Preston Parker

Like a lot of guys on February 4th, I kept checking Rivals.com to see how the recruiting at my favorite college football schools was doing. In process I came across an interesting link/article, "Look back at Class of 2005: Good, bad and tragic," which looked at the Top 100 athletes recruited into colleges in 2005, how they did, and what they are up to now. (see http://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=908560). It's amazing the contrast in the life stories of some of these kids. So many were thrown out of school—sometimes multiple schools--that the extremes (the ones cashing in with the NFL or are waiting for or are already in prison) pale by comparison. There are many good kids in the middle, outstanding athletes, doing their thing and basically out of this conversation/diatribe. Good guys. Soon to be former athletes and pillars of their communities. But, what strikes you is the number of young men thrown out of their schools. Schools that surely wanted to keep them in school and brag about their success in graduating their athletes.

Being a Florida State fan, I have been really hit with this lately. Two of the best and physically similar players this year were Myron Rolle and Preston Parker. I guess neither was on that graduating list from 2005. It is hard to say who the more talented athlete is. Both are handsome black men with great potential. At FSU they put little tomahawks on your helmet when you do well on the field. Both had so many tomahawks that the gold below barely shone below. To be honest, I did not know their backgrounds, but I suspected one or both grew up without a father around. My father died when I was young, so I know firsthand what that can lead to. I was wrong about Myron Rolle.

Myron Rolle, a potential first or second round draft pick, chose to accept the honor of a Rhodes Scholarship this year. He had two, apparently loving parents, originally from Jamaica. He graduated high school a year early and from FSU in 2.5 years so. I guess he thought he could wait a year to cash in on all his hard work as an athlete. Very good for him! As a young man I'm sure he learned Premack's Principle--likely from his parents.

I can't say I know anything about his life outside of football really, but Wikipedia (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_Rolle ) tells a story of a kid who grew up with two parents and whose hero, Robert Smith (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_(football_player) may even be more captivating than Myron Rolle. So, I was wrong about him being without his father like another FSU legend, Dexter Carter. I am glad about that.

There is no Wikipedia entry for Preston Parker.

You could look at the Seminoles page in which they describe Preston Parker as "An All-American candidate as one of the most athletic wide receiver/tailbacks in the nation, " (see http://seminoles.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/parker_preston00.html), but I suggest you do that right away as the university is not likely to keep the web site up very long. Preston Parker, stoned out on pot and whatever, fell asleep in a drive-through at a McDonalds in Tallahassee. It was his third major fuck-up and his second within a year. FSU and Saint Bobby had no choice but to toss his ass to the wolves. He still has his scholarship, which is only fair in an organization that makes millions off or these supremely talented kids. It's a symbiotic relationship.

Had he been a little more circumspect, there would be little doubt that he could have been a very rich young man in short order. I've seen him fill in at quarterback at one of the better programs in the US. Physically, Preston Parker is a gem. I think if you placed him down in a Brazilian football team, he would wind up showing them Pele's shortcomings.

I couldn't find anything on the Internet about Preston Parker's personal life except that he was born in 1987, the year after Myron Rolle was born. I'm hoping that Preston snaps out of it. He doesn't have to be a Rhodes Scholar, nor me nor you—whoever you are. I just hope he finds a way to change his M.O. before it's too late. It happens. Like my other brothers and sisters in academia who love these talented young people, I wish we could have given him more of what he needed. We didn't reach him. Or at least we didn't reach him and grab hold tightly enough. Maybe he'll recall something we did to reach him and that will help.