HANCOCK – Ask Jerry Parker just about anything about athletics at Hancock Central High School and you’ll likely get a quick answer.

As a former HCHS athlete, coach, teacher and administrator, Parker can tell you about the history of Crimson and Gold sports as well as anyone still living.

Former student and player Tony Salani says that Parker “has had his hand in just about every sport here in Hancock.”

“Jerry was the kind of guy who was deeply involved in all aspects. He’s been one of the main people behind the scenes here for years.”

A charter member of the Hancock High Sports Hall of Fame, Parker has been a part of the Bulldogs tradition for nearly 60 years.

Growing up in the late 1940s as a youngster in Boston Location, he said that baseball captured his early interest.

“We had the old Boston Pirates playing here in the summers … that was a big thing for all of us kids,” he said. “It sparked my interest in baseball.”

Hockey was his first love in the winter, but since there was no prep hockey at the time, he went out for basketball.

“I hadn’t played a lot of basketball and didn’t even make the 15-man roster in the 7th grade,” he recalled. “I asked my father to put up a basketball hoop in the backyard and just practiced and practiced. I not only made the team the next year, I was a starter.”

By the time he reached high school, Parker was playing – and excelling – in basketball, football and track.

“That was back in the days when kids competed in every sport available, I was no different,” he said.

Gaining all-conference honors in football and basketball (he once held the school record for rebounds in a game with 26) Parker enrolled at Michigan Tech after graduating from high school in 1957.

After spending two years at Tech and two more at Northern Michigan University, he earned his teaching diploma and began working as a math teacher at HCHS in the fall of 1961.

He assumed JV football and basketball coaching duties the same year. He also had the chance to watch his younger brother, Jim, put together a fine career.

“Jim (Parker) was an excellent football and basketball player,” he said. “But he was probably an even better hockey player. But high school hockey was still a few years off.”

Jerry had the chance to learn more about baseball from his manager in Boston, the late Merv Klemett.

“Merv (Klemett) was a great hitter and a real smart ball player,” he said. “He knew more about the game than anyone else in the Twilight League at the time.”

One of Parker’s baseball accomplishments was winning the league batting title in 1963 with a .456 average. It was one of the few times that Klemett, who won six titles, didn’t grab hitting honors in the 1960s.

Parker was hired as the head football coach at HCHS in 1969 and had immediate success.

His 1969 Hancock team was one of his best, going 7-0-1 and allowing just one touchdown the entire season. For the season, the Bulldogs allowed just 27 passes to be completed while intercepting 23.

“We weren’t overly big but we had a great bunch of athletes on that team,” he said. “And they were really good kids to boot.”

Hancock was again very good in 1973 when Parker was chosen as the Copper Country Conference and U.P. Coach of the year. The Bulldogs featured current Tech head coach Tom Kearly at quarterback and speedy Steve Salani at tailback.

Another one of his fondest memories was ending Calumet’s string of 17 straight CCC track titles in 1969.

“Calumet and (coach) Walt Kitti had ruled track around here for a long time. But we had two great athletes in Richard Salani and Bill Tarbox. We entered them in as many events as we could … and knocked Calumet off that year,” he commented.

He later went into administration at HCHS, serving as athletic director and assistant principal. But he was always ready fill in whenever a coaching job couldn’t be filled.

“One year, I was the golf coach, Another year, I filled in as junior high girls basketball coach. And I was an assistant hockey coach for two years when Rick Miller was hired,” he noted.

Neither the late Miller or he had that much experience in hockey, but they had a plan.

“Rick went over to Michigan Tech and spent many hours with the coaches to learn the game, ” he said. “I went there and talked with the players and tried to pick up what I could.”

The plan bore fruit as Miller guided the Bulldogs to more than 350 wins and a state championship.

After leaving the teaching ranks, Parker came out of retirement to coach the Hancock football, JV football and girls track team for two years in the middle 1990s.

Once an avid golfer (he has two aces to his credit), he now spends most of his spare time fishing with his wife, Jean, who he says “usually outfishes me.”

“My brother is the real golfer in the family. Heck, he has five hole-in-ones. He works hard at it, which you have to do if you’re going to do well.”

Parker, who still volunteers as a scorekeeper at Hancock games, says the the biggest changes in prep sports is the specialization by many athletes and the facilities.

“You see a lot of kids … who could be good in other sports … just playing one sport. I don’t particularly like that,” he said. “And the fields they’re playing on are so much better than in the past. McAfee Field in Hancock is as good as many college teams have to play on.”

In addition to never losing (3-0-1) a Copper Bowl football game to rival Houghton, Parker proudly says he never received a technical foul or a flag while coaching.

“I always told my players to address officials with respect,” he said. “As a result, my teams were seldom penalized for verbal abuse. And you just might get a call somewhere down the line by acting that way.”