| Formula Shell | |
|---|---|
| Guard | |
| Personal information | |
| Place of birth | Grand Junction, Tennessee, USA |
| Nationality | USA |
| Listed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Career information | |
| College | Memphis State University |
| Pro career | 1987–2000 |
| League | PBA |
| Career history | |
| San Miguel Beer Anejo Rhum Formula Shell |
|
| Career highlights and awards | |
| 7-time best import (1987-1993) member 5,000 point club member 2,000 rebounds club |
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Bobby Ray Parks is an American professional basketball player from Grand Junction, Tennessee. He played for Memphis State University (now the University of Memphis) during the 1980s and played internationally in France and the Philippines. One of the most celebrated "import" players in Filipino basketball history, Parks became the second American ever inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in September 2009.[1]
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Bobby Parks came to Memphis State in the fall of 1980 under head coach Dana Kirk. Over the next four seasons he helped the Tigers to an 86-34 record, two Metro Conference Championships and three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. The Middleton High graduate appeared in 27 games as a freshman and totaled 238 points. During his second season with the Tigers, 1981–82, Parks upped his scoring average to 11.4 points per game in leading the team to a 24-5 record. As a junior, Parks received All-America honors from The Sporting News after scoring 488 points and helping his team to an NCAA Midwest Region invitation. He capped his Memphis career by again averaging in double figures in scoring and finished his senior season with a Sweet 16 appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Parks is now ranked 15th in his alma mater's career scoring with 1,266 points.[2]
Parks was chosen in the third round by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1984 NBA Draft, the 58th player of 228 chosen in the draft. Wearing his trademark No. 22, Bobby played for the Hawks in the NBA preseason but was cut before the regular campaign started.
Parks began a career overseas in France in 1986 and in 1987, played in the Philippines where he would become a legend.
He made his PBA debut for San Miguel Beer in 1987 then saw action for Formula Shell up to 1998, finishing his 12-year career with nearly 9,000 points, over 3,000 rebounds and more than 1,000 assists in 220 games. In 1989, he averaged a whopping 52.6 points in 23 games with a high of 72. Parks won a PBA record of seven Best Import awards and led his team to five championships. In addition to his basketball, Parks has appeared in several Filipino movies.[2]
Parks is one of the University of Memphis athletes inducted into the M Club Hall of Fame in 2004.[2]
He returned to Memphis in 2005, partly to finish his degree under the invitation of coach John Calipari and the athletic department.[3] Another motivation for the move was to bring his son Bobby Jr. (also known as Ray), a promising teenage player, to Memphis to expose him to better basketball competition; his son would join him in Memphis in 2006.[1]
Parks also served as the personal assistant to John Paul "Jack" Jones, a wealthy University of Virginia alum from Memphis who is the namesake for UVA's current basketball arena.[4]
On 2 June 2010, Parks and his family moved back to the Philippines. Parks accepted a position as athletics director at National University in Manila.[5] During that time, he was in the middle of a battle with laryngeal cancer; his treatment was reported to be successful in April 2011.[6] In November 2010, Bobby Jr. signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Georgia Tech, but then disappeared from the view of both Tech and the American media for several months. Eventually, Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated tracked the younger Parks down, discovering in April 2011 that he had enrolled at NU and was expected to lead the Bulldogs in the upcoming UAAP season.[6]