Any of our older (than me) board members remember this dude.....

[OkieBilliken]

My newest add to my Billiken collection is someone that appeared to have a pretty good career but really isn't mentioned with any of SLU's all-time greats.  I hadn't really heard of him until recently......

[TheA_Bomb]

No but I love the idea.  I just have a bunch of Pat Leahy cards. I'd be into an exchange to build up my former Billiken card collection.

 

I have a pretty sweet baseball card collection.

[OkieBilliken]

10 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

No but I love the idea.  I just have a bunch of Pat Leahy cards. I'd be into an exchange to build up my former Billiken card collection.

 

I have a pretty sweet baseball card collection.

I have about 500 different cards from SLU athletes.   I think I have every Leahy card ever made, and there are some obscure ones.  Mostly basketball and soccer in the collection,  but it’s been fun tracking down minor league baseball cards, especially the last ten years where we have had a ton of pro players.  Even have a few NHL cards from our short stint in college hockey.    Unless James Norwood signs a free agent contract, 2024 may be the first year SLU doesn’t have an active pro baseball player alum in quite awhile, although we may have a stray playing in an independent league I don’t know about.  

[TheA_Bomb]

Can you list the names and sports? I'll use the names and sports to track down the cards.

[OkieBilliken]

Basketball (Bonner, David Burns, Claggett, Monroe Douglass, Dwayne Evans, Josh Fisher, Hasahn French, Goodwin, Roland Gray, Highmark, Hughes, Maurice Jeffers, Andrew Latimer, Rob Loe, Macaulay, Majerus, Lewis McKinney, Gene Moore, Willie Reed, Miles Reynolds, Mel Robinson, H Waldman)

Soccer (Barklage, Becher, Brcic, Brad Davis, Darryl Doran, Eise, Frederickson, Kevin Handlan, John Hayes, Vedad Ibisevic, Jewsbury, Kalish, Kipp Keller, Chris Kenny, John Klein Sr, Maurer, McAvin, Brian McBride, Pat McBride, McDoniel, McKeon, Tim Ream, Bruce Rudroff, Santel, Dipsy, Sorber, Strunk & Maddie Pokorny)

Hockey. (Mario Faubert, Lindsay Middlebrook, Krushelnyski)

Baseball. (Mike Barger, Shane Benes, Ryan Bird, Jason Boehlow, Len Boehmer, Danny Brock, Pat Conreaux, Nick Crocker, Drew Denkinger, Matt Eckelman, Colton Frabasilio, Bob Habenicht, Mike Huelsmann, Miller Hogan, Wes Jailet, Brian Kern, Alex King, Connor Lehman, Braxton Martinez, James Morisano, Bill Musselman, Grant Nelson, James Norwood, Zach Outman, Jeff Peer, Drew Reveno, Gene Robertson, Ray Schmandt, Dave Sever, Dan Shouse, Alec Sole, Luke Sommerfield, Brad Wehrfritz, Curtis Whitten.   
 

My copy/paste skills getting a workout

[billikenbill]

Sad ending for Mr. Parks. Was shot and killed in a St. Louis bar in ‘78.

 As close as I followed the ABA and as much as read about it over the years, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him.

[wgstl]

Just now, billikenbill said:

Sad ending for Mr. Parks. Was shot and killed in a St. Louis bar in ‘78.

 As close as I followed the ABA and as much as read about it over the years, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him.

Dang. 

 

[OkieBilliken]

4 minutes ago, billikenbill said:

Sad ending for Mr. Parks. Was shot and killed in a St. Louis bar in ‘78.

 As close as I followed the ABA and as much as read about it over the years, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him.

That’s pretty terrible. RIP

[Pistol]

He's one of those names that I vaguely knew from the record book and from being one of our NBA/ABA players, but I didn't really know anything about him. He was SLU's 1966 MVP, averaging 18.6 PPG and 12.6 RPG.

Parks was shot at Alexander's 49er Bar at 4915 Dr. MLK Drive, which is a vacant lot today. He was living on the 4300 block of Garfield Ave. at the time, about 6 blocks east of there. According to the article, he got into an argument with a guy (unidentified at the time and I can't figure out whether they ever identified him) inside the bar and the guy shot him outside at 11:15 when Parks left. He was just 34 when he was killed.

