LAWRENCE, Kansas — Sophomore linebacker Caleb Kelly stepped onto Kansas’ Kivisto Field on Saturday donning a white shirt with Tony Perry’s name written across it in bold, black letters — a sign of love and respect for the coach who did so much for him.
It was the second week in a row he had memorialized the California coaching legend, who played a pivotal role in the life of Kelly and so many others from high school to his final days, during a game. And it won’t be the last.
Next Saturday, Kelly will be in Norman, readying for the Sooners’ game against West Virginia. Nearly 1,500 miles away, Perry will be laid to rest in Fresno, California, alongside a game ball Kelly earned for his performance hours after taking the field after learning of his death.
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“Perry,” Kelly said, his eyes shining with tears days after his mentor’s death on Nov. 11 at age 54. “He changed my life. He changed so many guys’ lives.”
The summer of his freshman year, Kelly walked up to Perry at a camp to introduce himself for the first time. The “DB Guru” stopped him mid-sentence.
“I know who you are! You’re No. 19 from Clovis West,” Kelly’s mom, Valerie, remembers Perry saying. “I know who you are.”
From that moment, the two began forming a special bond. The man that Kelly affectionately referred to as “Uncle Perry” became one of the most important role models in his life. He was there for Kelly from his days in Fresno when he didn’t have his perfect, spiraling curls to his days in Norman when he was struggling to accept his transformation from five-star recruit to freshman.
Perry was like an uncle to countless kids growing up in Fresno. His goal was to help young athletes further their careers, using his connections with college coaches. Fresno, home to gang violence, has one of the highest crime rates in the nation, and Perry wanted to help keep kids off the street.
No one ever had to worry about Kelly falling in with the wrong crowd, though, Valerie Kelly said. His dad wasn’t in the picture, which is something she preferred because it meant stability for Caleb. There would be no man coming and going as he pleased in her son’s life. Instead, she ensured good role models were brought into his life. Perry was one of those.
“We love Tony very, very, very much. He wasn’t just a coach,” Valerie Kelly said. “If you were having a bad day you could call him. If you were upset or weren’t performing well, you could call him.”
Sophomore linebacker Caleb Kelly with former coach Tony Perry.
On Nov. 21, 2015, Kelly stepped onto OU’s campus for the first time for his official visit. Perry was alongside him.
A five-star recruit out of high school, Kelly had offers from Ohio State, Notre Dame and Oregon, among others. He had natural ability, but it was Perry’s coaching and strong relationship with Bob and Mike Stoops, along with then-Oklahoma special teams quality control coach Courtney “Chip” Viney, that had helped grow the linebacker’s success.
“I know Caleb built himself up a lot through that man,” Valerie Kelly said. “The players (at DB Guru camps) were cocky, but not in a disrespectful, ‘I’m better than you’ way. They were confident in their ability.”
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Kelly is confident — a character trait that began before he met Perry, but blossomed under the beloved coach’s watch. It was that confidence that led Kelly to becoming a star on the defense this season, and emerged when he said what no one else wanted to last season.
Oklahoma walked into NRG Stadium in Houston with renewed College Football Playoff dreams. It was the first game of the 2016 season, and the Sooners were coming off a playoff loss to Clemson. With returning senior quarterback Baker Mayfield and running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, Oklahoma had its eyes set on a championship run.
Those dreams were thwarted in game one. All hopes of a perfect season gone. A consecutive season in the College Football Playoff suddenly hung by a thread.
“It was weird ... the leaders weren’t pumping everybody up,” Kelly said a week after the Sooners’ season-opening loss to Houston. “I think everybody was just shocked that we were losing (against Houston) ... After that, we were just shocked. You could see it in their eyes."
Kelly, a true freshman at the time, called out what had been seen as one of the Sooners’ biggest weaknesses heading into 2016 — leadership.
That moment of saying what others might not want to hear would foreshadow what was to come for Kelly at Oklahoma.
When Kelly arrived on campus in 2016, he stepped onto a defense that had lost four linebackers to the NFL Draft, including Eric Striker, a vocal team leader. Oklahoma was struggling with depth and searching for someone to step up.
Senior linebacker Jordan Evans was the obvious answer, but Kelly soon became an integral part of the defense and the leadership in the room. He played in 11 games his freshman season, but it was the final six where he shined. Kelly recorded 32 tackles in the the last six games, including 12 against Auburn in the Sooners’ Sugar Bowl win.
With Evans now in the NFL, Kelly’s leadership role has only increased. He played well at the beginning of the season, but never had the breakout moment many were expecting. It wasn’t until the Sooners’ game against Texas that Kelly began to perform up to expectations, and he hasn’t stopped since. He’s recorded 42 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and a pass breakup this season. Against Kansas — in one of the Sooners’ best defensive performances of the season — Kelly accounted for three tackles and a sack.
Leadership wasn’t a role he sought out, but it’s a role that comes naturally to him. His actions often speak louder than his words, and despite his youth, he’s respected among the group.
“Being young doesn’t have anything to do with being a leader in our eyes,” senior safety Steven Parker said. “If you’re a person that can lead and you lead by example on and off the field, then that’s a guy right there a lot of people can look forward to getting advice from. He’s a great person off the field, and on the field he does everything right.”
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When Viney, then an Oklahoma graduate assistant coach, listened to Kelly speak, he couldn’t believe his ears.
Kelly stood in the middle of the linebackers’ huddle, breaking it down after practice with Perry.
“I thought he was really, really quiet until I saw him in the huddle,” Viney, a product of Perry’s DB Guru camps, said. “I thought there was no way this young man should be able to speak like this. He exuded leadership and pride.”
If that huddle was anything like the huddles Kelly is in today, he didn’t have to say much. That’s part of his skill. He prefers to lead by example, and when he does speak, he chooses his words carefully.
“When he says something he wants it to hold meaning,” Valerie Kelly said. “He doesn’t want to fill (silence) with words (that mean) nothing.”
Kelly was often met with coaches who wanted him to be the fiery vocal leader that gets teams going. That was never where he felt comfortable or most effective, though. It was one of the many reasons he and Perry got along so well.
Sophomore linebacker Caleb Kelly with coach Tony Perry.
Much like a child with a parent, each time a player moves on to the next level they take some part of their coach with them. For some it’s intensity, for others it’s work ethic. But for Kelly, he’s taking what made both he and Perry the type of leaders they are.
Heart.
During his junior year of high school, Viney was recruiting when he witnessed Kelly walk over to an excited group of children clamoring to meet players. As others headed off the field, he stayed. He peeled off nearly every piece of clothing he had on to sign for the kids. To those children, it meant everything. To Kelly, it was a small act of kindness that stood no comparison to what his coach did on a daily basis.
Perry spent more than 30 years helping young athletes find their way. He took them on official visits, bought them lunch when they didn’t have money, gave them every ounce of love and energy he had. When he went to camps and saw a talented player who wasn’t part of his program he would jot his name and school down and start calling coaches, telling them they had to watch this kid. He didn’t care what team they were on.
He just cared.
It’s that selflessness and consideration for others that made Perry so special to so many. It’s what led Kelly to send his game ball home after the Sooners’ win over TCU, and it’s what will lead him to continue to memorialize Perry for the foreseeable future.
“I don’t even know if I would be here without Tony Perry,” Kelly said outside the Lawrence locker room. “He changed my life, for real.”
