Baylor's Ryan Parker: The Best Just Keeps Getting Better

It’s probably a pretty safe bet to say that Ryan Parker will graduate from Baylor later in the spring as the most decorated male athlete in the history of Red Raider athletics.

He’s basically done it all and has done so with incredible success and reward.

Parker is the 18-year-old son of Bill and Samantha Parker and the oldest of three children, the others being Kyle, an eighth grader at St.

Jude, and Catherine, who is a sophomore at Baylor.

Just last fall, Ryan earned All-State honors for the Baylor football team and was named Player of the Year for Division II after taking the Defensive Player of the Year as a junior. 

He was the leading tackler for Baylor’s defense and the leading rusher for the offense, so he didn’t get many plays off.  He also won the Mr. Football award for linemen and will headed to West Point to play football for the Army.

Just last Saturday, Parker capped off a spectacular prep wrestling career as he won his fourth straight state title, capping off an unbeaten season at 51-0 with a second period pin of McCallie’s Trel Phillips in the final.

And once wrestling is over, he’ll turn his attention to track where he hopes to repeat as the D-II state discus champion.  He also has his focus on the school record of 170 feet, which was set by John Hannah in the late 60s.

Right now, he’s still thinking about wrestling as he left on Thursday with four of his senior teammates as they headed for the Prep National Championships, which are always held at Lehigh, Pa.

Michael Murphy, Mason Reiniche, Caleb Powell and Khamari Whimper are the other four who will be competing with some of the best wrestlers in the nation where Parker hopes to improve on last year’s third-place finish.

It’s been an incredible journey since Parker first stepped onto the Baylor campus as a sixth grader seven years ago.

“What Ryan has done at Baylor allows him to carry on as a high-profile athlete.  He has an uncle who is a two-star general in the Army, so he knows what he’s getting into,” said Ben Nelson, who has been the head wrestling coach for the past eight years.

“It’s been a fun process watching him grow up as he’s matured into a fine young man.  I’ve been coaching wrestling for a long time, but I’ve never had a state champ who was also undefeated.  We go to a lot of outstanding tournaments out of state to prepare us for the toughest competition around and for him to be unbeaten through all of that is a real accomplishment.”

Nelson is a fine wrestler in his own right and has been working out with Parker in recent days as they get ready for the biggest tournament of the season.

“I’ve worked out with him for the past two days and I’m really sore, but he’s a tremendous physical specimen and he just likes to compete.  We didn’t work out much during the season. 

“Ryan is really strong and powerful and that’s a real advantage for someone his size.  He’s athletic enough to recover and get out of tough situations, but he’s well-suited for this sport,” Nelson continued.

And what about the toughest match he had this year?

“He had to go overtime to beat a kid from Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Kansas City Stampede the weekend before Christmas, but even in tight spots like that, he still expects to come out on top,” the coach remembered.

“The kid at Kansas City was tall and lanky and he did a good job of keeping me off his legs.  I ended up winning the match, but it was nice to know that I could go hard at least six minutes,” Parker recalled.

While Parker has won all of his matches this year and most of them by pin, he’s also turned into a teacher in addition to being a student of the sport.

Tyree Tolliver is a junior who played football with Parker.  He decided to come out for wrestling for the first time ever and Parker got a chance to share part of what he’s learned along the way.

“Ryan took Tyree under his wings as Tyree had never been on a wrestling mat before the middle of December, but Ryan did a great job mentoring him.  They had played football together, so Tyree already had respect for him as an athlete,” Nelson said with a note of pride.

“Winning my first state title was my favorite as it made me feel like all the hard work was totally worth it, but my goal since then has been to become the most successful upper weight champion at Baylor,” said Parker before Wednesday’s workout began.

Parker’s high school record currently stands at 182 wins and just 11 losses.  He lost six times as a freshman and five times as a sophomore.  He got beat once last year and hasn’t lost any this time around.

“I had a rough time my first year as I lost six times that season, but what a better way to end my year by pinning my cross-town rival for my fourth state title.

“I’m really hoping to prove myself this weekend as both the first and second-ranked kids in my weight class will be competing.  Right now, I’m ranked 18^th, so that will be a huge challenge for me,” Parker said matter of factly.

It will be time for graduation sooner than later and Ryan Parker’s seven years at Baylor will be over.  So what does he think about his Baylor experience?

“It seems like I’ve been here forever.  I’m not a big fan of going to school, but going to Baylor has changed my mind.  And I’m pretty sure that my kids will all go to Baylor, no matter where I’m living,” he said.

And what about the workouts he’s had with coach Nelson?

“We didn’t do it much during the regular season, but it’s been an awesome experience for me as I can barely hold him down.  I can take him down, but there’s no way I can put him on his back,” Parker concluded with a laugh.

Ryan Parker is one of those once-in-a-lifetime dreams that most coaches can only hope to come across.  He’s the best at everything he does and he’s helped Baylor be a whole lot better as well in the process.

(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)