@OkieBilliken, your card highlights the season that Parks won an ABA title with the Pittsburgh Pipers, the highlight of his brief pro career.

By the way, SLU had 4 players go in the 1968 draft (2 years after Parks was drafted), something I didn't realize until today - Rich Niemann, Gene Moore, Barry Orms, and Don Dee.

The last one has an asterisk, because Dee played for SLU from 1962-1964 and then at Saint Mary of the Plains from 1966-1968. (SMPC closed in 1992.) Dee played for the 1968 U.S. Olympic team and won a gold medal.

[willie]

Parks was a very good player.He and Moore were monsters on the boards. You latter day board members are always talking about all time BAD Billiken coaches. Buddie Brehmer should be in that conversation. Was told he was an alcoholic. While it is impressive to have all of those draft picks there was something like 20 rounds not the 2 of today. 

[BLIKNS]

Thought for sure Rich Niemann had a card,doing a Google search only saw him in a retro set of Miami Floridians 71-72

[Matty Light]

2 hours ago, billikenbill said:

Sad ending for Mr. Parks. Was shot and killed in a St. Louis bar in ‘78.

 As close as I followed the ABA and as much as read about it over the years, I’m surprised I hadn’t heard of him.

Hope it wasn't over a dice game like that Stagger Lee tune.

[Lord Elrond]

2 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Basketball (Bonner, David Burns, Claggett, Monroe Douglass, Dwayne Evans, Josh Fisher, Hasahn French, Goodwin, Roland Gray, Highmark, Hughes, Maurice Jeffers, Andrew Latimer, Rob Loe, Macaulay, Majerus, Lewis McKinney, Gene Moore, Willie Reed, Miles Reynolds, Mel Robinson, H Waldman)

Soccer (Barklage, Becher, Brcic, Brad Davis, Darryl Doran, Eise, Frederickson, Kevin Handlan, John Hayes, Vedad Ibisevic, Jewsbury, Kalish, Kipp Keller, Chris Kenny, John Klein Sr, Maurer, McAvin, Brian McBride, Pat McBride, McDoniel, McKeon, Tim Ream, Bruce Rudroff, Santel, Dipsy, Sorber, Strunk & Maddie Pokorny)

Hockey. (Mario Faubert, Lindsay Middlebrook, Krushelnyski)

Baseball. (Mike Barger, Shane Benes, Ryan Bird, Jason Boehlow, Len Boehmer, Danny Brock, Pat Conreaux, Nick Crocker, Drew Denkinger, Matt Eckelman, Colton Frabasilio, Bob Habenicht, , Miller Hogan, Wes Jailet, Brian Kern, Alex King, Connor Lehman, Braxton Martinez, James Morisano, Bill Musselman, Grant Nelson, James Norwood, Zach Outman, Jeff Peer, Drew Reveno, Gene Robertson, Ray Schmandt, Dave Sever, Dan Shouse, Alec Sole, Luke Sommerfield, Brad Wehrfritz, Curtis Whitten.   
 

My copy/paste skills getting a workout

That’s a heck of a collection! Very Impressive.

[OkieBilliken]

1 hour ago, Lord Elrond said:

That’s a heck of a collection! Very Impressive.

Thanks.  Several years in the making.  

[OkieBilliken]

1 hour ago, BLIKNS said:

Thought for sure Rich Niemann had a card,doing a Google search only saw him in a retro set of Miami Floridians 71-72

Haven’t found that card for sale yet.   I do have a nice auto picture of Niemann.  

[HoosierPal]

@OkieBilliken  Here are Park's SLU stats.  Pretty good senior year.

