As an MSU student in the 1950s, George Perles went on a rebound date with a girl who had just broken up with her boyfriend.
Just before the date, she and the guy got back together.
Perles, now an MSU trustee wasn't completely out of luck. The girl asked a friend to go as a substitute in her place. Her friend ended up being Sally, George's current wife.
The date wasn't the only twist in Perles' life.
As a physical education major, Perles figured he would end up teaching kids to play kickball as a gym teacher. But because of one man things worked out a little differently for him.
From coaching jobs in Chicago to Detroit to Pittsburgh and back to East Lansing, Perles said he owes them all to Duffy Daugherty.
"There has never been a job that he didn't get for me," Perles said.
Daugherty sent Perles to Chicago to a high school to coach football because it was the best in the sport in the Midwest.
"I could read the writing on the wall that he was looking at my future," he said.
He then sent Perles to coach St. Ambrose Academy in Detroit, before bringing him back to MSU as an assistant coach.
"I remember the day I came back, I said, 'There might be someone in the world as happy as me, but no one happier,'" Perles said.
Daugherty took Perles into his office the year before he retired and told Perles that he needed to coach a professional team in the NFL.
Done.
Daugherty called the Pittsburgh Steelers and got Perles hired as an assistant coach there, as well.
After a regular-season record of 105-42-1 and four Super Bowl championships in 10 seasons, Perles came back as head coach at MSU in 1982.
He said Daugherty was thrilled.
"He told me what plays to run," he said with a laugh. "He was something special."
So when the plaza adjacent to the Duffy Daugherty Football Building was named the George J. Perles and Sally A. Perles Plaza, Perles cried - he was touched to be a part of something so close to the building named after Daugherty.
The naming comes in honor of the Perles' gift of $500,000 to MSU and was approved by the board Friday.
"(Daugherty) was a mentor of mine - he was like a father," he said.
During Perles' 12 seasons at MSU, he accumulated a career record of 68-67-4. His team won the 1988 Rose Bowl, defeating the University of Southern California.
Thousands of students will get to experience the wonderful setting of the plaza and recognize both Daugherty and Perles as they pass through campus, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said in Friday's board meeting.
"I'm just delighted," she said.
During the first day of one of Daugherty's seasons, the media asked him how his team was going to be in the upcoming year. Perles said Duffy replied with, "We're going to be small but slow."
The media then asked who Daugherty was most excited to see back for the season, Perles said. His reply was simple - himself.
Perles said Daugherty's humor is always something that stood out.
"He was always laughing," he said.
Now retired from his days as a football coach, Perles has found yet another way to get involved with football - without the losses.
In 1995, Perles and then-MSU Sports Information Director Ken Hoffman founded and initiated the Motor City Bowl.
"It was a stab in the dark, but it's going great," Perles said. "And plus, no one is booing me."
Perles said he is now enjoying his time serving on the MSU Board of Trustees. His eight-year term started Jan. 1, 2007.
It's different from every position he's held at MSU so far, he said - and he's had quite a few to compare it with - Perles has been a student, an athlete, an assistant coach, a head coach and the athletics director at MSU.
"It's been fun," he said about serving on the board. "They're sharp people, but they've taken me in like a stepchild and I'm thankful for that."
It's an honor to have Perles on the board, said Trustee Joel Ferguson at the meeting Friday.
"We feel the best is yet to come," he said.
Perles said he wants to focus on as a board member is giving back to the MSU community.
"I'm trying to see if I can do anything about the doggone tuition," he said. "I want to make all my decisions based on what's good for the students. I'm one of you, and I always will be."
Perles may know what he wants for the university, but never ask him to choose between coaching at a Rose Bowl and a Super Bowl.
A sigh and a long pause later, he said he could never separate the two.
"They were both outstanding," he said.
