Greer legend Travis Perry served as an inspiration to area coaches

Former Greer High School quarterback Mazzie Drummond remembers watching Travis Perry play quarterback under the lights on Friday nights at Dooley Field when he was a kid in the late 1980s.

Drummond looked up to Perry, a trend that continued when Drummond played quarterback at Greer from 1997 to 2000 and Perry was on the coaching staff and again when they were both on the coaching staff.

As Greer's athletic director, Perry hired Drummond in 2015 to be the girls basketball coach.

On Friday morning, the man who has inspired Drummond at every step of his career died after a battle with bile duct cancer at 49 years old. 

Drummond, who left Greer in March to become the athletic director and basketball coach at San Jose Prep in Jacksonville, Florida, gave himself 10 minutes to feel sad and shed a tear when he heard the news. After that, a sense of peace washed over him.

After a battle with cancer that began during the 2018 season, Perry was no longer in pain.

"I’m thankful to have the friendship we had, but ultimately I’m thankful that he had a strong faith," he said. "I’m thankful he gets to move on to a better life with no more pain and gets to watch over us and guide us."

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Drummond's love for Perry isn't common only in the Greer community but throughout the Upstate, where coaches who worked with and coached against him speak admiringly of how inspirational he was, how passionate he was and how deeply he loved everyone with whom he came into contact.  

"His influence on the community may even intensify (in his death)," Blue Ridge baseball coach Travis Henson said. "I think that’s a pretty powerful statement for anybody."

Lighting the fire

During Drummond's first season on the Yellow Jackets staff, Greer went to a Football Coaches' Association camp. He remembers bouncing around the field, always moving his mouth, even engaging in some trash talk.

One of his former Newberry teammates was on the other sideline coaching for a different team, and the two friends started to engage in friendly banter.

Perry was quick to join the war of words.

"Before I knew it, Coach Perry was in the conversation with me and a man he didn’t know, about how we were going to whoop their butt," Drummond said, laughing. "I had to tell him, ‘He’s kind of my buddy and we were giving each other a hard time,' but he was ready to go for me.

"That’s the kind of person he is: He had my back. Anyone that comes through Greer will tell you the same thing."

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Whether it was Friday nights at Dooley Field or a practice under the unforgiving August sun, Perry was as passionate about Greer and being great as anyone on the field.

"He could give the best motivational speeches. He could make a kid want to run through a brick wall for him," Drummond said. "There wasn’t a team we played where we didn’t think we were going to win, from a state championship game to a scrimmage."

Wade Hampton football coach Travis Miller knew Perry for more than 20 years, and although he never coached against him, he said he could see the passion with which Perry coached.

"He was a fiery guy, for sure, and he was wanting to win for Greer, but he would always extend his hand to those in need, and people rarely had to ask," he said. "He was one of those people that never met a stranger. In all the years, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone that has a negative word about him."

Perry was equally, if not more, passionate about his faith.

Henson and Perry knew each other for a long time. They had been a part of the Greer-Blue Ridge rivalry for their entire lives.

Henson also underwent his own cancer battle in 2016; he had to have a kidney removed because it had a cancerous tumor.

He knows what it means to fight and stay strong in faith, and he said Perry never backed down, even as the diagnosis got worse and worse.

"God is glorified not just through Travis Perry’s life, but also through his passing," he said. "He never flinched in his faith. I think he preached that to his students, his student-athletes and his coaching staff. You find out how strong you really are when adversity hits. To see that he never flinched is an incredible statement of influence."

Love

Although the Blue Ridge-Greer rivalry is as intense as any in the Upstate, Henson said he never felt that Perry let the rivalry leave the field. In addition to being the head baseball coach, Henson also is an assistant football coach at Blue Ridge and has seen the respect Perry had for his opponents up close.

"As intense as the rivalry is in the athletic realm, I think the respect is just as intense when it comes to people like Travis," he said. "With the way he lived his life, he was respected by opponents that competed against him, not just at Blue Ridge. It was respect that was earned. I don’t think there’s anyone in the Blue Ridge community that wouldn’t say that."

Perry carried that love for everyone he met.

After moving to Florida, Drummond returned to South Carolina three weeks ago for a visit. He knew he needed to see Perry, because it would probably be his last chance. The last few months of Perry's life weren't easy for him or his family, and Drummond thought that he probably needed rest, but still asked if he could come visit.

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Perry opened up his home to talk to his old friend, no questions asked.

"I had to see him and tell him I loved him," he said. "I knew he didn’t want company; I knew he was tired, but he took an hour and sat with me on the back porch just so I could be OK with where he was."

That love extended beyond the football field. Drummond remembers that instead of eating lunch in his office with the other coaches, Perry took time to eat lunch with special needs students at Greer every day. 

"He had an impact on the entire school," Drummond said. "I think what people will remember the most was that Coach Perry loved the janitors, all the way up to the superintendent of the district all the same, and he would stick his neck out for anyone of them."

Drummond knew leaving Greer for the opportunity at San Jose Prep was the best decision for his career and his family, but it didn't make it an easy one.

When he told the girls basketball team that he had coached for the past five seasons that he would be leaving, he didn't get more than a few words out before starting to cry. The second-hardest conversation, he said, was with Perry. Drummond said his coach's reaction was another sign of how deep his love for people was.

"Greer High is in his blood. I was nervous telling him," he said. "When I got the courage up and it came time that he had to know, he was so understanding and so encouraging, it made it easier for me to leave."

Wade Hampton's Miller said looking at players, past and present, who have been coached by Perry is all the evidence anyone should need about how deep his love was for people.

"He loved all those kids he coached," Miller said. "There’s a special bond with a coach and a player when that takes place, and I think that happened with all the players he coached."

'He inspired strength'

Friday was a long day for Miller. Not only had one of his friends died, but it was also Wade Hampton's graduation at Bon Secour Wellness Arena.

It was enough to bring anyone down, but Miller chose to go through the day inspired by how Perry lived and how he dealt with his diagnosis. He said it will be an example he uses for the rest of his life when the water seems too deep to tread in.

"He never backed away from the fight that was before him, just like everything in his life," Miller said. "Faced with a big obstacle, he fought it and he never gave up. It’s a great example for all of us."

With the potential exception of Sunday, Friday might have been Perry's favorite day of the week. It was game day, and a day when he celebrated numerous victories on the field.

The Yellow Jacket Sports Network, which broadcasts Greer football and basketball games, pointed out in a tweet that "Friday's have always been a big day for Travis Perry. Today is another great victory for Coach Perry."

Henson also saw Perry's death as a victory over cancer because of their shared religious beliefs.

"On a Friday he celebrated his greatest victory, on the day where he won a lot of victories as a player and a coach, how ironic is that?" He said. "I know that he fought valiantly, but I know that he suffered and his family was right there by his side the whole way through. I know they’ve been through so much.

"I think he inspired strength in other people’s faith that will go through similar things and other things. Whatever adversity they face, I think they’ll look back to him and his family and know that’s how you face those things."

Drummond also doesn't think Perry lost his battle to cancer, in part because of how he inspired with his fight. Difficult days were what Perry thrived on, Drummond said.

"Selfishly, we’re going to miss him, but you have to be happy for him knowing where he is now and doing better than he did yesterday," he said. "I’m sure I’ll have some days and nights where I’ll miss him, but I’ll more be rejoicing knowing him and who he was."