Doyle Parrack was a college men's basketball coach.
Doyle Parrack's lifelong love for the game of basketball began on a dirt court outside of Union Valley School in Cotton County, Oklahoma, during the final days of the Depression. As a sophomore, he would shoot hoops outside of the high school gym that was still under construction. The Daily Oklahoman would later name the young rising star to the all-time 1930s Oklahoma high school basketball team for his achievements on the court. The Oklahoman is the largest daily and statewide Newspaper in Oklahoma and is the only daily newspaper that covers the Oklahoma City area
Parrack would become the first in his family to go to college after graduating from Union Valley in 1939. With a basketball scholarship in hand, he attended Connors State College in Warner, Oklahoma, and then pursued his bachelor's degree at Oklahoma A&M (later Oklahoma State University), and true to his commitment to education, earned his bachelor's degree in secondary education. The Oklahoma State University System comprises six educational institutes across Oklahoma, four being general academic universities and two Health institutions At OSU, he would forge two longstanding relationships in his career - one with the university and one with the university's basketball coach, Henry Iba. Henry Payne "Hank" Iba ( August 6, 1904 - January 15, 1993) was a well-known college men's Basketball coach Under Coach Iba's tutelage, Parrack's skills on the court matured. Upon his return from service with the US Marines, he was named a starter on the 1945 National Championship basketball team.
After a brief stint coaching basketball and teaching history at a Shawnee High School, the call of the game brought Parrack back to the court. He played for the Chicago Stags, the NBA predecessor to the world-renowned Chicago Bulls, in 1946-47 and participated in the first televised NBA playoffs game. The Chicago Stags were a National Basketball Association team based in Chicago, Illinois, U The Chicago Bulls are an American professional Basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Despite the newfound fame, Parrack left professional basketball after just one year for the opportunity to coach college basketball at Oklahoma City University. Oklahoma City University, abbreviated OCU, is a Coeducational, urban private University located in Oklahoma City, in the Midtown
As head coach and then athletic director at OCU, Coach Parrack transformed the program from a club team without a campus gymnasium or scholarship funding into a national powerhouse. During his eight-year tenure, he led OCU to membership in the NCAA, four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, and ultimately to two All College tournament championships in 1949 and 1951. Coach Parrack would hold the honor of being the youngest coach to have both played and coached in an NCAA tournament.
And although he was not much older than his players, Coach Parrack was known as a strict but positive disciplinarian. Decades later, his players would recall that Coach Parrack taught them far more than basketball skills. He taught them how to work as a team, appreciate victories, and learn from losses. Some of his players would follow in his foot steps, such as Abe Lemons, who would later coached at OCU, Texas Pan American, and the University of Texas, and Paul Hansen, who coached at OCU and OSU.
In 1955, Coach Parrack accepted an offer to serve as head coach at the University of Oklahoma. University of Oklahoma, abbreviated OU, is a Coeducational public Research university located in the U In 1959 he was recognized as the conference Coach of the Year after the team tied for second in the Big Eight Conference. The Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA -affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored American football, was formed in January 1907 as the Despite his successes at OU, Coach Parrack chose to return to his alma mater in 1962 and served as both the freshman basketball coach and assistant to his longtime mentor, Coach Iba, until Iba's retirement in 1970.
In 1972, Coach Parrack was given the opportunity to build the Israeli national basketball team, taking his players as far as the playoffs in Germany that same year. Six years later, he was named head coach of the OU women's basketball team. He would retire from coaching in 1980.
Despite his departure from the basketball court, Coach Parrack never gave up teaching. Upon leaving OU, he took on a new challenge - serving as a probation officer for the Oklahoma City Juvenal Bureau and sharing with troubled youth the same life lessons his players had valued years before.
Coach Parrack continues to follow basketball from his home in Perkins, Oklahoma, with his wife of 54 years, Charlotte. Perkins ( Ioway: Pékiⁿ Chínaˀìñe ˈpʰeɪkʰĩ ˌtʃʰinãˌʔĩɲɛ is a town in Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. They have two sons, two daughters, and seven grandchildren, including the world-renowned cartographer Andrew Parrack of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
| Preceded by Bruce Drake |
Oklahoma Head Men's Basketball Coach 1955–1962 |
Succeeded by Bob Stevens |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Parrack, Doyle |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Basketball player and coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |