. We didn't win any matches, but we had a great time and improved with each match.
In 1966 and 196, Mary Jo Peppler and I played beach volleyball. We won the Manhattan Open, Muscle Beach Open, Connie Keller tournament, and Huntington Beach open. I guess you could say we were thorns in the sides of beach volleyball greats Johnette Latrille and Jean Brunicardi -- in fact they encouraged us to "go back inside."
1968 OLYMPICS:
Again the selection process .... At the USVBA Nationals in 1967, I was selected for the Pan Am team. When we beat the Cubans in the finals to come in first at the Pan Am Games, the USA team qualified outright for the '68 Olympics. And then at the 1968 USVBA Nationals, I was privileged to receive the MVP award, and be selected for the '68 Olympic Team.
To prepare for Mexico City's altitude, the '68 Olympic training camp was held in Lake Take, California. What can I say about Tahoe? It's a beautiful lake located on the California/Nevada border in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It's also known for its Casinos and great entertainment. In fact the team got to dine with Dianna Ross at her performance. 1968 must have been the year for entertainers, because we also got to meet Bing Crosby at the Olympic Village in Mexico City. Hopes were high for medaling in Mexico, but that didn't happen. Could be we spent too much time with entertainers, or could be we just weren't together long enough to get properly trained to gel -- but Mexico was a disappointment as we came in 8th or last. - all the more so for me, because I knew that this was my last chance for an Olympic Medal. At 25, I needed to graduate from college and get on with my life.
POST OLYMPIC VOLLEYBALL:
Through my 30's and 40's I continued to play volleyball, both recreationally and competitively. In the 70's I played sand doubles at the Outrigger Canoe Club in Honolulu, HI. Julie Morgan and I won the doubles tournament in 1972. I also played club ball with the Nick's Fishmarket team ... in 1978 we won the AAU nationals. On moving to the Bay Area in 1982, I played recreational volleyball and then in the 90's I played on my last team -- a Berkeley team that took 2nd place in an international competition.
Through it all volleyball taught me a lot about myself and about life. Winning and losing are both okay -- it's how the game is played that is important, how you handle yourself in victory and defeat ... Playing with passion and sportsmanship became the keys by which I played and coached. I recall time with the Otters -- as a rec team, we were just playing along and losing. Suddenly one of the team members called a time out and said, "Are we not women, are we not passionate?" This statement went right to our spirits...we wiped the other team and won the tournament. Passion and sportsmanship -- that is what volleyball has always for me.
I also learned a lot about teaching and coaching. I learned that yelling and negativism did not result in improved skills and good teams, but rather it lowered everyone's self-esteem. The good coaches I had, like Bernie Holtzman, Mary Jo Peppler, and Jean Geartner, used positive reinforcement to improve skills and build championship teams.
I used what I learned from these mentors throughout my life -- from putting on more than 50 volleyball clinics with Mary Jo Peppler, through my years of teaching and coaching, in my work as a Girl Scout Counselor, to my work as a fitness trainer with seniors, and as a geriatric counselor -- providing stepping stones, building on skills and fundamentals, instilling challenges, and assisting those I work with in meeting attainable goals -- this has been my life's work.
EDUCATION, TEACHING & COACHING
I graduated from California State University at Northridge with a degree in Physical Education in 1971. While at Cal State Northridge, I was in athletic heaven -- I played and lettered in as many sports as I could fit in without impacting my studies, including track and field, basketball, tennis, fencing, field hockey and golf. Based on my athletic career, I was inducted into the Cal State University Northridge Hall of Fame in 1986.
My first teaching position was at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii 1971. I was hired to co-teach 3rd and 4th grade PE as well as coach track. The following year I was moved to 7th and 8th grade PE, and I was given the opportunity to coach the JV team. My first year we won the ILH championship -- this had never been accomplished before. The following year, Sharon Peterson, who had been coaching varsity volleyball, got married and moved to The Big Island. So I inherited the varsity team. Things went just right and the following year, we won the first State Championship for Punahou.
By 1981, I had been at Punahou and living in Hawaii for 10 years. These were good years ... the teaching, coaching, running, volleyball, and diving for the Steinhart Aquarium (for two years I spent weekends collecting tropical fish for San Francisco's Steinhart Aquarium -- it was a lot of fun diving and we collected many species they did not have) .... but it was time to move back to the Mainland. In my early 20's I had spent the summer working at a Girl Scout Camp on Santa Catalina Island in Southern California. I loved that experience, so in the late 70's I returned to the Mainland in the summers to work at Girl Scout Camps in the High Sierras. Over the next few years, I worked my way from Water Front Specialist, to Backpack Specialist and finally Director. The kids called me "Snake lips". I so believed in the Girl Scout experience that on moving back to the Mainland my scouting friend Karen Siefert and I started the "Camper to Camp Run" -- an event held to raise money to send low income kids to summer camp. The run was a great success -- from little Brownies to adults, all enjoyed the experience and the monies generated allowed young girls from impoverished families to attend a Girl Scout camp.
I moved permanently to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1982, where I coached Volleyball and taught Physical Education at California State University at Hayward from 1983-1985. And then in 1986, I moved to Oregon to assist Jo Widness with the varsity team at South Oregon State College in Ashland.
With each move, came another degree. In Hawaii, I received a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Hawaii, in the Bay Area I received a Masters in Physical Education from Cal State University at Hayward, and in Ashland I received a Masters in Psychology from Southern Oregon State College. This last degree represented a shift in focus from teaching and coaching the young to working with seniors.
OREGON - JACKSON MENTAL HEALTH, ELDERHOSTEL & YMCA
While coaching at Southern Oregon State College, I became interested in their Elderhostel program. Elderhostel was founded in 1975 as a non-profit organization at the University of New Hampshire. Like its cousin the youth hostel, Elderhostel provides inexpensive lodgings in conjunction with learning experiences. A typical Elderhostel program lasts five or six nights. Meals are provided, and participants attend classes, take field trips, and participate in fitness and social activities. Southern Oregon joined the Elderhostel family in the early 80's. For 13 years, I led the College's Elderhostel fitness sessions. My video tape, "Early Morning Stretch with Mary Perry" became a Southern Oregon State College senior programs best seller. As a result of my work with the Southern Oregon's Elderhostel program, I both hosted and attended Elderhostel programs in other states. I hosted a group of older adults on two week trips to Hawaii, and then I attended Elderhostel classes in Victoria, Canada, as well as one on the Civil War in the East Coast.
On receiving my Masters in Psychology, I began working for the Jackson County Mental Health program and worked with geriatric patients until I retired in 2002. However, I was too active to remain idle for long. To keep fit, I had joined the Medford YMCA, and soon found myself working part-time as a personal trainer.
I worked at the "Y" until 2005. At that time I was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Parkinson's has left me unsteady. When it comes to balance, there are good days and bad days. Having to give up my "Y" membership was a bad day. But most days are good days ... filled with the passion for life I gained through volleyball.
