Perry Moss was born on August 4, 1926 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the 1940s, he was a tailback at the University of Tulsa before becoming the quarterback at Illinois. Between his time at school, Moss served in the United States Air Force for two years. Upon graduation, he was drafted in the 13th round by the Green Bay Packers in 1948, where he played for one year before returning to his alma mater to act as an assistant coach. Soon, Moss was hired as the head baseball and backfield coach at the University of Miami in 1955 and the University of Wisconsin-Madision in 1958. In 1959, he became the head football coach and athletic director for Florida State University. From 1960-1962, Moss served as the head coach for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. In 1968, Moss moved once again to become the coach at Marshall. At one time during the mid-1960s and again in the 1980s, he served as a coach for the semi-professional team, the West Virginia Rockets. In 1991, Perry became the first coach for the Orlando Predators. Moss coached in every American football league.