Former Mavs assistant coach Parker to receive distinguished alumni award

Former Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Charlie Parker will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Findlay during a

ceremony on Saturday in Findlay, Ohio.

Parker wore numerous hats during his impressive career at Findlay, where he graduated in 1972 with degrees in Health and Physical Education and also in Sociology. In addition, Parker was both an honorable mention All-American basketball player and an All-American track performer at Findlay.

“A couple of months ago they asked me if I would accept a nomination of Distinguished Alumni Award, which is historic for that university because there weren’t that many blacks who were distinguished alumni,” Parker told Mavs.com. “It’s a lifetime award for achievement for what you stood for in the community, and how people have learned from you and the success that you’ve had.”

Parker was a Mavs assistant coach from 1996-2006 under Jim Cleamons, Don Nelson and Avery Johnson, working closely with – among others – guards Steve Nash, Jason Terry and Nick Van Exel. He also was the Mavs’ summer league coach from 2004-05, and served on the coaching staffs in 2002 and ’06 for the NBA All-Star games.

In addition, Parker worked as an assistant coach with the Texas Legends under Eduardo Najera in 2012.

With the Mavs, Parker helped organize game plan presentations and pre-game walk-throughs of the opponents.

“I remember being with the Mavericks and Don Nelson used to have a lot of faith in me and had me giving scouting reports and talking about the next opponent,” Parker said. “There were times when he would give me almost every team to introduce their stuff during the scouting report, and then the other coaches – along with him — would give what we’re going to do defensively.

“I had to watch like three or four films on almost every game. I used to watch films until 3-4 o’clock in the morning. On the (Mavs’) plane I didn’t talk to anybody. The only thing I did was watch game film all through the night. People don’t realize how tough of a life this is, but that’s the kind of hard work that I really wanted to do.”

Part of that hard work, Parker said, came from studying former Mavs All-Stars Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, who both joined the Mavs in 1998.

“They were both such workaholics,” Parker said. “They would be the first in the gym and the last ones out, and then come in later during the evening. I remember Don Nelson often telling them, ‘You guys got to go get some rest. You got to go home.’

“I remember nights that I would be working late at America Airlines Center where the office overlooked the (practice) court and the lights would be off, and then all of a sudden at 11 o’clock the lights would come on. I looked out on the court and there’s Dirk and Nash working on their two-man game, working on their shooting, working on their ball handling, working on their passing. But that’s the kind of attitude that it takes to be great, to have the kind of success those two ended of having – MVP, and Dirk obviously won a championship (in 2011).”

It also was the type of spirit embodied by Parker during his playing days at Findlay, where he starred on the basketball court and as a track performer in the hurdles.

“I was an honorable mention All-American (at Findlay) in basketball and I went played in the (NAIA) Sweet 16 in Kansas City, which was a great honor for us. But I was more successful in track than I actually was in basketball.

“In the high hurdles and intermediate hurdles, I was rated nationally, and I had all the school records in those two events. One year I was undefeated in the intermediate hurdles. My senior year I was one of the few athletes that participated in the National NAIA basketball championship in Kansas City, and I also participated in the national track meet as a hurdler in Billings, Montana. I got to the finals, which qualified me to be termed as an All-American, so I was an All-American in basketball and track in the same year.”

That’s one of the reasons the University of Findlay officials wanted to bestow Parker with a Distinguished Alumni Award. In fact, Parker’s first job out of college was as the track and cross country coach and an assistant basketball coach at Findlay. He also was inducted into the University of Findlay’s Hall of Fame in 1989 and has an honorary doctor’s degree from Findlay.

Parker said: “My family always laugh at me when I say, ‘You’re going to have to address me as Dr. Parker. Don’t just say Coach Parker.’ “

Parker, who has a master’s degree from Bowling Green, coached Wayne State to a 120-56 (68.2 percent) record in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) from 1982-88. He was named Coach of the Year twice and was the state of Michigan’s Coach of the Year during the 1983-84 season and led the Tartars to three conference titles and three appearances in the NCAA tournament, and was inducted into the Wayne State Hall of Fame in 2001.

However, Parker’s success didn’t stop in America. He also was the head coach of the Chinese Taipei Men’s National Team from 2016-22.

Parker’s team advanced to the Asian-Pacific University Challenge Final Four in 2016, to the World University Summer Games in 2017, to the Asian Games Final Four in 2018, to the World Cup Championship in 2021 and to a Top 12 finish in the Asian Cup in 2022.

In addition, Parker was the head coach of the Gunma Crane Thunder of the Japan Premier BJ League from 2014-15, and he led that team to the playoffs for the first time in team history while also being selected as the head coach for the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

Parker also guided his team to league and cup championships in the 2011-12 season while coaching Al Muharraq in the Kingdom of Bahrain of the Premier League. That was the first time in the club’s 87-year history that a team won both of those titles in the same year.

Of course, for Parker, there were challenges coaching internationally because of the language barrier.

“I didn’t know how to talk Chinese, Japanese or Arabic, but I did learn how to say hi, thank you and please,” he said. “Of course, I had my app and I always had an interpreter with me, but it was still a great challenge. And I still communicated with them. Even when I couldn’t talk their language, I smiled, gave a handshake.

“Through it all, if (the players) felt that I was sincere, if they felt that I really believed in them and trusted them and was really on their side to win games, normally they would give their best and we would win games. People are people, and the more respect you give to them the more respect they give back to you.”

Parker, who also was an assistant or head coach at the University of Southern California from 1988-96 — and an assistant with the New Orleans Pelicans from 2007-10 — hails from Columbus, Ohio. He is very appreciative of the many doors the University of Findlay opened for him.

“I grew up in Civil Rights times, and a lot of places that I wanted to go and attend school, I wasn’t allowed to go to those schools,” Parker said. “Findlay was an NAIA school that was more lenient to allow black kids in the school.

“Findlay was a predominantly white school, but was very forthcoming as far as racial issues are concerned. They afforded me the opportunity to let me do what I do best.”

And it all has come full circle for Parker, who has now been honored with the University of Findlay’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

X: @DwainPrice