Professional Football Player, Coach, College Football Coach. For five seasons (1967 to 1971), he played at the wide receiver and split end positions in the National Football League with the Baltimore Colts. Born Walter Ray Perkins, he was a multi sport athlete at Petal High School in Mississippi where he excelled at football, baseball, basketball and track and field. He enrolled at the University of Alabama where he played collegiate football and during this period, he achieved All-American and SEC Player of the Year honors as a contributor to two National Championships, while he was a favorite receiving target for quarterback Joe Namath and Ken Stabler. Selected by the Baltimore Colts during the 7th round of the 1967 NFL Draft, he appeared in 58 career regular season games. He experienced an NFL Title in 1968 with Baltimore which resulted in a Super Bowl defeat to the New York Jets (January 1969) and contributed to the Colts victory in Super Bowl V (January 1971). After retiring as a player, he began a lengthy coaching career, initially as an assistant at Mississippi State University (1973). He went on to serve under Chuck Fairbanks (New England Patriots), Tommy Prothro (San Diego Chargers), Don Coryell (San Diego Chargers), prior to serving as head coach of the New York Giants (1979 to 1982). He guided the Giants to a playoff berth in 1981. Perkins had the difficult task of succeeding legendary Coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant in 1982 as head coach at the University of Alabama (1983 to 1986) and during his tenure, he guided the Crimson Tide to three bowl game wins. He returned to the NFL and served as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1987 until 1990. For one season (1992), he served as head coach at Arkansas State University and from 1993 to 1996, he served as offensive coordinator under Bill Parcells (who coached under Perkins with the Giants) with the New England Patriots and was on staff when the Patriots won the AFC Title (1996). He had further assistant coaching stints with the Oakland Raiders and Cleveland Browns, prior to serving as head coach at Jones County Junior College (2012 to 2013). He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1990. He died of complications from heart related issues.