The truth about Captain Red Beard

By Dean Summers
Madisonville-North Hopkins

Behind the Beard: An Inside Look on an Outside Guy
For most people, the name Captain Red Beard might conjure up a vision of a gruff pirate or maybe a muscle-bound superhero.
How about Governor’s Scholar? Captain Red Beard’s secret identity is Michael Perry, a senior from DuPont Manual High School in Louisville. The drop of a hat or the hint of an audience can turn Michael into Captain Red Beard, the big, hairy jokester and intellectual wit who is becoming a legend on the Bellarmine University campus.
He’ll saunter into a crowd of people, and when they least expect it, BAM! He takes over the room and grabs all the attention. You cannot escape him. He will find you, make you laugh, and you will remember his name. How could you not? Captain Red Beard is not your average persona.
On June 19, the first day of the Governor’s Scholars Program on Bellarmine’s campus in Louisville, Red Beard was already inserting himself into random conversations and making awkward moments hilarious. He was unfazed by the fact everyone around him was a complete stranger.
GSP is a five-week summer residency offering academic courses and leadership training to nearly 1,100 Kentucky high school seniors on Bellarmine and two other Kentucky campuses, Centre College and Murray State University. The application process is highly competitive and rigorous, based on grades, extracurricular activities and public service. Only the best and the brightest from all over the state are accepted. Michael Perry is one of them.
With 358 scholars on the Bellarmine University campus, cliques start to form. Of course every school and workplace has them, and they are not always welcoming.
“Human nature tends to exclude others that are ‘not like me.’ Therefore cliques are not good in the long run,” said GSP Executive Director Aris Cedeño. “You must be accepting of others, and that is what GSP is all about, the community.”
Michael seems to break down those social barriers simply by force of his personality.
Interestingly, it was tragedy that brought him to the place he is now. When two of his cousins died, “It changed the dynamic of my family. It made me see people in a different light,” It impacted Michael in a way that he has used positively to approach people from every clique and bring them together through the joy of laugher.
It should be no surprise to discover that this complex individual has a deeper, intellectual side to him. Other than just being that “social, big hairy funny guy”, Michael says, “People could also see me intellectually and say, here’s someone who knows what he is talking about.”
In an odd pairing Michael’s roommate Tolu Odukoya is from his rival high school in Ashland. They have become fast friends at GSP.
“He’s very funny, very smart,” said Tolu. “We stay up talking about books, music, and cracking jokes. He’s a nice guy, he understands me, and knows what he wants.”
Michael enjoys reading, listening to music, and eating with friends. He’s also class president, a member of the quick-recall team, and performs discus and shot put for DuPont Manual’s track team.
Asked to describe himself, Michael immediately morphed into Captain Red Beard: “Jovial, jocular, and Jehovah’s witness. No, not really, I was just looking for another ‘J’ word.”
Respect the Red Beard.