Former Arcadia basketball coach to be honored at B-D Days parade

While he hasn’t been an active member of the Arcadia community for nearly 40 years, perhaps the only person surprised Bob Parker was being honored by the Arcadia Lion’s Club was Parker himself.

“I don’t know that I’m really worthy, but It’s an honor to still be remembered in Arcadia, I guess,” Parker said. “Time goes by; you know, it really flies.”

For the Lions Club, however, Parker was an obvious choice to be the Grand Marshal of the Broiler-Dairy Days parade, not just because of what he did during his time in Arcadia, but because how much the Wisconsin basketball legend has achieved in his life and how his impact is still felt by the Arcadia community.

Parker is believed to still be the second-winningest boys basketball coach in Arcadia school history — behind Bill Cashen — and followed his run with the Raiders with successful stints at Western Technical College, Valley City State and University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

His legacy, however, is about more than wins.

Parker already had a successful basketball career before he arrived in Arcadia in 1973. He was a sophomore on Alma’s 1966 state-qualifying team, that lost to Milwaukee Lincoln in the state tournament — at a time in which the competitors were not separated by division.

After graduating from Alma, Parker went to play at UW-River Falls where he scored nearly 1,200 points and grabbed 822 rebounds. He was elected to the UWRF Hall of Fame in 1991, along with AHS graduate Gerard Sonsalla.

As great as his life in basketball had already been, Parker went to a place that was known for anything but the sport.

“They had great coaches and great teams, but basketball wasn’t one of them,” Parker said. “I heard a lot about how Arcadia was a wrestling and football school and you couldn’t win there. Well, we did win there.”

It was a slow start for Parker, but he helped the Raiders to the first Coulee Conference title — at a time when the conference included larger schools such as Onalaska and Holmen — in the school’s history in 1980-81 and repeated in ’81-82. Under his watch, the Raiders also competed in the sectional round of the state tournament twice — something the team has only done once since Parker left in 1983.

The key, he said, was getting the students to work harder in the offseason.

“We built the program by getting kids who were willing to dedicate themselves to the offseason, really working hard on their individual games, going to camps and doing the things necessary in the offseason to have good teams in the season,” Parker said.

When Parker left Arcadia, he did so with a 123-71 record, including a 69-12 mark in his final five years. What he was particularly proud of, however was how he built the program.

“I’m happy to say that we built the program by collaborating with the other sports,” Parker said. “We had great coaches in wrestling (Bill Lockington) and football (Richard Fredrickson). We all supported one another and worked together.”

Lockington and Parker are still close friends.

“How many times do you go into the school and the best friends are wrestling and basketball coaches,” Parker said.

Lockington, a member of the George Martin Wrestling Hall of Fame, still remembers conversations he had with Parker that he said helped him relate to students and successfully coach athletes.  Lockington said Parker’s charisma and ability to reach students is what made him so successful.

“He really cared about the kids,” Lockington said. “There is a really deep side that is always thinking about the other person and he is still in contact with a lot of people in the area.”

While Parker built his basketball program, Lockington also remembered his impact on the school’s football program. Parker used to scout opponents for the Fredrickson and the football team and Lockington recalled the reports Parker would turn in as being thorough.

“He had the ability to really pick through opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and could relate those really well,” Lockington said.

Parker also noted the influence Denis Kirkman, school superintendent and athletic director Jim Crowley had. He said he was thankful for their support and encouragement in helping build the program.

While he had built the program into annual conference contenders and loved the Arcadia area, Parker had bigger dreams.

“I wanted to go to the college ranks where you could do some recruiting and build a team of your own,” Parker said.

To get to the next level, Parker needed a Master’s Degree. While attending classes at UW-La Crosse, he coached at WTC — then known as WWTI.

After announcing he would be leaving Arcadia for the college ranks, Dennis “Lead” Bjorge said Parker’s recruitment was basically the entire All-Coulee Conference first team. He got commitments from his own high school player in Bjorge, Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau graduate Mark Wagner and Shane Schmeling from Holmen. Bjorge had planned to play at UW-Stout, but wanted to follow Parker. He said he’s proud to be the only player Parker coached in high school and college.

While he was there for just one season, Parker’s Cavaliers went 18-11 and advanced to the state championship game. The impact, however, lasted far beyond one season.

Wagner, who played for Russ Lund at G-E-T, eventually became the coach of the Red Hawks. He led them to two state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2012. He considers Parker to be a major influence.

“I learned more about basketball from coach Parker than any other coach I have been around,” Wagner said. “Truly a great basketball mind who was terrific at teaching the game. It was a pleasure to play for him.”

Schmeling led the Bangor girls basketball team to a state championship in 1997 and had since coached Onalaska to the state tournament.

Bjorge has mostly coached at the lower levels, being a youth basketball coach in Arcadia’s park and recreation program for many years before joining the high school ranks as an assistant for the last decade.

“When I reflect back on my coaching and playing career, I am thankful that I played for (Parker),” Bjorge said. “He was that kind of coach, had that kind of impact. He would get on you if it was needed, but he would always build you back up.”

Bjorge said Parker’s ability to teach post players had an impact on him and the programs Parker built.

“Every single year he had an all-conference post player,” Bjorge said. “All of those players, including me, were probably the shortest post players in the conference. That was hit forte.”

Bjorge said it wasn’t just that Parker knew what to coach, but how to relate to his players.

“He’s probably the most thoughtful person you’ll ever meet,” Bjorge said.

Bjorge’s father passed away unexpectedly after Parker left for Valley City State University in North Dakota. Bjorge said Parker was the first person to call him and that the coach offered him a chance to transfer to VCS to play for him again.

“He didn’t need me as a player, but because he cared about me as a person,” Bjorge said. “He goes beyond what you would expect a coach to do. He impacts a lot of his players, they’re impacted for life.”  

Bjorge considers Parker a second father figure.

While Bjorge stayed in La Crosse, success followed Parker to VCS. He went 52-29 in three years, leading the team to the 1987 NAIA NDCAC regular and post season championships and a berth in the NAIA tournament by winning the District 12 title.

“They were ready to give him the key to the city,” Lockington said.

Parker was on the move again for another promotion, this time heading back to Wisconsin where he accepted the head coaching position at UW-Stevens Point two years after Dick Bennet left to coach at UW-Green Bay. That coincided with Chas Pronschinske’s senior year at Independence.

Pronschinske’s father, Bob, had taken him to watch Parker’s Arcadia teams when he was young. He was Parker’s only high school senior recruit in 1987 — Parker’s first year at UWSP — after scoring more than 1,000 points at IHS.

“I went to Point only because of the relationship my family and I had with him while in Arcadia,” Pronschinske said. “I trusted him to the point where I never even took a campus visit to Stevens Point.”

Pronshinske went on to have a productive career at UWSP as he currently ranks fourth in school history with 458 assists, including three games in which he had 14.

“Coach Parker had a tremendous ability to connect with his players and parents which resulted in great recruiting classes every year,” Pronschinske said. “He had the Division One charisma that many great college coaches have. His knowledge of the game was second to none in the Wisconsin State University Conference.”

As a coach, Pronschinske said Parker had excellent attention to detail and could dissect “even the best defensive schemes.”

“Off the court, he genuinely cared about you as a player and would do anything to help you while in college and years after,” Pronschinske said.

Pronschinske cited Parker as the reason he got into coaching. He was a student assistant on Parker’s 1991-92 team that went 27-2, including a school record 22 straight wins. Pronschinske went on to Neenah High School where he coached a state tournament boys basketball team in 2010.

“Many of the players that I worked with over my 26 years benefited from the basketball knowledge I had gained from him,” Pronschinske said. “He is someone I still greatly respect to this day.”

Parker stayed at UWSP until 1996, compiling a 158-84 record and winning two Wisconsin State University Conference (now known as the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Conference) titles, despite competing against the likes of Bo Ryan — who was at UW-Platteville through Parker’s time at UWSP. Parker and Ryan were inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame together in 2011.

Parker went on to be a school administrator at Milton before retiring in 2014. He has since moved back to the Alma area.

Parker is proud of how many players and coaches he had in his programs went on to become head coaches. He noted he had “remarkable assistants” in Arcadia, saying Fredrickson, Bill Beckwith, Mark Craig and Roger Foegen went on to be head coaches in basketball or other sports. Current UWSP coach Bob Semling — a four-time national champion — was also an assistant of Parker’s at the university.

While Parker said he doesn’t get back to Arcadia often, Bjorge was able to get him to return in 2015 when the 1980-81 Arcadia team was honored. But Parker had a contingency, Bjorge said, Parker wanted to make sure everyone involved with the program was honored, including statisticians and student manager.

“He named them by name,” Bjorge said, noting how difficult that must’ve been given the number of teams Parker had coached. “He wasn’t going to have the ceremony unless everybody in the program was involved. He was a really special guy that way.”

Parker noted the part everybody plays in successfully building a program.

“Behind every really good kid and athlete, there are great parents and we really had a run of terrific people in Arcadia,” Parker said.

While the consensus opinion is that Parker could’ve built a powerhouse basketball program in Arcadia, he doesn’t regret following his own path and building successful programs elsewhere.

“I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Arcadia, it’s a wonderful place,” Parker said. “I don’t regret leaving Arcadia, but I have certainly missed Arcadia.”

He noted how he continues to root for Arcadia teams, specifically mentioning the Arcadia girls basketball team that advanced to the state tournament in 2020.

“I know a couple of those players were offspring of people who played for me,” Parker said. “I always like to see Arcadia be successful.”

The Broiler-Dairy Days parade will be different in 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parade will be held at 3 p.m. the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.