Rich Parks (St. Louis, Mo./Sumner HS)

Year         GP FG-A    Pct. FT A   Pct.  Reb/Avg   Pts/Avg

1963-64 25 72-201 .358 38-65 .585 208/8.3 182/7.3

1964-65 18 63-152 .414 26-44 .591 158/8.8 152/8.4

1965-66 26 194-415 .467 95-154 .617 318/12.7 483/18.6

Career 69 329-768 .428 159-263 .605 684/10.1 817/11.8

On the Senior Class listings, he is 4th in Reb Ave, T-5th Reb, and Single Season, T-9th Reb Ave.

[thetorch]

My grandfather scouted for SLU in the 40s, 50s and 60s and Richie Parks was one of his favorite STL players he ever saw.

While SLU had some black players before Parks, Parks was the first black star at SLU, some of that was that he was allowed to play, instead of just being token black guy on the bench but he was a powerful PF.  Musclebound in the mold of the late 70s and early 80s NBA enforcer types.  Inside the paint he was unstoppable and was the best Billiken rebounder until Bonner.

Bennington recruited him to SLU.  His reputation among blacks in the area was not great but Parks wanted to stay home and he and his HS coach, James Price, wanted him to become the first hometown black star.  As was the custom with many private schools at the time, Bennington didn't let Parks star.  He was relegated to rebounding and setting screens so the white guys could shoot.  I don't know if Bennington was really racist or just going with what was accepted at the time.  Bennington recruited a big man right after Parks from Maplewood, Matthew Aitch.  When he flunked out of SLU Bennington sent him to Moberly and then took him with him to Michigan St where he was all Big 10 performer.  Hard to believe he'd do that if he was really a big racist.

My father told me he remembers he was 14 or 15 and the Billikens played Bobby Knight and Coach K in the NIT Park's Jr year.  The announcers talked up Parks as the real threat on SLU, even though he was just a role player.  My father didn't think Parks was good at all.  My grandfather quickly informed him the announcers were right and were probably fed their talking points by Coach Knight.

Parks senior year Brehmer became coach and let Parks off the leash.  He had one of the best single seasons in Billikens history going for an 18 and 12 year.  The MVC was a powerhouse, Cincy went to the elite 8 and 5 of the 8 teams including SLU were ranked at some point in the season.  People piss on Buddy Brehmer but SLU played 26 games that season, 16 opponents were ranked during the season.  A juggernaut of a schedule.  Parks was the 2nd best big in the conference, only bested by somebody named Wes Unseld.  Parks went toe to toe with Unseld at Kiel and beat him, SLU also knocked off Cincy when they were top 5 that year.

Parks was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA draft but they cut him and he played for a semi pro company team.  The year after he made the Pittsburgh Pipers, playing in a reserve role behind Connie Hawkins, and won an ABA title. The Pipers brought him back the next year but while Parks was back home he got into a car wreck at Grand and MLK.  His knees were destroyed.  He came back to play but team doctors said his career was over. 

Parks life took a downward spiral after that.  Multiple jobs, divorce, and alcoholism.  He moved back in with his mother in his childhood home.  By the time of his death he had become the neighborhood drunk.  The 49er bar was home to him and the regulars knew to put up with the huge man's drunken antics.  The night of his death a couple who didn't know Parks came into the bar.  Parks hit on the woman and physically assaulted her.  The couple fled the bar with Parks in pursuit.  A fight between the man and Parks ended in Parks being shot 5 times.

A tragic ending but Parks was one of the all-time greats and a true trailblazer at SLU, succeeding as a Billiken despite the many obstacles in his way.

 

[thetorch]

11 hours ago, willie said:

Parks was a very good player.He and Moore were monsters on the boards. You latter day board members are always talking about all time BAD Billiken coaches. Buddie Brehmer should be in that conversation. Was told he was an alcoholic. While it is impressive to have all of those draft picks there was something like 20 rounds not the 2 of today. 

Moore was 22nd, Dees 25th, Niemann 42nd.  All those guys would be drafted today under the current two round system.  Orms was 96 but ended up with 3 times as many NBA minutes as the other 3 combined.  

[OkieBilliken]

7 hours ago, thetorch said:

My grandfather scouted for SLU in the 40s, 50s and 60s and Richie Parks was one of his favorite STL players he ever saw.

While SLU had some black players before Parks, Parks was the first black star at SLU, some of that was that he was allowed to play, instead of just being token black guy on the bench but he was a powerful PF.  Musclebound in the mold of the late 70s and early 80s NBA enforcer types.  Inside the paint he was unstoppable and was the best Billiken rebounder until Bonner.

Bennington recruited him to SLU.  His reputation among blacks in the area was not great but Parks wanted to stay home and he and his HS coach, James Price, wanted him to become the first hometown black star.  As was the custom with many private schools at the time, Bennington didn't let Parks star.  He was relegated to rebounding and setting screens so the white guys could shoot.  I don't know if Bennington was really racist or just going with what was accepted at the time.  Bennington recruited a big man right after Parks from Maplewood, Matthew Aitch.  When he flunked out of SLU Bennington sent him to Moberly and then took him with him to Michigan St where he was all Big 10 performer.  Hard to believe he'd do that if he was really a big racist.

My father told me he remembers he was 14 or 15 and the Billikens played Bobby Knight and Coach K in the NIT Park's Jr year.  The announcers talked up Parks as the real threat on SLU, even though he was just a role player.  My father didn't think Parks was good at all.  My grandfather quickly informed him the announcers were right and were probably fed their talking points by Coach Knight.

Parks senior year Brehmer became coach and let Parks off the leash.  He had one of the best single seasons in Billikens history going for an 18 and 12 year.  The MVC was a powerhouse, Cincy went to the elite 8 and 5 of the 8 teams including SLU were ranked at some point in the season.  People piss on Buddy Brehmer but SLU played 26 games that season, 16 opponents were ranked during the season.  A juggernaut of a schedule.  Parks was the 2nd best big in the conference, only bested by somebody named Wes Unseld.  Parks went toe to toe with Unseld at Kiel and beat him, SLU also knocked off Cincy when they were top 5 that year.

Parks was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA draft but they cut him and he played for a semi pro company team.  The year after he made the Pittsburgh Pipers, playing in a reserve role behind Connie Hawkins, and won an ABA title. The Pipers brought him back the next year but while Parks was back home he got into a car wreck at Grand and MLK.  His knees were destroyed.  He came back to play but team doctors said his career was over. 

Parks life took a downward spiral after that.  Multiple jobs, divorce, and alcoholism.  He moved back in with his mother in his childhood home.  By the time of his death he had become the neighborhood drunk.  The 49er bar was home to him and the regulars knew to put up with the huge man's drunken antics.  The night of his death a couple who didn't know Parks came into the bar.  Parks hit on the woman and physically assaulted her.  The couple fled the bar with Parks in pursuit.  A fight between the man and Parks ended in Parks being shot 5 times.

A tragic ending but Parks was one of the all-time greats and a true trailblazer at SLU, succeeding as a Billiken despite the many obstacles in his way.

 

Amazing details.  Thanks for sharing.  Very sad.   Glad I found that card - ending up learning a lot.   

[Pistol]

40 minutes ago, OkieBilliken said:

Amazing details.  Thanks for sharing.  Very sad.   Glad I found that card - ending up learning a lot.   

Yeah, wow. A lot of context I wasn't able to dig up. Thanks, @thetorch

[Soderball]

8 hours ago, thetorch said:

My grandfather scouted for SLU in the 40s, 50s and 60s and Richie Parks was one of his favorite STL players he ever saw.

While SLU had some black players before Parks, Parks was the first black star at SLU, some of that was that he was allowed to play, instead of just being token black guy on the bench but he was a powerful PF.  Musclebound in the mold of the late 70s and early 80s NBA enforcer types.  Inside the paint he was unstoppable and was the best Billiken rebounder until Bonner.

Bennington recruited him to SLU.  His reputation among blacks in the area was not great but Parks wanted to stay home and he and his HS coach, James Price, wanted him to become the first hometown black star.  As was the custom with many private schools at the time, Bennington didn't let Parks star.  He was relegated to rebounding and setting screens so the white guys could shoot.  I don't know if Bennington was really racist or just going with what was accepted at the time.  Bennington recruited a big man right after Parks from Maplewood, Matthew Aitch.  When he flunked out of SLU Bennington sent him to Moberly and then took him with him to Michigan St where he was all Big 10 performer.  Hard to believe he'd do that if he was really a big racist.

