Robert Lynn Parker (September 24, 1960 – April 20, 2021) was a college

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

coach for the throwing events at

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

and

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

. He coached several NCAA champions, but was most recognized for coaching world record holder in the

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

Randy Barnes Eric Randolph Barnes (born June 16, 1966) is an American former shot putter who held the outdoor world record for the event from 1990 to 2021. He won silver at the 1988 Olympics and gold at the 1996 Olympics. Only three throwers have been withi ...

Biography

Parker was born in

Wharton Wharton may refer to: Academic institutions * Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania * Wharton County Junior College * Paul R. Wharton High School * Wharton Center for Performing Arts, at Michigan State University Places * Wharton, Ch ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to Arnold Oliver Parker and Carmella Parker. Being an active track and field athlete he attended South Plains junior college in Levelland, Texas. He made All American honors in both

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

. He then sought his

Bachelor of Arts and Science Bachelor of Arts and Science(s) (BA&Sc, BASc, BAS, B.A.&Sc., B.A.Sc., or B.A.S.), sometimes also named Bachelor of Science and Arts (BSA), is an undergraduate bachelor's degree conferred by a small number of universities from countries including the ...

from

Angelo State University Angelo State University is a public university in San Angelo, Texas. It was founded in 1928 as San Angelo College. It gained university status and awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and graduate degrees in 1969, the same year it too ...

(ASU). He graduated from ASU in 1983 with the school record in the javelin. His record throw of is still the school record as the implement rules were changed in 1986. A sports injury stopped his athletic career, and the following year Parker began his coaching and teaching career at Paris High School.''Robert Lynn Parker - ROBERT'S OBITUARY''
Retrieved on 2021-04-30. In 1985 Parker moved to College Station, Texas to pursue his

Master of Education The Master of Education (MEd or M.Ed. or Ed.M.; Latin ''Magister Educationis'' or ''Educationis Magister'') is a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. This degree in education often includes the following majors: curriculum a ...

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

. While there he was graduate assistant on the Aggies Track and Field team. Head coach

Ted Nelson Theodor Holm Nelson (born June 17, 1937) is an American pioneer of information technology, philosopher, and sociologist. He coined the terms ''hypertext'' and ''hypermedia'' in 1963 and published them in 1965. Nelson coined the terms ''transcl ...

hired Parker as a full time assistant coach for the field events in 1987. Parker lived in Argyle in

Denton County Denton County is located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 906,422, making it the 7th-most populous county in Texas. The county seat is Denton. The county, which was named for John B. Denton, was establishe ...

, married to Traci (nee Stevenson) and was the father of Tommy Parker, a two time state High School champion

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

er.''Argyle Boys Golf Wins Their Second State Title in Two Years''
Retrieved on 2021-04-26.''Robert Lynn Parker - ROBERT'S OBITUARY''
Retrieved on 2021-04-30. He retired from teaching and coaching in 2000. He then moved into a new career as a financial advisor where he over the coming years worked with such companies as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, UBS and Wells Fargo.''Robert Lynn Parker - ROBERT'S OBITUARY''
Retrieved on 2021-04-30.

Coaching career

Texas A&M Aggies

In his four years as coach for the Aggies, Parker coached Olympic champions Mike Stulce and

. The highlights of those years were Barnes' world records. First, on January 20, 1989, when Barnes set a new indoor world record at the

Sunkist Invitational The Los Angeles Invitational was an elite level indoor track meet, held in the Los Angeles Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California. For 25 years (1970 to 1995) the event was sponsored by the hometown Sunkist Growers, Incorporated who assumed title ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

with a put of . The following year, on May 20, 1990, Barnes broke

Ulf Timmermann Ulf, or Ulv is a masculine name common in Scandinavia and Germany. It derives from the Old Norse word for "wolf" (''úlfr'', see Wulf). The oldest written record of the name's occurrence in Sweden is from a runestone of the 11th century. The f ...

's outdoor record with a put of at UCLA Track and Field Invtitational at

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

Drake Stadium Drake Stadium may refer to: * Drake Stadium (1904), a defunct outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1904 to 1925 * Drake Stadium (Drake University), an outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1925 to present ...

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

''TRACK AND FIELD INVITATIONAL AT UCLA : Barnes Wants Spotlight on Shotput-Record Try''
Retrieved on 2021-04-28. Six days later he recorded the world's second furthest throw at at the Bruce Jenner Invitational

San Jose City College San José City College (SJCC) is a public community college in San Jose, California. Founded in 1921, SJCC is located in the West San Jose neighborhood of Fruitdale. History The college was founded in 1921, opening its doors to students in Sept ...

in San Jose.Randy Barnes
IAAF. Retrieved on 2021-04-26.

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

reported from Drake Stadium after the record toss: Parker's coaching at Texas A&M led to 20 conference champions; 14 All-Americans; and a number of school and conference record-holders. Five of the shot putters under Parker's coaching are ranked in the Top 12 all-time at Texas A&M, along with 3 discus throwers, 2 javelin throwers, and 4 combined event athletes, as of April 2021.''Robert Lynn Parker - ROBERT'S OBITUARY''
Retrieved on 2021-04-30.

UTEP Miners

In 1991 Parker started teaching and coaching at Highland Park High School in University Park,

. In the fall of 1993 Parker was hired as the assistant coach for the

UTEP Miners The UTEP Miners is the name given to the sports teams of the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). They are informally referred to as the Miners, UTEP, or Texas–El Paso. UTEP was a member of the Western Athletic Conference from 1967 to 2005, ...

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the s ...

. There he coached Norwegian four time shot put-champion Kjell Ove Hauge to runner up at 1994 NCAA Championships, at

Boise, Idaho Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown are ...

, passing the limit for the first time with 20.07. He lost only to

Brent Noon Brent Noon (born August 29, 1971) is an inactive American Track and Field athlete, known primarily for throwing the Shot Put. While competing for Fallbrook Union High School, Noon recorded the second-best all-time outdoor mark in the shot put, the ...

, beating the upcoming world champion

John Godina John Carl Godina (born May 31, 1972) is an American shot putter, whose record includes three World Championship wins and two Olympic medals. He also competes in discus. Godina was born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. High school years While attendi ...

by more than . At the same championships Parker also coached

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

hammer thrower The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consists ...

Alexandros Papadimitriou to second place. Parker's two athletes scored 16 of the 45 total points for UTEP to place the team 2nd. As of 2020 it is still UTEP's best achievement at the

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

since the school's glory days in the 1970s and 80s. Parker left El Paso after one year and went back to Dallas as a High School educator and coach at

Flower Mound High School Flower Mound High School (FMHS) is part of Lewisville Independent School District and is located in Flower Mound, Texas, United States. The school rests on of land that was purchased in 1993. FMHS was the second high school built in Flower Moun ...

. He stayed on as Hauge's coach until 1998.

References

External links

''Track and Field News, 1 March 1989 T&FN, Interview Randy Barnes''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Robert 1960 births 2021 deaths American investment advisors American male decathletes American male javelin throwers American track and field coaches Texas A&M Aggies track and field coaches UTEP Miners track and field coaches Angelo State University alumni Texas A&M University alumni Track and field athletes from Texas People from Denton County, Texas People from Wharton County, Texas