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BOZEMAN, Montana – Bruce Parker, an athletics icon from Treasure State College for four decades who spent more than half that time in the state of Montana, died in Billings on Friday. He was 64.
Parker entered college athletics in the fall of 1979 as Sports Information Director (SID) for Men’s Athletics in the state of Montana, just months after graduating from Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings). He held that role until 1988 when he got into the private sector, but in the winter of 1989-90 he became SID at Eastern Washington University, a big-sky rival of MSU. In the fall of 1990 he returned to MSU as Deputy Sports Director and was responsible for the school’s corporate partnership program. He eventually rose to become Associate AD for External Operations.
In 2003, Parker was named Director of Athletics at Carroll College. While there, he directed a division that produced four national championships in soccer, while hosting several NAIA playoff games and numerous Frontier Conference Championships in a variety of sports. The Saints set attendance and donation records during Parker’s tenure, and the college added several varsity sports programs during that time. In 2014, Parker returned to his hometown of Billings to direct Rocky Mountain College Athletics, a position he held until he retired in 2018. At Rocky, he coordinated the renovation of Herb Klindt Field and was a driving force in winning the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament accounts.
Parker took on extensive roles in the state of Montana. He published all men’s sports, sponsored the 1984 National Championship Bobcat soccer team and two Big Sky championship basketball teams, while as SID coordinating several Big Sky championship events. He hosted the department’s various television shows, taking care of color commentary and occasional assignments for football and men’s basketball. In his later role, he helped generate revenue for Bobcat Athletics and took a lead role in coordinating the department’s game days, special events and projects.
Parker, arguably the most distinguished athletics administrator in Treasure State history, was inducted into the NACDA Hall of Fame and NAIA Hall of Fame in 2019, respectively. The nine-time Frontier Conference Athletic Director of the Year was also NACDA / Under Armor Athletic Director of the Year in 2009, 2012 and 2018 and is one of five Halls of Fame. He served countless community and civic projects during his time, and served as a member and past president of the board of directors of the NAIA Athletics Director’s Association, the NAIA National Board of Directors, the NAIA National Strategic Planning Council, and its National Marketing Committee. He was also a member of the National Executive Committee of the NACDA.
As a major in business management and a tennis player in college in Eastern Montana, game broadcasting remained one of Parker’s passions. He worked on several Treasure State basketball games that winter and remained a popular master of ceremonies until recently. Parker and his wife Lisa raised two sons, Brett and Ryan, and have one granddaughter in Bozeman.
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