Born in Nuremberg, Germany, Parker is the son of a World War II veteran who made a career in the U.S. Army. Parker’s father was in the third wave in Normandy, in which Allied forces liberated France. He met Parker’s mother, a German, while stationed in the country after the war ended.
The family settled in Houston when Parker was 5.
Eventually growing to 6-2, he turned into a sought-after basketball guard and played for Coach Jim Killingsworth at TCU. The Killer Frogs were 1986-87 Southwest Conference co-champions. That team went 24-7 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“Winning teams teach you so much,” said teammate Jamie Dixon ’87, TCU Men’s Basketball head coach. “Being part of a team — the work ethic, the discipline you have to show for practice and preparing for practice — it’s a great life lesson athletes hold with them.”
His teammates are still supportive of one another, and Parker considers them his second family.
“That was my fraternity. Those are the guys that I depended on quite frequently,” he said. “[When] you’re playing an NIT or NCAA Tournament and all your friends at TCU are on spring break in Cancún or Cozumel, you’re still sweating, providing that sweat equity for the school and defending Horned Frog Nation.
“There are some lonely, lonely times because you’re just with your teammates. But over the years, I’d give my shirt off my back to any one of my former teammates.”