This is a work in progress: (Latest fine tuning- Friday, 8/23/24)
Saturday, August 24th – Morrison Heights Baptist Church, Hampstead Campus, Clinton
Live Stream – https://morrisonheights.org/live/
9:30 – The Gathering (The Commons) – 11:00 – Celebration of Life for Coach Bill “Moose” Perry (Sanctuary)
(1) Prelude- Terri Deviney (Piano) – begins at 10:50. Clock counts down to zero for 11 am start.
(2) 11:00 am – Music/video– “We Believe” Newsboys (lyrics on screens)
(3) Music tribute (track) Mala Harris (Wind Beneath My Wings) (photos of Coach appear on the screens as the music begins and Mala sings to Coach); Mala passes wireless mic to Alicia when she come off stage.
(4) Welcome/words, Opening Prayer – Jeff Milner, representing the Forest Hill Rebels (use podium mic or the wireless handheld mic) (Time- TBD) (not only are we celebrating the life of Coach Perry but also proclaiming our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, just as Coach would have us do; (the cue for “My Jesus”)
(5) Music – My Jesus (track) Alicia Love Words on screen; encourage congregation to sing the chorus) (Alicia gets in position as Jeff prays; uses wireless handheld.
(6) Tribute- Kendall Smith (The Story About My Friend Bill “Moose” Perry). (podium or wireless handheld mic; same for other tributes).
(7) Other Tributes– Video begins as Kendall walks away from podium. (David Crain, Stewart Cliburn, Chad Bradford) Live tributes alternate between videos using floor mic stand in front of stage.
(8) Music/tribute to Coach – Medley w/congregational singing and then Billy singing Coach’s favorite song) My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) Billy Causey* accompanied by Terri Deviney. (Podium mic)
(9) Message- Jerry File, Pastor – Learned Baptist Church, Learned; Scripture: Philippians 1:21 KJV (podium mic)
(10) Music/tribute to Coach – Amazing Grace, Piano – Terri Deviney
(11) Message- Hal Kitchings, Pastor – Easthaven Baptist Church, Brookhaven (headset mic)
(12) Music – (Closing encouragement: Find Us Faithful (Billy Causey); Closing Prayer. (podium mic)
(13) Postlude – Terri Deviney, Piano (Chorus: To God Be the Glory). then walk out music – Track – Your Great Name (Natalie Grant)
Microphone Notes: Terri at Piano; everyone else sits on first row, left side of stage near the stairs. Mala walks up on stage as the opening music finishes. She has a wireless handheld mic for her song. When she leaves the stage, she passes that mic on to Alicia. Jeff uses podium mic or the wireless handheld mic. Kendall and other giving tributes to Coach use the podium mic or the wireless handheld mic on podium. Billy will sing from the podium mic. Jerry uses the podium mic. Hal uses the wireless headset mic.
Obituary
Coach William A. “Moose” Perry, Jr. October 7, 1944-August 10, 2024
Coach Bill Perry was born October 7, 1944, in Meridian, Mississippi to William A. Perry, Sr. and Ann (Wright) Perry. The family relocated to Jackson in 1952. That fall Coach enrolled in the third grade at Poindexter Elementary School. The Perrys attended St. Andrews Episcopal Church.
Coach attended Enochs Jr. High and Central High School. Before graduating from Central he was active in both the Chess Club and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
His coaching career began at age 14 when he noticed a group of third-sixth grade boys playing baseball outside the old Boys Club, located on Hiawatha Street in mid-town Jackson. It was at the Boys Club that volunteer coach Skeeter Hart gave Coach Perry the nickname that would last a lifetime…” Moose” …because he was told he needed a nickname of something “big” to scare opponents.
After initial stops as an assistant coach at Provine and Jackson Central, he arrived at Forest Hill High School in 1970 as Head Coach. In just four years, he built a tremendously competitive team…. culminating with the State AA Championship in 1974. Among his many honors, in 1975 he was named “Coach of the Year” by the Mississippi Association of Sports Writers, as well as “Coach of the Year” by the Mississippi Association of Coaches.”
His final record as a high school coach was out of 667 games played, he ended with 480 wins and 187 losses. And he only missed TWO school days in his 50+ career as a teacher!
Despite his incredible coaching record, his greatest achievement was the impact he made on players, students, fellow church members, and friends. His ministry included serving as Pastor of Timberlawn Baptist Church, Pastor of Learned Baptist, and founding Lamb of God Ministries.
Coach Perry taught, nurtured, and encouraged several players that later made it to “The Big Show” in the major league. But he would quickly tell you that his most memorable relationships came from people he had led to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus. Notes and testimonies have been flowing in daily from people that he helped…and no one knew!
Coach Perry never married and had no immediate survivors. But his “family” are the literal thousands who have been touched by his generosity, the sharing of his faith, the money he slipped in needy people’s hand, and his wry smile.
He requested that any memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN in memory of Coach William “Moose” Perry.
His cousin, Annell Holland, and his extended family would like to recognize and say thank you for the incredible care he was given in his last months by the staff of Highland Home, and PAX Hospice.
No conversation ever ended with Coach Perry without “I love you” being mentioned.
His favorite Bible verse was Philippians 1:21. “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Coach Bill “Moose” Perry has “gained” his reward and is healed from his battle with Parkinson’s!
