Clemson Football: 10 Best Defensive Players – Of the 80’s
By Ben Greeson
4. William “The Refrigerator” Perry
What can you say about a man whose legend, as grand as it is, may not be as big as the actual man himself?
A man-child when he arrived at Clemson from Aiken, SC. William Perry was an immediate starter and an immediate force to be reckoned with on a team that won a National Championship.
“The Fridge” legend grew when the 6-foot-2, 310 lb (more like 360 or 375) would stand flat footed, jump, and dunk a basketball. He is to this day, in my opinion, the most athletically gifted player to ever wear the Paw. That is a grand statement and I stand by it 100% and here is why.
He has stated in an interview that
“Even when I was little, I was big”
By the time he was 11 years old, he weighed 200 pounds.
Frequently ridiculed for his weight while growing up, Perry took advantage of his athleticism to silence his critics.
He attended Aiken High School and played as a 295-pound nose guard on the school’s football team and ran on its track team.
During an exercise in which his coach instructed all of his fastest players to line up for a 100 yard dash, Perry joined the group of running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs and eventually was timed as the 6th fastest runner on the entire team, with a time of 11.00 seconds flat.
He was also able to run the 100 meters in under 12 seconds, and competed in the shot put event, recording a top-throw of 16.44 meters. Perry was a once in a lifetime type of athlete.
While he patroled the middle of the Clemson defense from 1981-84, William Perry was perhaps the most feared defensive player in the South. Opposing coordinators had to make special plans, sometimes triple teaming assignments for Clemson’s 320-pound anchor of the line.
Perry, who came to Clemson as a then unheard of 310-pound freshman, held legendary status at Clemson. All the stories you heard about “The Fridge” are all true.
From the time he once blocked the opposing team’s punt by shoving the upback into the punter, to Perry Tuttle taking him to lunch at a McDonald’s and spending $22, Perry was a superhuman almost fictional character.
On the field, he was a three-time All-American, joining Anthony Simmons as the only Tigers who could make that claim. In 1984, he led the nation in tackles for loss with 27 and he tied the Clemson single season sack record with 10.
He was a finalist for the Lombardi Award that season and was the ACC Player of the Year in 1984, the second defensive player in league history to win the honor.
In 1985, Perry was a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears. As a freshman at Clemson he started on the Tigers national Championship team. As a rookie in the NFL he started on the Bears Super Bowl Championship team, the first of his nine NFL seasons.
Next: Jeff Davis