Family members of the late Johnny Perkins, namesake of Granbury High School’s football field, will be honored by friends, community members, and fans during halftime of the Granbury Pirate homecoming football game at Pirate Stadium on Friday, October 25, 2024. Homecoming information, including game tickets, are available by visiting granburyisd.org/homecoming.
After growing up in Granbury and graduating from Granbury High School in 1972, John “Johnny” Eugene Perkins (April 21, 1953 – April 25, 2007) attended Ranger Junior College for one season after an all-state high school career as a Pirate. In 1974, Perkins joined the Abilene Christian University football program, where he was a three-year letterman and helped the Wildcats to 9-2 finish win over Harding University in the Shrine Bowl in Pasadena, Texas in 1976. Perkins led the nation in receiving for the Wildcats as a junior in 1975, catching 50 passes for 1,195 yards and 12 touchdowns. In 29 games in his ACU career, he had a school-record 12 100-yard receiving games. At the time of his passing in 2007, Perkins remained the highest draft choice (32nd player overall) in ACU football history after his second-round selection by the Giants in the 1977 NFL Draft.
Perkins spent his entire National Football League (NFL) career as wide receiver for the New York Giants. He played 71 games and had 2,611 yards receiving and 18 touchdowns on 163 catches. Perkins retired from the NFL after the 1983 season. He and his wife Debra lived in Granbury where they raised their two children in Granbury ISD, Jasmine and Jia.
A member of the Granbury ISD Athletic Hall of Fame, Perkins was also inducted into the ACU Sports Hall of Fame in November 1990, and in August 2005, he was voted to the ACU Football all-Century Team as a first-team wide receiver. Late Abilene Christian University football coach and athletics administrator Foy Wallace “Wally” Bullington once shared, “Johnny just made the locker room better. He got along so well with his teammates, and he was a great team player. The things he did on the field put the spotlight on him, but he never put those things above the team and the accomplishments of the team.”
Charles Artie Gray and many other of Johnny’s Granbury ISD classmates have dreamt of seeing the Perkins family reunite on his field one more time since the field dedication ceremony in 2007. Dana Ruth Wilson, officer of the GHS Exes Association (and Johnny’s friend and prom date), reached out to Mrs. Perkins on behalf of the rest of the association with the idea to pay tribute to the famous Granbury Pirate at this year’s homecoming game. Johnny’s niece Shonda, shared, “This homecoming game is a beautiful opportunity to bring all of us together for a long-awaited family gathering. Johnny Perkins was truly an amazing Christian man who loved his family very much. Thank you, Granbury ISD, for allowing us to be together this weekend and honor him in this way.”
Anyone interested in sharing a special tribute with the Perkins family may send via email [email protected] or mail to GISD Community Relations at 217 N. Jones St., Granbury, TX 76048. More information about the Granbury ISD Education Foundation Alumni Engagement and Hall of Fame is available at granburyisd.org/alumni.