The Colonels offered gridiron action as a member of the Public League, and locked themselves up in matchups with other schools. As a result, they won a lightweight title as well as two varsity titles, according to Robert Pruter, then won 10 other Public League division titles before the school closed. Thanks to our good friend Tom Sikorski, records from 1925 through 1976 have been added.

 

Individual Placer---(?) Laughlin                 100 breaststroke---4th place

BOYS' CROSS-COUNTRY

The Colonels made their hill and dale debut in the fall of 1939 with just four members, but they made up for the shortage of numbers with quality. According to the 1939-40 Pine, James McKeon was fourth overall at the City Meet, while teammates Julius Stremel and Frank Bina were eighth and ninth, respectively, George Wilkinson took fifth in the junior race for Coach Paul Spade's team.

FENCING

Parker also boasted of having a team that could handle a foil with deft hands, winning three and losing one match in the spring of 1940. Coach Spade's team bested Morgan Park Military 10-9, Crane Tech 10-6, and Hyde Park 13-3, while falling to Lindblom. The Colonels were fifth in the city meet that year.

WRESTLING

On the mats, Parker competed with the rest of the Public League schools, compiling a 3-4 dual record for Coach Spade in 1939-40. The Colonels lost their first three meets to Morgan Park, Bowen, and Fenger, before rolling off a win over Hirsch. They dropped a meet to Calumet, but finished the season strong by defeating Mount Carmel and Kelly. Juke Engel represented his school as he won the 110-pound class at the City Championships that year. The following season, Engel repeated as a city champion as the Colonels improved on their season record to finish at 5-1 (see team photo below).

BASEBALL

The school also offered American's Pastime in the spring as early as the 1920's and during the 1939-40 school year, but information was limited (perhaps due to having the yearbook going to press before the school year was over). The 1926 team went 5-3 under Nate (Wass) Wasserman, and alumnus Andy Holmes was the coach of the 1940 team (see team photo above to the right). 

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

Although it was "back in the day" before a CPS superintendent ruled that girls' sports should not be allowed, Parker did have a girls' basketball team. Historian Robert Pruter stated in his research of early girls' basketball that the school played a home-and-home series with Schurz High School in 1917. We are not aware that the school brought the sport back in the 1970's prior to its' closing.

GIRLS' TENNIS

Prior to joining the IHSA, Parker's girls had a tennis team in the 1920's that was successful. The Green & White won the team title in Public League play in 1924. Later on as Public League schools became IHSA members, this sport as well as other girls' athletic activities ceased at the interscholastic level until the 1970's.

 

--Carl Diehl -- as a member of Dartmouth’s football team he was selected as an All-American in 1925, and was eventually elected to the Helms Football Hall of Fame.

 

--Tom Hawkins (class of 1955) – was an two-time All-American player for Notre Dame and became a National Basketball Association pro player, and later a notable sportscaster. In his senior year, Hawkins averaged 29 points and 20 rebounds per game as Parker was ranked fifth in the state polls before bowing to Tilden. After college, he played with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and Cincinnati Royals during a 10-year NBA career before going into broadcasting.

 

 

 

 

·        The high school was just one part of a remarkable campus that included

o   Parker Elementary School

o   Parker High School

o   Wilson Junior College

o   Chicago Teachers College (Illinois Normal?)

All were in stand-alone buildings with a common campus