INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) has named Julie (Thoman) Perry as the recipient of the 2013 Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction. A former volleyball standout at Northern Kentucky University and long-time educator in the state of Ohio, Perry will be recognized by the GLVC at the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Spring Awards Banquet in St. Louis on May 21.
Perry, who was nominated by the NKU administration, was recommended as this year’s honoree by the GLVC Awards Committee and was then approved by the conference’s faculty athletic representatives based on her post-graduation service and commitment to molding future student-athletes.
As a student-athlete herself, Perry (then Thoman) was a four-year starter for the Norse, who finished her career with 819 career kills despite missing part of her junior year because of an ankle injury. NKU posted a 127-60 record during her career and advanced to the AIAW national finals in 1977 after winning the Southern Region II Championship. She was named to the Kentucky Women’s Intercollegiate Conference All-Tournament Team in 1976 and 1977, and received an invitation to attend the USVBA Olympic Development Camp in 1977 and 1978 as a result of her outstanding play at the net for NKU.
While Perry competed as a student-athlete prior to the NCAA officially sponsoring women’s sports, and even before Northern Kentucky’s inception into the GLVC, she does have a GLVC Championship to her credit. Perry led NKU to the 1985 GLVC Volleyball Championship as acting coach while head coach and 2012 GLVC Hall of Fame inductee Jane Meier was away on maternity leave.
The Bertram Alumni Award of Distinction is an honor that extends beyond one’s collegiate career. It is presented to an individual(s) that displays academic excellence, athletic ability and achievement, character and leadership, while serving their institutions with personal distinction since their graduation, and making postgraduate public or community service and contributions to athletics at any level.
After earning both an undergraduate and advanced degree in physical education, Perry began her professional career at St. Ursula Academy, a leading private college preparatory school for young women in Cincinnati, Ohio. She served in many roles at St. Ursula, including teacher, coach, and at one point as the athletic director. She is presently the Chair of St. Ursula’s Health and Physical Education Department. She retired as the head volleyball coach in 2009 after an outstanding 29-year career that saw her win eight state championships, including six straight from 1993-98.
For her coaching excellence, Perry was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame in 2004 and selected as the National Federation High School Coaches Association Ohio Coach of the Year in 2001. She was also a 10-time Cincinnati Enquirer Coach of the Year, a nine-time Cincinnati Post Coach of the Year, and was chosen as Coach of the Year on 10 occasions by her peers of the Southwestern Ohio Volleyball Coaches Association. She has received the Association’s “Outstanding Achievement Award” three times and is a four-time recipient of the Ohio Career Achievement Award.
During the nomination process, Northern Kentucky lauded Perry for her passion, commitment, and drive to provide a first-class educational experience for her students and student-athletes.
Twenty years after receiving the NKU Athlete of Distinction Award in 1979, Perry was inducted into the NKU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1999. That same year she was inducted into the St. Ursula Academy Hall of Fame. In 2005, she was honored once again by Northern Kentucky with the school’s Distinguished Service Award, and will receive the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Women’s Sports Foundation Lifetime Service Award on April 23, 2013.
The GLVC’s Alumni Award of Distinction is named in remembrance of Dr. Charles Bertram. Dr. Bertram served as a professor and faculty athletic representative at the University of Southern Indiana and is a former president of the GLVC. He contributed a great deal of time, energy and effort to the league’s success and was instrumental in conference operations for many years.
Past recipients of the Dr. Charles Bertram Alumni of Distinction Award include Jim Thordsen, Keith Bailey, Deb DiMatteo, Dr. Alex Lentsch, Dr. Sandra Magnus, Pat White, Dennis Reinbold, Dr. David Porta, Dr. Steven Giles, Julie Fruendt, Dr. Jane Weaver, Jim Vargo, LuAnn Humphrey, Dr. Michael Bernier, Lois Taurman, and Larry Tucker.