Harry Lambert Parker (October 28, 1935 – June 25, 2013) was the head coach of the Harvard varsity rowing program (1963–2013).

Mentored by Pennsylvania's coach Joe Burk, Parker rowed on the 1955 Penn Varsity crew that won the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.

In 1959, Parker also competed in the Diamond Scull event at the Henley Royal Regatta finishing second to six-time champion Stuart Mackenzie.

The annual highpoint of the Harvard rowing season is the Harvard-Yale race (the oldest and longest-running intercollegiate sporting event in the United States) held in June.

The Harvard 8 narrowly won the Olympic trials by 5/100th of a second over of a powerful University of Pennsylvania crew – a race that pitted Parker against his mentor Joe Burk.

With Parker at the helm and with numerous former Harvard oarsmen in the boat, Team USA finished second to New Zealand earning a silver medal in the 8+ at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

They swept the collegiate competition, including dual races each year against the undefeated west coast champions Washington.

They finished second in the premier event of the regatta, the Grand Challenge Cup, losing to the British national team by two lengths.

Parker's 1985 Harvard varsity – after some early-season losses – won the Eastern Sprints, the National Collegiate Rowing Championship and the Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta.

National team crews are older and more experienced than college oarsmen, and are far better prepared than when Harvard raced in the 1968 Summer Olympics.

Following the 2004 season, the Harvard varsity went to Europe, where it rowed in the World Cup in Lucerne which was a tune-up for most of the national teams competing in the Olympics.

In an upset,[citation needed] Harvard made the finals at Lucerne by defeating the British and French Olympic squads.

Harvard lost to the five national teams in the finals at Lucerne, which included four of the top six finishers at the Olympic games—but they were competitive for the length of the course.

In 2013, two weeks after Harry's death, four members of his final varsity, coached by Bill Manning, broke the record in the Visitor's Challenge Cup.

Mr. Parker, who is a resident of Winchester, MA is a Trustee of Community Rowing and longstanding supporter of efforts to bring the sport to a broader and more diverse audience.

He later married Kathy Keeler, the stroke of the gold medal-winning USA Women's 8+ at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.