Cluff Perez, who was originally from Santa Clara, Calif., was a member of the USA’s 1968 Olympic Team. She went first for the U.S. women at the Olympics seven times and is credited with earning the USA’s highest starting scores at an Olympic Games at that time. Cluff Perez also represented the United States at the 1970 World Championships in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, and was fifth in the all-around at the USA-USSR Invitational at Penn State University.

One of the original SCATS athletes, she participated in the 1969 World Gymnaestrada in Berne, Switzerland, and performed throughout Europe, Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. At 20, she retired from competitive gymnastics to start Gymnastics Internationale, where she coached for 10 years before moving to the San Diego Aztecs for three years.

Cluff Perez is currently in her 16th year as an elementary school teacher and lives in a small community in San Diego County. She earned a Bachelor of Science in interior design from California State University – Long Beach and both her Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts/teaching and her Masters of Arts in education curriculum and instruction at San Diego State University.