RICHARD M. PERRY

CLASS OF 2007
 

Richard M. Perry was born and raised in Oklahoma City.  He graduated from Northwest Classen High School in 1964, where he was twice a state champion in doubles and was named to the Honorable Mention Oklahoma All-Decade Tennis Team for the 1960s.  He attended Oklahoma City University on a tennis scholarship, graduated with a degree in mathematics, and then did graduate work in math at the University of Oklahoma.  He taught math at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University.

He was an officer in the United States Air Force and a T-38 instructor pilot for five years.  After spending twenty years in the Air Force Reserves, he retired in 1997 as a Lieutenant Colonel.  He graduated from law school at Oklahoma City University in 1977 and was a District Court Judge in Enid, Oklahoma, for sixteen years, retiring in 2006.  He was named Oklahoma Judge of the Year in 2001.

He has won numerous Oklahoma titles in both singles and doubles and has been ranked number one in Oklahoma many times in various age divisions.  He was named the Oklahoma Adult Player of the Year in 1992 and was awarded the inaugural Oklahoma Jim Thorpe Tennis Award in 2004. 

He has won eleven Missouri Valley sectional titles and has been ranked number one in the Valley many times in various age divisions.  In 1998, he was ranked number one in the Valley in both Men's 45 and 50 singles.  He represented the Missouri Valley in Intersectional play in Men’s 45s in 1996, captained the Oklahoma 4.5 Senior league team that was third in the nation in 1997, and attained a national ranking of 23 in 50 singles in 1998.  In 2016 he was runner-up in doubles in the National 70 Indoors Tournament and in 2017 he won the 70 Singles division of the National Senior Olympics.  He has been selected several times to represent the United States in the Gordon Trophy Cup annual international tennis competition with Canada.

He served as Treasurer of the Oklahoma District Tennis Association for twelve years and its President for three years.  He started the Oklahoma Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999 while President of the Oklahoma District.  He was Secretary of the USTA/Missouri Valley Section in 2001-02, its Treasurer in 2003-04, its First Vice President in 2005-06, its President in 2007-08, and its Voting Delegate in 2009-10.  He served eight years on the USTA National Adult Competition Committee and was its Vice-Chair for two years.  He has been inducted into the Missouri Valley Tennis Hall of Fame.

He and Mary have been married since 1969 and have two children, Beth and Ryan.