basketball coach basketball player
Parrack was born in Cotton County, Oklahoma, and played basketball at Connors Junior. College and Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical University, where the Aggies under coach Henry Iba won an National Collegiate Athletic Association Championship in 1945.
He coached at Shawnee (Oklahoma) High School for one year and compiled a 15- 12 record. He then returned to the court and played one season of professional basketball for the Chicago Stags of the National Basketball Association. Parrack was hired as coach at Oklahoma City University in 1950 and transformed the program from a club team without a campus gymnasium into a national powerhouse. He eventually led the Chiefs to four consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament appearances.
In 1955 he accept the position as head coach of the University of Oklahoma.
In 1959 he was named conference coach of the Year. In 1962 Parrack returned to his alma mater where he worked with Coach Iba as an assistant until Iba retired in 1970.
Two years later he was hired to build the Israeli national basketball team, and took his team to the playoffs in Germany that same year. In 1978 through 1980 Parrack served as head coach in the University of Oklahoma women"s program
After retiring as an active coach Parrack served as a probation officer for the Oklahoma City Juvenile Bureau.
He was inducted into the Oklahoma City University Sports Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma State University Athletics Hall of Honor and was recognized by Oklahoma City University when the clock tower at the Meinder"s School of Business was named in his honor. Parrack died in September September 5, 2008 at his home in Perkins, Oklahoma at age 86.
