CLEMSON — Clemson great Michael Dean Perry and national championship golf coach Larry Penley will be inducted into the Clemson Ring of Honor this fall.

The exact football weekend during which the duo will be honored will be announced later.

Perry was a first-team All-American and 1987 ACC Player of the Year at defensive tackle for the Clemson football team. Penley coached the Tigers golf team to the 2003 National Championship and concluded his career with more tournament victories than any coach in ACC history.

Perry, who played for the Tigers from 1984-’87, becomes the ninth football player to be named to the Clemson Ring of Honor. He joins players Jerry Butler, Fred Cone, Jeff Davis, Steve Fuller, Terry Kinard, Levon Kirkland, Banks McFadden and C.J. Spiller, while coaches Danny Ford and Frank Howard are also in the football ring of honor.

Penley joins three of his former players — Jonathan Byrd, Kevin Johnson and Charles Warren — among members of Clemson’s men’s golf program in the Ring of Honor.

The Ring of Honor is the highest award bestowed by Clemson Athletics. Recipients must have made an outstanding contribution to the heritage of Clemson Athletics, must be a member of the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame and be a graduate of a four-year institution for consideration.

Perry helped Clemson to a pair of ACC Championships in 1986 and 1987 and top-20 team finishes in those seasons. He was named the ACC Player of the Year in 1987, one of just six defensive players in the history of the ACC to earn overall ACC Player of the Year honors. He was named an Outland Trophy finalist in 1987, one of just two Clemson linemen so honored in history.

The native of Aiken, S.C., had 24 tackles for loss among his 74 tackles and 10 sacks in 1987. His 61 career tackles for loss remain as the Clemson record, now going on 38 years after he played his final game for Danny Ford’s Tigers.

Perry was a second-round draft choice of the Cleveland Browns in the spring of 1988. In 1989, he was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year and was named to six Pro Bowls in his 10 years in the league.

Even more impressive were the eight times he was named All-Pro in his 10-year career.

A 2005 Clemson graduate, Perry was named to Clemson’s Centennial Team in 1996 and was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2000. He was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary Team in 2002 and was inducted into the State of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005 and the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

Perry was honored by the Clemson football program with the Brian Dawkins Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.

Penley was an All-ACC golfer for the Clemson program as a senior in 1981. He graduated in 1983 and succeeded Clemson Hall of Fame coach Bobby Robinson for the 1983-’84 academic year.

Penley coached the Clemson golf program from the fall of 1983 to the spring of 2021. Over those 38 seasons, he guided Clemson to the NCAA Tournament in all 37 years in which it was held.

His 37 NCAA Tournament seasons rank second in ACC history and are one ahead of former Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Penley was named National Coach of the Year in 2003 and was selected ACC Coach of the Year 10 times in five different decades. He was named NCAA District Coach of the Year eight times, including his final season in 2021.

He led Clemson to 83 tournament championships, more than any other golf coach in ACC history. Among the 83 wins were seven NCAA Regional Tournament victories, more than any other Division I coach, and 10 ACC championships, including his final season.

The win total was remarkable because Clemson was the host school just twice.

Penley’s most noteworthy victory came in 2003 when the Tigers won the NCAA Championship by beating Oklahoma State on the Cowboys’ home course. Clemson became the first school to win its conference, regional and national championship in the same year.

Penley’s Clemson teams had 25 top-20 seasons, more than any coach in any sport in Clemson history. He also had 13 top-10 teams, and eight teams that finished in the top five in the nation.

Penley was inducted into the Clemson Athletic Hall of Fame in 2024 and the South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame in 2023. He was inducted into the American Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2004 and was inducted into the South Carolina Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.

Seventeen of his former Clemson golfers have earned PGA Tour cards. Thirty-three of his former players have earned All-America honors.

—courtesy of Clemson Athletic Communications