Parks: NBA’s loss was PBA’s gain

MANILA, Philippines - Bobby Parks was probably the best cager never to play in the NBA. He came close to making it to the Atlanta Hawks lineup in 1984-85 but was coach Mike Fratello’s last cut before the regular season opened. Parks managed to suit up for the Hawks in the preseason and in a photo recently uncovered, was shown defending New York’s Bernard King.

Parks, 51, was the Hawks’ third round pick in the 1984 draft where Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton were also chosen. He was the 58th of 228 players picked over 10 rounds and went ahead of Rick Carlisle, Eddie Wilkins, Ken Bannister and Oscar Schmidt.

Last Saturday, Parks passed away at the San Juan De Dios hospital where he was confined for 11 days in the intensive care unit. He stayed at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City for a month then returned home for two weeks before the confinement at San Juan De Dios. 

Parks’ wife Jasmine said he will be cremated. The family met yesterday afternoon to discuss final interment arrangements. Parks’ first wife Zhaine Barbosa and daughter Celine Ira, 17, arrived from Los Angeles the other day. Zhaine is NU star Bobby Ray’s mother. Parks has another son Montell or Summer, 13, with Jasmine. Bobby Ray, 20, was excused from NU practice by coach Eric Altamirano yesterday but insisted on attending. “Ray told Eric his dad would have wanted him not to skip practice,” said Altamirano’s wife Marissa.

Parks wore his familiar No. 22 with the Hawks in the NBA preseason. His teammates included Doc Rivers, Stewart Granger, Kevin Willis, Randy Wittman, Mike Glenn, Antoine Carr, Walker Russell and Dominique Wilkins. Granger and Russell later played in the PBA where Parks averaged a whopping 40.5 points and 15.2 rebounds in 221 games over 13 seasons from 1987 to 1999. At the height of his stardom, Parks hit at a 52.6 clip and fired a career-high 72 points with Shell in 1989. The seven-time Best Import awardee played his last PBA game as a 39-year-old fill-in for Lester Neal in the 1999 Governors Cup, compiling 23 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots in a 48-minute no-relief job. In 2009, Parks was enshrined in the PBA Hall of Fame. Only five players averaged at least 40 points in their PBA career and Parks is in the list with Billy Ray Bates (46.2), Lew Massey (43.4), Larry McNeill (41.7) and Norman Black (40.1). He was extremely loyal to the Shell franchise with whom he played in 12 of his 13 PBA seasons.

Parks played four years under coach Dana Kirk at Memphis State and scored 1,266 points as the Tigers registered an overall record of 86-34 from 1980 to 1984. He sat out the last 12 games of his senior season with a knee injury and ended his college career averaging 10.6 points and 5.0 rebounds. His Memphis State teammates included William Bedford, Keith Lee and Andre Turner.

Parks was on the Miami Tropics team that won the first United States Basketball League (USBL) title in 1987. He scored 18 points in Miami’s 103-99 win over Rhode Island for the crown. Parks’ teammates included World Free, Mario Elie and future PBA import Clinton Wheeler. In 1990, Parks played briefly with the Memphis Rockers in the World Basketball League (WBL), averaging 15.4 points in five games. Among his teammates were John Starks and future PBA imports Winston Crite, Vince Askew, Tony White, Andrew Moten and Sylvester Gray. Parks also played in the Continental Basketball Association and as an import in France.

In the FIBA-Asia Clubs Championships (now called the Champions Cup), Parks starred on two title squads – Andok’s in 1995 and Hapee Toothpaste in 1996, both under coach Junel Baculi. A teammate on both squads was Leo Austria who succeeded Parks as San Miguel Beer head coach in the ABL this season. Parks’ import partner in 1995 was Alex Coles and in 1996, it was Tony Harris. 

Parks also saw action as an import in Indonesia and Brunei. After retiring from the PBA, he suited up for Lhuillier Kwarta Padala in the NBL in 2003 and the Cebu Jewellers in the Sinulog Cup invitationals in 2005. Parks went back to the US in 2006 and looked after his son Ray until 2010 when they returned to Manila. Parks became a consultant with NU where Baculi is sports director and Petron in the PBA then coached San Miguel Beer to the ABL finals last season, finishing a win away from bagging the championship.

It is fitting that the PBA will now award the Bobby Parks Best Import trophy for every reinforced conference. “Bobby epitomized everything we could hope for an import – highly skilled, hard-working, respectful of host country rules and sensibilities and a perfect gentleman on and off the court,” said PBA commissioner Chito Salud. “I therefore cannot think of a better import and human being after which to name the Best Import award, both to honor Bobby’s immense contribution to the PBA as well as to serve as a shining example and inspiration to all imports who play on our shores.”