Jesse Parker, with Gilbert’s victory over Highland Friday night, is now the winningest football coach in Arizona prep history.
I had the pleasure of meeting Parker over a decade ago when he was at Mountain View High School in Mesa The topic was not football.
Parker was my daughter’s advance placement history teacher.
Now an attorney in Baltimore, my daughter was going through a rebellious stage and not doing well in Parker’s class.
I approached Parker braced for an icy blast. His reputation as a harsh taskmaster with his football players had brought him under criticism on the Tribune’s pages.
My imagination assumed a parallel with Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes. Like Parker, Hayes loved history. Like Parker, Hayes passion for football led to excesses that got him in trouble.
After Hayes was fired as football coach, I heard him give a talk to a business group about the Battle of Midway.
I ran into Hayes when the speech was over and we chatted it up about history, which is one of my passions–until he found out I was a reporter. No matter that I was a political reporter, our conversation came to an icy end.
Would Parker be that way, I wondered? Would he be cold? Would he brush me off? Did he really care about my daughter? Was he only about the boys on the field?
From the handshake on, I knew that this was a different kind of football coach and history teacher. We must have talked for half an hour about my daughter and history.
My daughter wasn’t doing her best. He knew it. She knew it, and he wasn’t going to let her get by with it.
I appreciated that. This smart girl was getting her worst grade ever, and he cared enough to set a standard that she was capable of achieving.
On history, I think we talked about the Civil War–for a long time. Strangely, we also talked about spirituality. I remember we shared our love of Amazing Grace.
That’s it. That was my encounter with Jesse Parker.
He’s a great football coach. But he’s far more than a football coach.
He’s an amazing man. I salute him on his latest achievement and for much more.
There are a lot of us who agree that Coach Parker was more than a football coach. He really does have a mission to help students grow to be strong and contributing adults. His work is done in schools and the results are felt in the community. A number of his former students have created a FaceBook group to celebrate his dedication to making us better:
Coach Jesse Parker Arizona Alumni
- It is open to of his former students and athletes, many of us who are now adults raising our own students. We want him to know - yea, we get it! (And really appreciate the tools he gave us to continue the tradition of working to be your best.)