When Athletic Director Bobby Starks walks into a room, people know. His is not an overbearing presence. He’s no dictator. But he gets your attention and gets the job done, and done well.  He’s also warm and welcoming.

I take pride in Parker sports, and my earliest memories of athletics are from when Dawn Wickstrum, now the Athletic Director at St. Paul Academy & Summit School in St. Paul, Minnesota, was the Athletic Director and Elisa Ryan, now the AD at Convent of the Visitation School in Mendota Heights, Minnesota, her alma mater, was the Assistant AD. Starks and the current Assistant AD Laura Gill, are often asked about their predecessors.

Under Starks’s leadership, Parker athletics culture has changed. A football national champion with Tennessee in college, Starks knows what it’s like to be in a big-time setting. While Parker is not close to that level and isn’t trying to be, Starks tries to convey his knowledge of Division 1 athletics to the school.

Starks has an open door policy, which he emphasized to me many times as I spent time with him. Starks said multiple times, “Communication is key.” And it shows. Twice, I was asked to leave because a student was talking about a sensitive topic with him. They kindly apologized, and I explained that it was no big deal at all. The fact that students feel like they can go to Starks with their feelings–not just about athletics–says something.

A typical Bobby Starks day starts with desk work during school hours–emails, meetings, and filling out paperwork to make sure all his athletes are IHSA-eligible.

But the real fun begins when practice starts. “Being able to be out there with the kids, in the flesh, so they can see me is the most important part of my day,” Starks said. “When they see me out there, their eyes light up, and it makes me overjoyed.” On a recent Tuesday, Starks could be found interacting with middle school teams on their first day of practice.

There he was, shaking hands, joking around, and discussing sports–Parker or professional. Students love to discuss his past with him, specifically how he played with Peyton Manning at Tennessee, and how he won the National Championship. “It’s awesome how he played football at the collegiate level,” junior Alex Chapman said. “I just want to see his rings!”

Starks jumped in on the practices he visited–hitting grounders to the baseball team, catching fly balls with the softball team, and passing with the soccer team–but not too much.  He doesn’t want to encroach on the coach’s territory. Giving them space is important, he said to me. “Coaches coach players,” Starks said. “I coach coaches.”

Starks doesn’t believe that winning is the most important thing. “A successful season isn’t measured by wins and losses,” he said.  “It’s about developing the kids and growing them as leaders, teammates, and friends.  Sure, wins are great, but at the end of the day, I want to build relationships with kids, and I want them to forge bonds with their coaches.”

The relationships are being built. Last year, in Starks’s first year at Parker, middle school cross country fielded four players. In order to change that, Starks hired the Girls on the Run coach for the position and created Colonel Run Club, or CRC, for third, fourth, and fifth grades. Because of the connection to the coach, middle school cross country’s roster skyrocketed to 34 this year. “I don’t just want to interact with high schoolers,” Starks said. “I want to know everyone, from third grade to twelfth grade, and everyone in between.”

Because of the roster boom, Starks and Gill are scrambling to help with the uniform situation. A number like 34 was not expected, not budgeted for. Now that it has happened, more uniforms need to be ordered. They are hoping they arrive before the first competition.

After meeting with various teams on their first day of practice and having a chance to evaluate coaches, Starks returns to his office. The coaches are due to come in after practice so Starks can discuss what he saw that he liked, what he didn’t like, and what he wants to change. “Like I always say,” Starks said, “communication is key.”

After having worked with youth, high schoolers, and college kids, Starks can’t imagine an offer good enough to take him away from Parker. His morals and beliefs align with the school’s, and that means something.  Starks is in it for the long haul, and it seems as though Parker is too.