My father told me he remembers he was 14 or 15 and the Billikens played Bobby Knight and Coach K in the NIT Park's Jr year.  The announcers talked up Parks as the real threat on SLU, even though he was just a role player.  My father didn't think Parks was good at all.  My grandfather quickly informed him the announcers were right and were probably fed their talking points by Coach Knight.

Parks senior year Brehmer became coach and let Parks off the leash.  He had one of the best single seasons in Billikens history going for an 18 and 12 year.  The MVC was a powerhouse, Cincy went to the elite 8 and 5 of the 8 teams including SLU were ranked at some point in the season.  People piss on Buddy Brehmer but SLU played 26 games that season, 16 opponents were ranked during the season.  A juggernaut of a schedule.  Parks was the 2nd best big in the conference, only bested by somebody named Wes Unseld.  Parks went toe to toe with Unseld at Kiel and beat him, SLU also knocked off Cincy when they were top 5 that year.

Parks was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA draft but they cut him and he played for a semi pro company team.  The year after he made the Pittsburgh Pipers, playing in a reserve role behind Connie Hawkins, and won an ABA title. The Pipers brought him back the next year but while Parks was back home he got into a car wreck at Grand and MLK.  His knees were destroyed.  He came back to play but team doctors said his career was over. 

Parks life took a downward spiral after that.  Multiple jobs, divorce, and alcoholism.  He moved back in with his mother in his childhood home.  By the time of his death he had become the neighborhood drunk.  The 49er bar was home to him and the regulars knew to put up with the huge man's drunken antics.  The night of his death a couple who didn't know Parks came into the bar.  Parks hit on the woman and physically assaulted her.  The couple fled the bar with Parks in pursuit.  A fight between the man and Parks ended in Parks being shot 5 times.

A tragic ending but Parks was one of the all-time greats and a true trailblazer at SLU, succeeding as a Billiken despite the many obstacles in his way.

 

Wow @thetorch .. thank you for this history lesson. Parks was absolutely a trailblazer. I'd never heard of him before this thread.

[TheA_Bomb]

23 hours ago, OkieBilliken said:

Basketball (Bonner, David Burns, Claggett, Monroe Douglass, Dwayne Evans, Josh Fisher, Hasahn French, Goodwin, Roland Gray, Highmark, Hughes, Maurice Jeffers, Andrew Latimer, Rob Loe, Macaulay, Majerus, Lewis McKinney, Gene Moore, Willie Reed, Miles Reynolds, Mel Robinson, H Waldman)

Soccer (Barklage, Becher, Brcic, Brad Davis, Darryl Doran, Eise, Frederickson, Kevin Handlan, John Hayes, Vedad Ibisevic, Jewsbury, Kalish, Kipp Keller, Chris Kenny, John Klein Sr, Maurer, McAvin, Brian McBride, Pat McBride, McDoniel, McKeon, Tim Ream, Bruce Rudroff, Santel, Dipsy, Sorber, Strunk & Maddie Pokorny)

Hockey. (Mario Faubert, Lindsay Middlebrook, Krushelnyski)

Baseball. (Mike Barger, Shane Benes, Ryan Bird, Jason Boehlow, Len Boehmer, Danny Brock, Pat Conreaux, Nick Crocker, Drew Denkinger, Matt Eckelman, Colton Frabasilio, Bob Habenicht, Mike Huelsmann, Miller Hogan, Wes Jailet, Brian Kern, Alex King, Connor Lehman, Braxton Martinez, James Morisano, Bill Musselman, Grant Nelson, James Norwood, Zach Outman, Jeff Peer, Drew Reveno, Gene Robertson, Ray Schmandt, Dave Sever, Dan Shouse, Alec Sole, Luke Sommerfield, Brad Wehrfritz, Curtis Whitten.   
 

My copy/paste skills getting a workout

Thank you for this list. I'm going to put it into Excel and start tracking down these cards.

