Impact Of A Scholarship: Bruce Perry

For Bruce Perry, it’s hard to imagine what his life would be like today if he hadn’t made the decision to become a Terp.

“I have the things that I have now because of Maryland,” Perry said. “My children would not be here if it wasn't for Maryland.”

Perry met his wife, LaTasha, in coach Michael Locksley’s office. She was working as an assistant for Locksley when he was the running backs coach for the Terps during the late 1990s and early 2000s. 

“I walked in his office one day and saw her and I said, ‘Dude, you gotta make this happen!’,” Perry recalls. “And 20 years later, we're still kicking.”

He sees Locksley as more than a former coach -- or even a matchmaker. To Perry, Locksley is like a father.

“I tell everybody a lot of my success comes from two people: Mike Locksley because he was my teacher and LaMont Jordan because he was also my teacher,” said Perry. “I learned how to play the game, how to run behind my pads, how to be a running back from those two guys.”

The Philadelphia native is one of the most decorated players in Maryland Football history. Despite redshirting his sophomore year to extend his eligibility and ensure that Jordan -- a preseason Heisman Trophy hopeful in 2000 -- would get the majority of the carries his senior year, Perry said the decision allowed him to create his own legacy.

“I wanted to make my own mark,” he said. “I wanted to do everything I could to make people forget about LaMont Jordan. In 2001, I was ACC Offensive Player of the Year and I was a Doak Walker finalist, something that hadn't been done, as a matter of fact, something that no other Terp has ever done … It all worked out in the end.”

During the 2001 season, Perry also helped lead the Terps to the Orange Bowl and their first ACC title since 1985. His impact was exactly what he hoped to make on the program when he committed during his senior year of high school. He had offers from powerhouses like the University of Florida, Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michigan, but he knew he had the potential to make history at Maryland.

Perry only took two official visits: one to Maryland and one to the University of Pittsburgh. He didn’t have any desire to even see another campus after deciding he wanted to be a Terp. Perry even said Michigan coaches begged him to change his mind after committing to Maryland, but he told them no because he wanted to be a part of what the Terps had. 

“[The team] did everything together,” Perry said. “That was the same environment that I was accustomed to coming from George Washington High School in Philly. As a team, that's how we were. We were together. If you saw one of us, you saw all of us. And that was something that attracted me.”

Perry is the oldest of five children. His mother was a Philadelphia police officer and his father was a Philadelphia firefighter. He said sports were his outlet and the way that he was able to express himself as an inner-city kid--and it just so happened that he was good at everything he did. Perry played basketball and ran track before he started playing football in high school.

“I used everything that I learned running track when I got on the field,” he said “You can be as strong as you want to be but the one thing you can't teach is speed and make no mistake if you have it you’re not getting caught.”

And that speed landed him in the hearts of Maryland fans everywhere. On a podcast he did with Testudo Times, a student-run sports publication, Perry talked about how the stadium would erupt in unison with a mighty “Bruuuuuce” chant when his name--spelled with too many “u’s”--flashed on the scoreboard after he ran the ball.

In addition to frequently giving his time to student journalists for interviews and Terp football analyses, Perry is still heavily involved with the university. 

“When your time is up, you're still a Terp,” he said. “You'll always be one of us. You earn that letterman's jacket and this is how you represent outside of being a student-athlete. It’s its own fraternity.”

Perry has been working closely with the Terrapin Club, the same group who made his scholarship possible, to give back to the next generation of Terps. He said he knows first-hand that for some, especially the kids who grew up like he did, college is only a dream.

“We want to make those dreams realities,” he said.

While he offers much praise to his former teammates and coaches, he credits himself with making the right decision to come to Maryland and especially the Terrapin Club for the impact being a Terp has had on his life.  

“I will forever be indebted to the individuals who saw it in their hearts to donate whatever, whether it was $1, $50, or $1,000,” he said. “Your generosity has molded and shaped a line of families and has forever changed my life for the better.”

The father-of-five understands the weight of his decision to come to Maryland now more than ever. 

“Trying to envision a world where my sons and daughters are competing with that Maryland ‘M’ on their chest, that will be an emotional time,” Perry said. “You’re a part of a legacy and it all started with one decision. For me, that was to accept the scholarship to the University of Maryland.”

While Perry said he’ll never forget where he came from, the brotherhoods, bonds, experiences, and opportunities Maryland afforded shaped him to be the man he is today.

“Philadelphia raised me, but Maryland made me.”