A Memphis native and graduate of Treadwell High School, Elliot Perry played four collegiate seasons with his hometown Memphis Tigers and led his team to second round appearances in the NCAA Tournament during the 1987-88 and 1989-90 seasons. He averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds for the Tigers and also received his degree in marketing. The 6’0″ point guard went on to set the mark as the only player in Metro Conference history with 2,000 points and 500 assists.
Drafted by the Los Angeles Clippers as the tenth pick of the second round in the 1991 NBA Draft, Perry played 547 games with seven teams, averaging 6.3 points and 3.1 assists per game for his career. His best season came in 1994-95 with the Phoenix Suns, when he played all 82 games, including 51 starts, and averaged 9.7 points, 4.8 assists, 1.9 steals per game and was runner-up for the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award. Perry rounded out his NBA career in 2001-02 with his home-town Memphis Grizzlies and was later selected by Sports Illustrated as a member of their “SI 50th – The 50 Greatest Tennessee Sports Figures”.
The multi-talented Perry made a return appearance with fellow former NBA player and Memphis State alum Hank McDowell as the radio broadcast team’s color commentators for the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2006-07 season. On October 8, 2005, Elliot Perry began a new chapter after a long NBA career when he joined the Memphis Grizzlies ownership group.
Perry was named the Director of Player Support by the Grizzlies in 2014. Elliot currently resides in Memphis with his lovely wife Kimberly and their beautiful daughter Morgan and has been busy making a difference in his community. He has formed the “SOCKS Fund” (Supporting Our Community and KidS), to provide financial support to those organizations that are making a difference in the Memphis area as it relates to kids. The fund lends a hand to those organizations in the community helping kids realize their potential.
Elliot’s motto is: I have always wanted to be a positive and central figure in my community, to use my platform to influence and help those who are in need. “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither person nor property will be safe”. (Frederick Douglas)