Gilas Profiles : Bobby Ray Parks Jr.
photo source netsdaily.com
As all of the Filipinos know, Bobby Ray Parks Jr is the son of late Bobby Ray Parks Sr whom is a beloved PBA import in the Philippines. Parks Sr played as an import in the Philippines for twelve years and won the Best Import award for seven consecutive years. He became very famous in the basketball crazy country.
Bobby Ray Parks Junior lived in the Philippines for the first thirteen years of his life before moving to Memphis, Tennessee which is his father’s hometown. There he played basketball for the St. George Independent School to try and catch the eye of some stateside college scouts. In the process he has been awarded as the State Private School Player of the year. He showcase his skills and attained a high four stars rating from the ESPN.com, and also he led his team to a State Title on his junior years catching the attentions of schools like Louisville, New Mexico, and Georgia Tech.
He has then committed to the Georgia Tech, but then the situation got bad. His father, Parks Sr, who settled back in the Philippines working for the National University in Manila as an athletic director got diagnosed with cancer. Without any hesitation, Parks Jr, left not only his commitment to playing basketball at Georgia Tech but also his commitment in his long lived dream of playing in the NBA. His father was worth more than anything too him.
While living in the Philippines with his father, Parks Jr enrolled a computer course at National University in Manila and joined the National University Bull Dogs where he became the Most Valuable Player twice.
Parks Jr. then signed with the National University Banco De Oro, a PBA D-League team that has tie with his school. Sadly, on March 30, 2013, Parks Sr passed away. Parks Jr continued playing in the Philippines for one more year with the NLEX Road Warriors
Then after that Parks Jr is now set and ready to pursue his long forgotten NBA dream. He flew back to Los Angeles, and instead of staying in a hotel, Parks opted to stay in his mother's couch to be able to help her.
He has been deemed ineligible for that year’s draft, so to be able to practice his skills more, he returned to the Philippines to play for one more season while waiting for the next year's draft. He signed with the Hapee Fresh Fighters and led his team to win the 2015 Aspirant Cup Championship and had been awarded the 2015 Aspirant Cup's Most Valuable Player honors.
He then got an invitation to work out for some teams in the NBA like Celtics, Jazz, Nets, Hawks, and Mavericks. For that he became eligible in the 2015 NBA draft, but ended up being undrafted.
Despite that, he got a call from the Mavericks inviting him to play for their squad for the 2015 Summer League, but the Mavericks did not offer him a contract to play for the NBA regular season.
Bobby Ray's journey has been a roller coaster ride, but for him to be able to attain that close of being an NBA homegrown Filipino player was a big achievement to be recognized by many Filipinos.
He is a good guy, he gave up his dream for someone who needed him.
Bobby Ray once said that "You have to be dedicated to what you are doing, and now the sacrifices for that". So, we all know that Parks hard work with his right set of attitude and dedication will only make him better. Maybe someday will see him representing one of those 30 NBA teams.
Bobby Ray Parks Highlights
Video Source Admin Remar
