Jackie Parker

Mississippi State records John Dickerson "Jackie" Parker (January 1, 1932 – November 7, 2006) was an American gridiron football player and coach.

In November 2006, Parker was voted third in the CFL's Top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

[4] Parker attended Young City High School in Knoxville, and despite playing only one year of football he was named an All-City tailback.

"Doc" Patty had no such policy so Parker got a baseball scholarship and joined the team, where he was an outstanding shortstop and received an offer to play for the Cincinnati Reds.

[6] Parker's 120 points were an SEC record that stood until 1992, when it was broken by Georgia running back Garrison Hearst.

[5] Parker won numerous other honors during his college career including being named the Nashville Banner SEC MVP in 1952 and 53, the Birmingham QB Club MVP in 1953 (an award he shared with teammate Hal Easterwood, who was a lineman), and being named the Atlanta Touchdown Club Back of the Year in 1953.

Parker won six consecutive Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophies as the West's most outstanding player from 1956 to 1961, and seven in total.

Parker recovered the ball and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown, giving the Eskimos, who were a large underdog in the game, a surprise victory.

Parker finished his playing career with the BC Lions in 1968 when, as an assistant coach, he helped the team out of a difficult mid-season situation by donning the pads for one last go-round as quarterback.

Parker coached the BC Lions for part of the 1969 season and all of 1970, before moving on to the front office as general manager the next year.

Parker coached the Eskimos from 1983, taking over at mid-season after a 4–4 start led to the firing of Pete Kettela until resigning for health reasons two games into the 1987 season, with Joe Faragalli replacing him as Eskimos coach; the team went on to win the Grey Cup that season after losing to Hamilton the previous year.

In November 2006, Parker was voted as #3 on a list of the CFL's top 50 players since 1945, in a poll conducted by Canadian sports network TSN.