Funeral services for Cecil Gene Perkins, 77 year-old Weatherford, Oklahoma resident, will be held Thursday, October 3, 2013 at 2:00 P.M. in Rankin Williams Field House on campus of Southwestern Oklahoma State University with Doyle Warren officiating. Burial will follow at Roosevelt Cemetery south of Roosevelt, Oklahoma, under the direction of Lockstone Funeral Home.

Cecil was born March 4, 1936 on a farm southwest of Cooperton, Oklahoma, to Ernest Cecil and Mary (Handlin) Perkins and after a 2 year struggle, passed away Sunday, September 29, 2013, at home in Weatherford, Oklahoma. At the age of 12 the family had to migrate to California in their 1939 Ford with a mattress tied on top. Two years later the family returned to Roosevelt where Cecil grew up a proud Roosevelt Roughrider. After a successful high school athletic career he received a football scholarship from Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas. His 1 year football career at Midwestern was successful but his academic career not so much after having Senator John Tower as a Government teacher.

Fate, aided by Lloyd Graham, brought Cecil to Southwestern Oklahoma State University, his lifelong love. Milam stadium saw him as a quarterback for the Bulldogs. Cecil was an all-conference quarterback for Southwestern under legendary coach Joe B. Metcalf in the late 1950s.

After graduation in 1960, Cecils first coaching experience was in Carnegie. The Wildcat team finished the first season with 14 players and no wins. Each year thereafter the wins piled up.

He moved in 1965 to Northern Oklahoma Junior College where he spent three years as an assistant football coach and head basketball and baseball coach. His first year coaching basketball resulted in 2 wins and 22 losses. Again each year thereafter wins piled up.

Northwestern Oklahoma State University hired Perkins as an assistant football coach and the head baseball coach in 1968. He remained in that role until 1971 when he was named the director of athletics. He kept that position along with his baseball coaching duties for 10 more years at the Alva school.

Cecil always said Southwestern changed his life. In 1981, when the opportunity came to become Director of Athletics for the Bulldogs he did not hesitate. He appreciated the chance to give back to the institution that gave so much to him.

As golf coach, his Bulldogs qualified for seven (six NAIA, one NCAA mens National Tournaments and three womens NAIA nation tournaments. He coached 1997 mens team and the 1998 womens team to Lone Star Conference championships.

He is a member of three Halls of Fame, including the Southwestern Oklahoma State University Athletic Hall of Fame. He has been previously inducted into the Northwestern Oklahoma State University Sports Hall of Fame (2002), the NAIA Hall of Fame (1991) and the General Robert R. Neyland Award by the All-American Football Foundation (2006).

Cecil is survived by his loving wife of 29 years, Patti Perkins of their home in Weatherford, Oklahoma; son, Mike and wife, Diana of Palmdale, California; daughter, Susan and husband, Ed of Enid, Oklahoma; son, Chad and wife, Tonya of Weatherford, Oklahoma; daughter, Anna and husband Kevin of Lubbock, Texas; brother, Nelson and wife, Alice of Weatherford, Oklahoma; sister, Kaye and husband, John Paul of Carnegie, Oklahoma; eight grandchildren: Megan and Dillon Perkins, Morgan and Courtney Walker, Kris, Katy, Grant, and Gracelyn Word; and a host of nieces, nephews, and many, many friends.

The family would like to especially thank nephew and wife, Joe and Tanae Weaver, Western Oklahoma Hospice nurses, Diana, Teresa, and Erin, and the 3rd floor nurses at Bone and Joint at St. Anthonys hospital.

He was a man well-loved and his life well-lived.

Memorials may be made to the Cecil Perkins Scholarship Fund through Lockstone Funeral Home or Bank of Hydro in Weatherford.