Jabari Parker: Mormon Athlete
Jabari Parker is a basketball phenomenon, who, at the time of this writing in 2012, was still in high school, yet featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and on major television new shows. he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes inadvertently called the "Mormon Church."
Jabari Parker was born on March 15, 1995, in Chicago, Illinois. His family lived on the South Side of Chicago even before he was born (Wikipedia). His father has been a youth foundation leader there since 1990. Jabari discovered his basketball talent in one of his father's leagues, but not one his father coached. He became a basketball prodigy at an early age, and by the time he was in 5th grade, was playing against junior high school players. He was prodded on to achieve by his cousin, Jay Parker. Before he was twelve years old, Jabari was six feet tall and had garnered five Division I scholarship offers.
- "Parker attended Black Magnet Elementary and made headlines when he made Simeon Career Academy high school choice, just like Rose, Nick Anderson, Ben Wilson, Bobby Simmons and Deon Thomas before him.[18][19] During the summer after finishing middle school, he received an National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp invitation, which he accepted. By this time, he stood at 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m)." [1]
For the first time ever at Simon Academy, a freshman player was invited to play on the varsity basketball team. Jabari volunteered as a water boy for the Junior Varsity games, even as he excelled on the floor with the Varsity team, supported by other excellent players. By the end of his freshman season, he had received numerous scholarship offers, including those from Illinois, Kansas, DePaul, Pittsburgh, Northwestern, Florida, Washington, BYU and Oregon State as well as significant interest from Kentucky, Duke and North Carolina. [2] He earned the ESPN HS 2010 Freshman of the Year Award. He was a MaxPreps.com second team 2009-10 Boys Basketball Freshman All-American Team selection.
By his sophomore year in high school, Jabari had reached the height of 6'8" and a weight of 225 lbs. His team was nationally ranked in the top 5, but still battled the greatness of opposing team, Whitney Young. In addition to other awards and national recognitions, at the end of his sophomore year, Jabari was awarded the ESPN HS 2011 Sophomore of the year. He was a MaxPreps.com first team 2010-11 Boys Basketball Sophomore All-American Team selection.
By the end of his sophomore year, some basketball scouts were starting to pencil him in as the 2014 NBA Draft first overall selection. Chicago Sun-Times writer Michael O'Brien wrote that junior Parker is the best high school basketball player in the country at any position in any class. [3] He was invited to the August 5–7, 2011, 5th annual Nike Global Challenge, where he earned tournament MVP honors. By his junior season, 42 schools sent scouts and coaches to see his September 13, 2011 workout.
Following his junior year high school season, Jabari was featured in a May cover story in Sports Illustrated Magazine. The story presented his humility and his consideration of the possibility of serving a Mormon Mission.
