Wake Forest Athletics
Amy Perko to Receive NCAA Silver Anniversary Award
1/12/2012 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 12, 2012
Amy (Privette) Perko, a 1987 graduate of Wake Forest University and currently the executive director of the Knight Foundation, will be honored on Friday with the NCAA's Silver Anniversary Award during a ceremony in Indianapolis. Perko is one of six former NCAA student-athletes being honored on the 25th anniversary of the conclusion of their athletic career.
Also receiving Silver Anniversary awards are Sean Payton (Eastern Illinois), the head coach of the New Orleans Saints; Doris Burke (Providence), an ESPN basketball broadcaster; Tim Brown (Notre Dame), a former receiver in the NFL; Kevin Johnson (Cal-Berkeley), a former NBA star who is now the mayor of Sacramento; and David Robinson (Navy), who starred in the NBA with the San Antonio Spurs.
Perko was a four-year starting guard on the women's basketball team from 1984-87. She earned Fast Break All-America honors from 1984-86 and was a second-team All-ACC pick in 1986 and 1987. Perko graduated as the school's all-time leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals, and she still ranks among the top 10 players all-time in each of those categories. A three-time Academic All-America (1985-87), she was the recipient of an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship in 1987.
Following her career and undergraduate work at Wake Forest, Perko earned a master's degree in sports management from the University of Richmond.
She worked at the NCAA for over six years, and then at the University of Kansas as the Associate Athletics Director and Senior Woman Administrator. Perko left Kansas in 2001 to return to North Carolina where she was the first Team President named by the National Basketball Association for one of its men's basketball development teams, the Asheville Altitude.
Perko has since been the Executive Director of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. This independent group consists of university presidents, trustees, faculty and former student-athletes who advocate for governance and policy changes in college athletics to ensure that athletics programs operate within the educational mission of their universities. She was inducted into the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame in 2008.
