Parks had great career at BVA, Robert Morris
Tom Parks cut a wide swath with his athletic endeavors at Belle Vernon High School in the late 1970s. He wound up being one of the most celebrated athletes in the history of the school.
He had success at Bellmar Junior High and when he got to Belle Vernon High School, he made an immediate impact on a senior-laden team that finished with an 18-5 record in his sophomore season. The Leopards lost to Ringgold in the WPIAL playoffs 70-50. Parks tallied 250 points for an average of 10.9 points.
“I started as a sophomore,” Parks recalled. “Ironically, I was playing with a group of seniors: Ed Picchiarini, Gary Sefchock and Greg Onderko who I played with on the playgrounds for years and years. As a sophomore I was around a group of seniors and we were probably seven deep. We had a good year and I did a lot of growing up that year.”
Parks was the lone returning starter for Belle Vernon in his junior season in 1976-77 as the Leopards slipped to a 7-13 mark. Parks scored 354 points for an average of 18.6 points. He was a first-team selection on the Section 4 All-Star team.
“My junior year, we had a lot of guys with no experience, with no playing time,” Parks remembers. “It was definitely rebuilding and getting new guys in the mix.”
Parks was hampered by a football injury at the start of his senior basketball campaign in 1977-78. He had broken both of his wrists during the football season. After a slow start the Leopards finished with a 26-5 record and captured the school’s first WPIAL title.
“During summer I could see what was coming my senior year,” Parks said. “We went to basketball camps during the summer and Randy Giannini stepped up at the point guard position and made a big step from his junior to his senior year. Greg Grimm transferred in and with him and Bill Contz and all of us being around 6-5 or 6-6, it gave me the ability to move outside to a wing position and my game was better out front. That gave us the ability to match-up with a lot of teams, especially when it came to the WPIAL playoffs.”
Parks scored 570 points for an average of 18.4 a game. The Leopards made a run to the WPIAL championship beating Hempfield 53-32, Wilkinsburg 63-62, New Castle 59-48 and downing Norwin 62-58 in the WPIAL final. The Leopards beat Erie Academy in the PIAA playoffs 54-46, before being ousted by Erie Cathedral Prep 65-55.
“We had three big guys and we also had a 6-3 leaper in Johnny Russell,” Parks said. “We beat Wilkinsburg and Bruce Atkins and I had a big game with 21 points and we beat Norwin and they had Doug Arnold. During the season on a personal note I set a school record with 45 points against Brownsville. As a team, I can tell you what catapulted us in the playoffs that year was clinching Section 3 early and then in the last two games of the regular season we got beat by Monessen and Ringgold and that lit a fire under us.
“We came into the WPIAL tournament as underdogs and not a lot people knew about us. It was a great accomplishment to win the WPIAL title. It was tough losing in the PIAA tournament. We had a jam packed house for the Erie Cathedral Prep game. There were three games scheduled and nobody left and people were standing on the out of bounds lines all around the court. I had a good game with 23 points, but it was a tough loss.”
Park’s athletic prowess extended to the football field. He received all-state honorable mention honors as a two-way end, especially as a pass rusher.
In Parks’ sophomore football season the Leopards were 2-7, his junior season they went 8-2 and his senior season they finished 6-4 under coach Jeff Petrucci.
When Parks suffered the two broken wrists playing football as a senior he decided that basketball would be his sport in college.
As a senior, Parks garnered the Section 3 MVP award, made the UPI and AP All-State teams and played in the Dapper Dan Roundball Classic in 1978. Parks picked up MVP honors for the Pennsylvania team, tallying 17 points in a 101-78 loss to California.
Parks (1,027) is number 18 on the Colonials All-Time scoring list. The Colonials were 13-14 in 1978-79. They went 7-19 in 79-80. Parks missed the entire 1980-81 season with an injury. In 1981-82, the Colonials finished 17-13. Parks scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds in the Colonials historic 85-84 Metro-South championship game win over Long Island which sent the young RMC squad to the NCAA tournament. The Colonials lost to Indiana 94-65.
RMC finished 23-8 during Parks’ senior campaign, beating Georgia Southern in the NCAA play-in game 64-54 and falling to Purdue 55-53 in the Mideast Regional in Tampa, Fla. Parks scored 12 points in the loss.
“I accomplished a couple of goals,” Parks said. “I was able to play locally where my parents and grandparents could be part of it. I was able to go in and help build a program from scratch. Two NCAA Tournaments I thought was a big accomplishment.”
He was inducted into the Robert Morris Hall of Fame in 1993 and the Mid Mon Valley All Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
Parks,51, and his wife of 15 years, Sue, reside in Florida. He has been employed since 1995 in the food industry and is a food broker for Baseline Distribution. Parks has two children: Christina, 24, and Thomas “Rocky,” 22.