Known by the nicknames "Sleepy Sam" and "Big Smooth", Perkins attended Samuel J. Tilden High School and Shaker High School in New York before becoming a star at the University of North Carolina. A teammate of future Hall of Famers James Worthy and Michael Jordan on the \'82 NCAA Championship Team, he was a three-time All-American, three-time First Team All-ACC, and 1984 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year. Taken by the Mavericks after his senior season, he went on to a successful 17-year career as a center and power forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2001.\n', '

In 2008, Perkins was named vice president of player relations for the Indiana Pacers, for whom he played from 1999–2001. That September he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame.\n', '

In October 2011, Perkins traveled to South Sudan as a SportsUnited Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State, where he worked with Hall of Fame NBA center Dikembe Mutombo to lead a series of basketball clinics and team building exercises with youths of both sexes, the South Sudanese Wheelchair Basketball Team, and 36 coaches. This helped contribute to the State Department\'s missions to remove barriers, and create a world in which individuals with disabilities enjoy dignity and full inclusion in society.\n', '

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