MISSION FIRST: The Answer Man

You might see Chris Perry wandering around the hallowed grounds of the United States Military Academy. It could be along the sidelines of Michie Stadium, inside the Kimsey Athletic Center, at the Hoffman Press Box or at any of the other picturesque places at West Point.

What is he doing, you might ask? Trying to find solutions.

Perry has held diverse positions over the past 30-plus years as a member of the Army Athletic Association (AAA), and he thrives on addressing the ever-changing challenges of technology.

His career began in 1983 as an intern in the Army Athletic Ticket Office when ticketing was done manually. Perry had recently completed his master's degree in Sports Administration at Temple University.

Perry, who had originally worked in the field of health administration for six years after earning his degree in Business Administration from Juniata College in 1972 and an MBA from Temple in 1976, changed his career course to athletic administration. This was a new field that colleges and universities had introduced which immediately became an attractive option for many students and would be beneficial to schools across the country.

Perry found his niche in his return to athletics, a field that he grew up in and thrived. During his collegiate career, he earned four varsity letters in both football and track and field and was the recipient of Juniata's Stanford Mickle Award, presented to the school's outstanding senior athlete.

Frank Walker, who was Army's business manager, was a Temple graduate who reached out to his alma mater when Bill Crim, the Army ticket manager, was looking for interns for the upcoming football season.

After making the trip to West Point for an interview with Crim and Army Athletic Director Carl Ullrich, Perry was hired and began a new chapter in his life that July. He would later say that he wished he had done that earlier in his career.

"I worked in the ticket office selling tickets and AAA memberships," Perry says, "and then would join Bill Crim and Carol Bush (who became the ticket manager when Crim retired in 1985) allotting tickets. I would also oversee the cadet ushers on game days."

"We took orders over the phone and in person," explains Perry. "With the success of the football program under Jim Young resulting in postseason bids to the Cherry Bowl in 1984 and the Peach Bowl in 1985, we were selling out games and our workload was becoming overwhelming."

Perry went to Crim and asked if he could look into a computerized system. Paciolan was one of the companies he reached out to and the firm came in for a demonstration. The athletic department was also looking into accounting and recruiting packages for football.

"Several folks then went out to Paciolan's headquarters in Irvine, Calif., to look at football along with game analysis software," says Perry. "We started that in 1986 and changed our format in the ticket office a year later. Since then Paciolan became Spectra which today provides services to more than 100 colleges and universities across the country, including all three service academies."

There are the usual problems when you incorporate a new system, especially going from manual with all the information laid out on paper in front of you to an electronic one with multiple systems that monitor inventory, track sales and optimize events in record time.

"I worked with Chris helping set up the system, the priority seating and general seating and the type of reports that we needed to generate," explains Bush. "But he was the one who implemented it. It was a team effort with everyone in the ticket office working towards making things more efficient and fan friendly."

"We did not have personal computers then, basically we had what we called a 'dumb terminal,'" explains Perry. "It was connected to the main structure and we used that to log on to the ticketing system. We took orders, allocated tickets and printed them in-house. It gave us more up-to-date information."

After four years as a member of the ticket office, Perry, who was named Assistant Athletic Director in January 1987, transitioned to overseeing computers in the athletic department. Though he still continued working with Paciolan, other projects and challenges were beckoning.

At that time, very few offices had laptops as word processers and typewriters were still utilized for doing reports, recruiting letters, forms and media guides. Today, everybody from administrators to coaches to secretaries have personal computers on their desks, but these were not as available in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Perry was not the first person in the athletic department to be involved with computers, but he quickly assimilated himself to this new challenge after Col. Wayne Graham, the Deputy Director of Athletics, saw the importance and future of technology. Network installation was the first step in connecting personal computers throughout the athletic department.

It was through Graham's efforts, along with Perry and others, that the Army Athletic Association entered the new age of technology. While many embraced it, others struggled with it. But Perry was available night and day and a phone call to his office, even as late as 11 p.m., was answered.

He might have been working on one of his many projects, but he quickly put it aside to offer assistance whether it is a question that he could answer over the phone or one that required a visit to the office to help someone with a problem.

Before long, the Office of Information Technology was formed and started expanding as the needs of the athletic department increased with the acquisition of computers for everyone's desk.

Another project, with a challenge for Perry, was the installation of a high-definition video board in the north end zone of Michie Stadium in 2008. The entire stadium sound system was also re-engineered and upgraded.

Right in the midst of that project was the installation of the scoreboard and training operators. Perry oversaw the job with the vendor (Daktronics), starting with the contract, installation and training operators. He was also involved in the upgrading of the acoustics, which certainly made for many long days and nights.

After helping set up the high definition scoreboard in Michie Stadium, Perry was in charge of the installation of a similar video scoreboard at Tate Rink, home of the Army hockey team, along with the sound system at Christl Arena, home of Army's men's and women's basketball squads.

Prior to the start of those projects, Perry was at the forefront of Knight Vision, a service that provides live audio and video streaming of home athletic events and press conferences.

"The best part for me is being at the games," reveals Perry. "We have three cameras and my job is switching angles to get them shown on the screen."

"I cannot tell you how indispensable Chris is to our operation," says Rich DeMarco, Assistant Athletic Director for Multi-Media and Broadcasting. "Simply put, without him, we would not have been able to launch and maintain our live event schedule. From setup to breakdown, Chris can be counted on to do whatever it takes to get the job done. He has been able to evolve his talents in order to keep up with the changing dynamics of live webcasts."

DeMarco, who serves as Army's play-by-play voice for the football and men's basketball teams, lauds Perry, who has served as the lead producer for the video webcasts the past nine years. His responsibilities include equipment setup, and producing the telecasts.

"From where we started back in 2007, with one camera and no graphics on events, to how the technology has changed, Chris truly has grown up with Knight Vision," notes DeMarco.

"Chris is truly someone who has top-to-bottom knowledge of everything technical on the multi-media side. Whether it be internet connections, phone lines, equipment setup, camera and technical equipment purchasing and repair, there really isn't any aspect of what we do for which he doesn't have an intimate knowledge. I also think what makes Chris special is that he's an exemplary human being, who not only cares deeply about his job, but also cares for the people around him."

In addition to a multitude of duties with Knight Vision, the scoreboards and sound system, Perry is also the Contracting Officer's Representative for the phone system for the athletic department.

Another area that Perry was engaged in was Audiovisual assets, where he helped former director of sports photography Harry Kubasek transition football film to video film.

"I didn't get involved with the cameras, but worked with him on the non-linear editing of the video. Now it is just linear because everything is digital, and it is amazing what they can do.

"Harry and his folks would shoot football practice on video tape and would go back and give it to coaches who wanted different scenarios. I would help Harry with some of the analyses that coaches wanted."

Perry's father and uncles served in the U.S. Army; his father with the Army Air Corps in World War II. His time at West Point has made him appreciate not only their sacrifices for the nation but also the cadets he has come in contact with over the years.

Life throws out challenges, and Perry was diagnosed with cancer in 2006. Consistent with his professional approach to things, he did his research, selected his doctors and the hospital and today remains cancer-free. He was the first person honored by the Army hockey team's "House of Blues" promotion in raising prostate cancer awareness when he dropped the puck in Army's game against Canisius in 2012.

As Perry heads into his 35th year as a member of Army's athletic department, he can look back proudly on all the projects he has been involved in at every athletic facility.

You might wonder how he had the time to accomplish all he has done. But for Perry the excitement of each project is finding a solution and that excitement is something he will never tire of.

Army West Point Athletics

MISSION FIRST: The Answer Man

Related Videos