Eugene Parker: VU law alum!

[LaPorteAveApostle]

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130602/SPORTS/130609848/two-bills-drive-1004

I was reading this article on NFL superagent Eugene Parker, who's easily one of the best in the business, and certainly one of the most respected.

What I didn't know is that he got his law degree from Valpo.

Is this common knowledge?  This guy should be giving commencement addresses and stuff.  In the words of Ron Burgundy,

[valpotx]

I believe it is on our wiki page, which is how I knew about it

[78crusader]

Parker was an excellent guard on the Purdue teams of the mid-1970s.  Those teams never got the recognition they deserved, since (1) IU was going great guns back then, and (2) up until, I think, 1976, only one team per conference made the NCAA tournament.  (I distinctly recall IU playing Mich in a playoff game in 1974 since both teams had tied for the Big 10 title; the winner, Mich, went to the NCAA; the loser, IU, went to the NIT. And IU finished 22-6 that year.) 

Paul

[Valpo71]

Parker was a very good player from Ft. Wayne Concordia and an assistant coach for the Crusaders while in law school.  I think one of his early clients was Ron Woodson.

[vu72]

The law school has a national reputation concerning sports representation.  I doubt the clinic was in existance when he was in school but nonetheless there is a continued emphasis in this area.

http://www.valpo.edu/law/current-students/sports-law-clinic

[FWalum]

Parker was a very good player from Ft. Wayne Concordia and an assistant coach for the Crusaders while in law school.  I think one of his early clients was Ron Woodson.

Correct on all counts.  Eugene's work ethic while in high school was amazing,  In the early 70's you didn't have AAU in the form it is today or elite training companies like Athletes With Purpose.  Literally every morning before school you could see Gene in the gym working on drills.  He was coached at Concordia by Glenn Parrish another VU grad who was also the MVP of the baseball team when he played at Valpo. http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100206/SPORTS/2060324/1002

I also wanted to mention, and I know you guys probably get tired of me talking about it, but the "predominantly white private school" mentioned in the article was St Paul's Lutheran School the oldest continually operating elementary school in the state of Indiana and of course the school connected to the church were the Lutheran University Association was started.

[FWalum]

This is maybe a little off the original subject of Eugene Parker, but has Concordia Lutheran High School and Valparaiso University in common.


This past weekend Richard Pierce Ph.D. received the Distinguished Alumni award from Concordia Lutheran High School.  Dr. Pierce, is the Chair of the Africana Studies Department at Notre Dame, he graduated from CLHS in 1981, received a BA in history from Valparaiso University and his Ph.D. from Indiana University.

Profile:
Dr. Pierce's first manuscript, Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920-1970, was published by Indiana University Press. He was a consultant for the "Faith and Community Initiative" of the Project on Religion and Urban Culture" at POLIS Research Center and For Gold and Glory, an award-winning documentary that depicted the African American automobile racing league of the 1920s. He has published articles and essays that have appeared in the Journal of Urban History, The State of Indiana history 2000, Robert Taylor, ed., Chicago Tribune, and National Public Radio. Most recently, his essay, "In Pursuit of Civil Discourse in the Academy", was featured in Diverse Magazine, formerly known as Black Issues in Higher Education.
In recent years, he has been awarded multiple fellowship and academic appointments. These include: Joan D. Kroc Institute for Peace Fellow (2002); Carl E. Koch, Jr., Assistant Professor of History Chair (2000), a Ford Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for African American Urban Studies and the Economy (CAUSE) at Carnegie Mellon University (2000); and was a member of the Indiana Delegation to Capitol Hill in support of the NEH (1998). In 2004, he was elected the Indiana Historical Society board of directors.

At the presentation ceremony Dr. Pierce literally had the audience in tears as he talked about what his time at Concordia meant to him and how a short phrase from the school song "undaunted strong and true" was the way he tried to live his life.  He also talked about his time at VU playing offensive line for the football team.  A truly inspirational man and speaker.