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Stan Parker is 48 years
old now. He’s 90 pounds lighter than he was when he was a captain and a
starting offensive guard on Nebraska’s 1986 team that beat LSU in the
Sugar Bowl. That ’86 team finished 10-2 and
ranked in the final top five teams in both major college polls. The
Huskers’ only losses that season were 20-10 at Colorado and 20-17 to
Oklahoma in Lincoln when the Sooners scored 10 points in the last 3∏
minutes. It was a tough loss, to be sure, but in an
ironic way, that Saturday, November 22nd game against OU included an
experience that became one of the highlights of Stan Parker’s college
football career.
“It was a crushing defeat, especially when (OU tight end) Keith Jackson
turned around and shoved one of our defensive backs away from him (also
known as pass interference) before catching a long (41-yard) pass, so
they could kick the game-winning field goal
with six seconds left,” Parker said in vivid detail. “Yet while that
game represented the most painful loss, it also provided one of my most
memorable experiences.”
Let’s rewind the clock back to the night before that 1986 game when
Nebraska’s and Oklahoma’s teams happened to show up at the same movie
theater in downtown Lincoln. “Going into the theatre, I didn’t realize I
was about to experience a ‘chance’ event that
would set up what would happen the next day in the game. I looked
across the lobby and saw (OU running back) Spencer Tillman. Spencer had
written a letter to (Nebraska I-back) Doug Dubose after he pulled his
hamstring and couldn’t play, so I went over to Spencer
that night in the lobby of the theater to tell him how much I
appreciated him doing that.”
NU's Parker, OU's Tillman Shared a Common Faith
In addition to hearing about Tillman’s skill as a running back, Parker
had heard they shared a common faith in Christ. “We left the movie
theater that night and went down the street and sat in fellowship for
two hours at a yogurt shop,” recalled Parker, who
is a longtime ministry partner with Ron Brown, Nebraska’s running backs
coach.
“When we left to rejoin our teams at the theater, I told Spencer: ‘Why
don’t we pray together after the game tomorrow?’ Spencer looked at me
and said: ‘Why don’t we pray together
before the game?’”
Parker never will forget when he and Tillman, as captains, met for the
coin toss, after which they were immediately joined by a small group of
teammates to kneel in the center of the field in honor of the God that
blessed them with their ability. “In the midst
of all the hype and all the excitement, in those moments we experienced
something even greater than the game itself,” Parker reflected.
Parker has been told that day was the first known organized joint prayer
in college football. “We had10 players total, five from each team,” he
said. “Now it’s common to see a group of players from both teams praying
after a game, but in those days, there wasn’t
prayer at all, let alone before a game.”
Kaelin, Nichols, Jones, Kroeker Joined Parker
Joining Parker in that prayer were teammates Ken Kaelin, a fullback from
Westerfield (Ansley), Neb.; John Nichols, a center from Littleton,
Colo.; Keith Jones, an I-back from Omaha Central; and John Kroeker, a
punter from Henderson, Neb.
Happily married for 27 years and the father of three grown children,
Parker is the team leader for My Bridge Radio, a ministry which offers
Christian programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week from Alliance in
Nebraska’s Panhandle to Lincoln, the state’s
Capital City. “I love the opportunities I have to interact with
Nebraskans from across our state every day,” Parker said, “as well as
the opportunities for ministry with Ron Brown, a man of passion, courage
and integrity.”
One of Parker’s roles is co-hosting the Morning Conversation on My
Bridge Radio from 6:30 to 8:30 five mornings a week. Parker says the
show “is focused on connecting listeners to God, to each other and to
the work of God in their communities.” On Mondays throughout
the football season, the Morning Conversation includes a feature with
Ron Brown providing spiritual insights from the previous week’s game.
Parker and Brown claim a joint role model in Tom Osborne, who will
retire Jan. 1, 2013, as Nebraska’s athletic director. “He will be
missed,” Parker said, “but his legacy will carry on in everyone he
touched and everyone he will continue to touch.”
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I listen to Stan on the way to work. Thanks and have a Merry Christmas. Steve Adkisson, Middle School Principal, Geneva, Nebraska