Honorary Pall Bearers:
Toby Stovall, Jeff Milner, Stan Cliburn, Stewart Cliburn, Rick Clarke, Tommy Groves, Doug Copeland, Larry Tipton, Chris Tipton, Jesse Griffin, “All Believers,” Forest Hill Rebels, Mississippi College Choctaws, Byram Bulldogs, Northwest Rankin Cougars, Raymond Rangers, Central Hinds Academy Cougars, Hinds Community College Eagles, Rebul Academy Raiders, Summer Leaguers, Friends at Highland Home and Waffle House Family, Clinton, MS.
The Story of My Friend “Moose”….LEGENDARY BASEBALL COACH BILL “MOOSE” PERRY
By Kendall Smith
April 28. 2022
“They Call Him Moose”
His birth name is William A. Perry, Jr.
Most people know him as “Moose.”
Others know him as “Coach Perry.”
Old friends may call him “Bill.” And a few of his church friends refer to him as “Brother Moose.”
Coach Bill Perry is inarguably one of the most successful high school baseball coaches for the past half-century. I met Coach Perry in my junior year at Jackson Central High School. He was fresh out of Mississippi College and had begun his first year of teaching history and government.
Coach Perry grew up in a large, two- story house in the northwest corner of Poindexter Park. Growing up in a park has many advantages, including easy access to pick-up baseball and basketball games.
When quizzed on where he got the name “Moose,” Coach Perry related the story of walking to the old Boys Club on Hiawatha Street to try out for elementary football. The team was coached by a legendary Doodleville hero, Skeeter Hart, who had excelled in several sports at Central.
When Skeeter looked at Coach Perry’s small size, he said…” we’ve got to give you a nickname that gives you a reputation.” And so, the legend of “Moose” began in the sandlot on the east side of the massive wooden building run by another legend, Calvin Walker.
Coach Perry began his career as a “walk-on” assistant baseball coach alongside the legendary Willis Steenhuis and Louis “Skin” Boteler, as Central made their run to the AAA State Baseball Championship in 1969.
Not long after, he was hired at Forest Hill High School to revive the Rebel baseball team. Forest Hill was mostly known as a “basketball school,” led by J. N. Brock.
It did not take long for Coach Perry to restore the prominence of Rebel baseball.
His first coaching prowess was revealed in his alleged recruitment of two of the biggest baseball talents in the Metro area……Stewart and Stan Cliburn. The Cliburn twins had attended Hardy Junior High and their residence was solidly in the Provine district.
To the surprise of anybody who had any knowledge of high school sports, the Cliburn twins wound up transferring to Forest Hill as ninth graders. Rumors swirled……to this day…. that the twins were living in a house trailer, by themselves, on Gertrude Drive.
With Stewart pitching and Stan catching, Forest Hill’s success with an All-Star battery was assured for the next four years. (Both Stan and Stu would up playing in the Major League and have coached for many years in Minor League ball.)
Forest Hill, powered by a lineup that is still the talk of South Jackson, won the AA State Championship in 1974.
Coach Perry coined the phrase “We Believe,” which became the battle cry of the Rebel baseball team, but also served as inspiration as he shared his faith in classes and life.
It did not take long for Coach Perry’s coaching skills to get noticed and Mississippi College came calling for him to lead the Choctaws. Never one to shirk a challenge, he agreed to a “home-and-home” series with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, led by Coach Ron Polk. Polk’s nickname for Coach Perry is “Moosey.”
Everywhere Perry went, he won. After his MC days, he moved back to high school and led the Byram Bulldogs. His most famous achievement there was the development of a gangly kid by the name of Chad Bradford.
To hear Coach tell it, Chad could throw hard but could not find the strike zone. So, he showed Chad how to develop a submarine style delivery just inches above the ground.
Chad went on to star at USM and then pitched for several years in the Majors, including stints with the White Sox, A’s, Red Sox, Mets, Orioles and Rays.
Oh, by the way…. Chad made millions in the Majors……he came a long way from the dirt fields of Byram.
Later, Coach made stops at Raymond High, Central Hinds, and finally Rebul Academy. He never stopped teaching fundamentals to kids…. regardless of the level of ball. What he taught to the kids in the Poindexter Park neighborhood continued to college and high school.
One of his marquee training routines was attaching wooden blocks to player’s hands and ditching their gloves. Hard line drives during infield practice required them to learn how to know the ball down and then make the throw to first base.
Along the way, Coach Perry accepted God’s call to the preaching ministry and has faithfully led several churches…. most recently in the Learned area. He founded a ministry, “Lamb of God.” To this day, I use the engraved bible he gave my dad years ago as I teach my Sunday School class each week.
He leads an outreach ministry the Saturday before Christmas each year by distributing sacks of fruit to the homeless in the downtown area, along with a half-way house and a prison.
Coach Perry, like several of my other close friends, is now battling his biggest foe…. Parkinson’s. It is very difficult for him to walk, he tires easily, and it is hard for him to speak later in the day.
But…. he STILL teaches one class each day at Rebul Academy.
He has taught for 55 years, going all the way back to his Central days, and has only missed TWO working days in all those years.
I have NEVER heard him complain about his illnesses.
Every fall, I enjoy driving down to Rebul to run the clock for a couple of football games. Coach Perry has a folding chair right in front of the concession stand. It is difficult and painful for him to get up and move around.
But every single kid in the school comes by during the game, hugs him, and tells him they love him. I get misty-eyed watching that. He continues to influence an inconspicuous sixth grader just the same as he did several major-leaguers years ago.
Several years ago, I began to feel uncomfortable calling Coach Perry, “Moose.”
Somehow, it seemed disrespectful.
I have done my best to change.
One thing will not change……I’ll still call him “friend” and I’ll still call him my “Brother in the Lord.”
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 