BOISE, Idaho — This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press.
One of Idaho high school football’s major influencers for the past half-century will not be on the sidelines this fall.
Jack Parker, who spent the last 50 years coaching in the Treasure Valley, including 28 seasons at Bishop Kelly, died on Sept. 5 of pancreatic cancer. He was 74.
Parker will be remembered not only for the way he developed young men both on and off the football field, but for the connections he made not just at Bishop Kelly, but beyond.
“I don’t know the right word, but he’s a legend,” Bishop Kelly head football coach Chris Culig said. “Everybody knows him, if that makes sense. He’s the connector, he had relationships with so many coaches and he was unbelievable at maintaining those relationships and keeping them going.”
Every year, around Christmas time, Parker would make the rounds to visit different coaches throughout the area to deliver home-made pound cakes and books and catch up with the coaches, particularly those he didn’t see on a day-to-day basis at Bishop Kelly. He’d maintain relationships with former players and visit with them often, along with his wife Kit. For those former players who had children, they’d bring blankets made by Kit.
“He was just the ultimate coach for the whole state,” said former Bishop Kelly coach Tim Brennan, who had Parker on his staff for 25 seasons. “He made pound cakes and books and took days just going around the valley to take these pound cakes to different coaches. He was the leader of the valley. He was the leader of our Shrine All-Star Game, he was on the third district coaches’ board forever. He put on clinics and did just so much for football and coaches and for players in the valley.”
Parker had been preparing for his 51st season of coaching, serving as Bishop Kelly’s defensive lines coach and director of football operations when he got the cancer diagnosis. Culig said Parker had hoped to coach through the season.
Instead, his death leaves a hole both on the Knights, and football coaching in Idaho as a whole.
“I would tell him he was the keeper of the flame, meaning he would tell me all the things I didn’t know about BK from a tradition perspective,” said Culig, who took over as Bishop Kelly's coach after Brennan retired following the 2022 season. “I was like, ‘alright Jack, you’re the keeper of the flame. Just remind me when I’m doing something wrong or we need to do something different because we’ve always done it one way.’”
Parker began his coaching career in 1974 at Boise’s East Junior High before joining Boise High’s coaching staff in 1980. Boise won a state title that season, the first of nine football state titles he would win as a coach. Six of those were won at Bishop Kelly alongside Brennan, who hired Parker to his staff in 1994. Parker coached both the offensive and defensive lines under Brennan.
“He was amazing to have,” Brennan said. “He was the kind of guy where we were great friends and did a lot things together. We went to a lot of clinics and a lot of dinners and had a lot of friends we shared. He was one of those guys that would do whatever you ask.”
Parker took over as the Knights head coach for two seasons, 2007-08, after Brennan moved to the Pittsburgh area. He joined the staff at Eagle for two seasons in 2009-10, where he coached alongside Culig. The Mustangs won a state title in 2009.
Brennan returned to Bishop Kelly in 2011 and Parker rejoined the Knights’ staff the same season. He remained on staff after Brennan retired and Culig was named the coach.
The Knights won the 4A state title in 2023, meaning Parker bookended his high school coaching career with state titles at the beginning and the end of it.
According to his obituary, Parker’s funeral service will take place Saturday at Warm Springs LDS Chapel, with visitation at 9 a.m. and the service starting at 11 a.m. The service will be live streamed. Bishop Kelly will also be holding a Celebration of Life for Parker from 3-5 p.m. Saturday at Nick Ysursa Field.
In lieu of flowers, a scholarship fund has been set up at bk.org/donate. To donate to the fund, designate in the notes ‘Jack and Kit Parker Family Scholarship Fund.’
This article originally appeared in the Idaho Press, read more on IdahoPress.com.
