Born to ball: Inside Sincere Parker’s quest to fulfill family dreams at Memphis
Ray Parker, left, wears the headband he took from his son before scoring 38 points to help his high school win against Freeport, a conference rival. His son, Sincere Parker, right, is now a 6-foot-3 shooting guard for the Memphis Tigers.
Ray Parker knew he would make it. And he knew he’d bring his young family along.
After what happened on that December night in 2002, how could there be any doubt?
Parker was an 18-year-old senior point guard at East High School in Rockford, Illinois. Six months earlier, on June 21, 2002, he’d welcomed his son, Sincere Parker, into the world.
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Parth Upadhyaya
Parth Upadhyaya covers the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. A Raleigh, N.C., native and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism, Upadhyaya is a longtime college hoops junkie. Prior to joining The Daily Memphian in 2022, he covered high school sports in western Pennsylvania for the Beaver County Times and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times.
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