RICHMOND, Va. -- Family, friends, and former colleagues gathered Sunday at Greensville Elementary in Emporia, Virginia to remember the life and legacy of Riddick Parker.
The former Super Bowl champion and principal at George Wythe High School in Richmond passed away unexpectedly on August 19. He was 49 years old.
"Even though that dash is very small, from the time he was born in November, the 20th, 1972, to the time he passed away, that young man really fulfilled that dash in a large and impactful way," Dr. Willie Bell, a Richmond Public Schools educator who worked with Parker, said.
The Emporia native started his successful career in football at Southhampton High. His former coach, Littleton Parker, said his motivation as a player moved him.
"Riddick attended practice every day," Parker said. "I remember him never missing a practice for anything."
He went on to play for the University of North Carolina, and from there, to the NFL. He was a Super Bowl champion for the New England Patriots in 2001, with stints with the Seattle Seahawks and the Baltimore Ravens.
However, Parker was known for more than just winning on the field. He also won the hearts of students and staff at George Wythe High School as their principal.
"Richmond Public Schools has lost a superstar," J. Austin Brown with Richmond Public Schools said. "He exhibited a determination to improve the lives of students. He had a growth mindset, and it rubbed off on those around him. Ladies and gentlemen, he was a winner at everything he pursued, as is so evident by what he accomplished as a school leader, athlete, father, husband, and friend.”
Richmond Superintendent Jason Kamras said no one was more perfect for the job.
"I knew immediately that I was going to give him the job but I said one thing on the way out," Kamras said. "I’m only going to give this position to you if you promise to stay at George Wythe. He looked me in the eye and said, 'There’s nowhere I’d rather be and there’s nowhere I’d rather go.'"
His former teammates, colleagues, family, and friends remember him as the big man on campus, with the biggest heart of all.
“To my classmate, to my parking-lot-cleaning-the-cars-together brother. Rest," said former teammate Kenneth Ford. "Because of all the words that are said about you the next coming days, the most powerful thing is that his actions spoke volumes."
Brown said Parker's legacy will serve as a reminder for educators about the importance of their work.
"We must use this to motivate us to best serve the students of the students that walk through the doors of George Wythe High School tomorrow morning," Brown said. "Shaken by the falling of a magnificent young leader, beaten by the untimeliness of his passing, but pressed to a higher level of service for the magnificent scholars at the school. We are indeed challenged, but our reward will be seeing the students at George Wythe through the completion of high school.”
