Hall of Fame
Eugene Parker was regarded as a premier sports agent and a pioneer for Black lawyers in sports representation. At the peak of his company (Parker & Associates, later re-branded as Maximum Sports Management), he represented more than 40 NFL players. Parker's clients included NFL Hall of Fame inductees, Deion Sanders, Emmitt Smith, Rod Woodson, Devin Hester, and Hines Ward, and he presented Sanders for his 2011 induction into the NFL Hall of Fame. In 2005, Sports Illustrated ranked Parker 45th on its list of the 101 most influential minorities in sports, while he was also selected by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the top 50 influential Black people in sports. Parker played basketball at Purdue University, where he was an All-Big Ten honoree — he was selected in the fifth round of the 1978 NBA Draft, but turned down the NBA to pursue his J.D. at Valpo, during which time he served as a graduate assistant for the men's basketball program.