[Matty Light]

10 hours ago, thetorch said:

My grandfather scouted for SLU in the 40s, 50s and 60s and Richie Parks was one of his favorite STL players he ever saw.

While SLU had some black players before Parks, Parks was the first black star at SLU, some of that was that he was allowed to play, instead of just being token black guy on the bench but he was a powerful PF.  Musclebound in the mold of the late 70s and early 80s NBA enforcer types.  Inside the paint he was unstoppable and was the best Billiken rebounder until Bonner.

Bennington recruited him to SLU.  His reputation among blacks in the area was not great but Parks wanted to stay home and he and his HS coach, James Price, wanted him to become the first hometown black star.  As was the custom with many private schools at the time, Bennington didn't let Parks star.  He was relegated to rebounding and setting screens so the white guys could shoot.  I don't know if Bennington was really racist or just going with what was accepted at the time.  Bennington recruited a big man right after Parks from Maplewood, Matthew Aitch.  When he flunked out of SLU Bennington sent him to Moberly and then took him with him to Michigan St where he was all Big 10 performer.  Hard to believe he'd do that if he was really a big racist.

My father told me he remembers he was 14 or 15 and the Billikens played Bobby Knight and Coach K in the NIT Park's Jr year.  The announcers talked up Parks as the real threat on SLU, even though he was just a role player.  My father didn't think Parks was good at all.  My grandfather quickly informed him the announcers were right and were probably fed their talking points by Coach Knight.

Parks senior year Brehmer became coach and let Parks off the leash.  He had one of the best single seasons in Billikens history going for an 18 and 12 year.  The MVC was a powerhouse, Cincy went to the elite 8 and 5 of the 8 teams including SLU were ranked at some point in the season.  People piss on Buddy Brehmer but SLU played 26 games that season, 16 opponents were ranked during the season.  A juggernaut of a schedule.  Parks was the 2nd best big in the conference, only bested by somebody named Wes Unseld.  Parks went toe to toe with Unseld at Kiel and beat him, SLU also knocked off Cincy when they were top 5 that year.

Parks was drafted by the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA draft but they cut him and he played for a semi pro company team.  The year after he made the Pittsburgh Pipers, playing in a reserve role behind Connie Hawkins, and won an ABA title. The Pipers brought him back the next year but while Parks was back home he got into a car wreck at Grand and MLK.  His knees were destroyed.  He came back to play but team doctors said his career was over. 

Parks life took a downward spiral after that.  Multiple jobs, divorce, and alcoholism.  He moved back in with his mother in his childhood home.  By the time of his death he had become the neighborhood drunk.  The 49er bar was home to him and the regulars knew to put up with the huge man's drunken antics.  The night of his death a couple who didn't know Parks came into the bar.  Parks hit on the woman and physically assaulted her.  The couple fled the bar with Parks in pursuit.  A fight between the man and Parks ended in Parks being shot 5 times.

A tragic ending but Parks was one of the all-time greats and a true trailblazer at SLU, succeeding as a Billiken despite the many obstacles in his way.

 

Great history recap! I am curious where the 49er bar was located. Do you happen to know?

[OkieBilliken]

22 minutes ago, TheA_Bomb said:

Thank you for this list. I'm going to put it into Excel and start tracking down these cards.

Some should be fairly easy.   There are about 150 - 200 different Larry Hughes and Anthony Bonner cards for example.   I have alot but not all.   Some of the soccer and basketball are from international teams - (ie Dwayne Evans/Japan, Josh Fisher/Austria, Vedad Ibisevic/Germany).   They can be pretty tricky to obtain.    Some of the minor league baseball guys, you have to buy the whole team set.   Good luck - let me know if you need any help.   I probably have some dupes I can send you...

[Pistol]

32 minutes ago, Matty Light said:

Great history recap! I am curious where the 49er bar was located. Do you happen to know?

 

23 hours ago, Pistol said:

Parks was shot at Alexander's 49er Bar at 4915 Dr. MLK Drive, which is a vacant lot today. He was living on the 4300 block of Garfield Ave. at the time, about 6 blocks east of there.