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New director has sports in his blood
BY GEOFF COX • STAFF WRITER
 | | Brian Parker |
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MONTEREY - The search for a recreation/athletic director for Highland county is over. Last Wednesday the county filled the position by hiring Brian Parker of Suffolk.
Parker, 38, is single, has two dogs and two cats, and is currently boarding a horse. "It (the horse) probably won't come with me," he said. He is the son of a coach, has played sports his whole life and coached for the last ten.
His father, Gail Parker, coached professionally starting in the early 70's at Marshall University in Huntington W.Va. "He was the freshman football coach and the only one who flew down to the East Carolina game that didn't fly back," said Parker. "He went on a recruiting trip after the game."
The rest of the team flew back to Marshall and perished when the plane crashed near the Huntington airport in bad weather. The tragic story was recently made into the movie "We are Marshall."
"My dad's not mentioned in the movie," Parker said. "He turned down (request for) interviews. He doesn't like to talk about it."
In 1971, Parker's father left Marshall and accepted the head football coaching position at Franklin H.S. and the Parker's moved to Franklin, Va.
He coached there for about five years before he became an insurance agent with Farm Bureau Insurance. "He still coaches," said Parker. "Right now he's a volunteer coach at Deep Creek in Chesapeake.
While a student at Franklin High School in Franklin Va, Parker played football, basketball, and baseball. "Basketball is my favorite," he said.
After graduating high school, Parker did a wide variety of jobs including working in a body shop and restaurants before continuing his education at Paul D. Camp Community College in Suffolk , then transferring to Virginia Tech. Parker graduated from Va. Tech in 2004 with a degree in history.
"I thought I needed something different," he said.
While at Tech in Blacksburg, Parker worked in the town's parks and recreation department "pretty much the whole time I was there."
Parker began coaching Suffolk area AAU basketball teams in 1998, and his 15 - under team finished third in the state, and won the Nationals in New Orleans in 2002. Parker said the championship team wasn't the most talented team he has coached but they had heart.
"The heart of a champion will beat the most talented team any day,' he said.
While teaching special education he was also the head J.V. football and assistant varsity football coach at Lakeland H.S. near Suffolk from 2004-2006, and the assistant varsity football coach last year at Southhampton H.S., in Suffolk.
"I like watching the community support of the small schools at the state tournaments I've been at," he said.
"I'm looking forward to the challenge. I think being both ( AD and RD) is good to see what needs the school has and (how to) address them. It's important to develop skills before high school to be competitive. If the kids come and work hard, we can compete."
"It's important to develop tradition and pride," he continued. "Every program has good years and bad years. If you develop tradition and pride, at least you'll be competitive in the bad years. Places where they have tradition are competitive even in down years because they expect to win."
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