Dec. 6, 2006

By Jim Sumner
TheACC.com

Barry Parkhill grew up in State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University. His father had played basketball for Penn State. Barry spent much of his childhood on the Penn State campus. He was all set to star for the Nittany Lions basketball team. There was only problem. "They weren't interested in me. I would have gone there in a heartbeat but they didn't give me the time of day."

Penn State's loss was Virginia's gain.

Virginia coach Bill "Hoot" Gibson, a Penn State alum, heard about Parkhill and decided to take a look. He invited Parkhill to help him at a summer camp. Ironically, Gibson was absent the week that Parkhill worked the camp. But Virginia assistant Chip Conner wasn't absent and he was impressed with Parkhill. Parkhill made an official visit and signed with Virginia in the spring of 1969.

Parkhill came to Virginia at a time when that school's basketball program was at a low ebb. From 1954 through 1969, Virginia had a losing record every season in ACC competition and won only twice in the ACC Tournament. Virginia hit rock bottom in the early 1960s, going 8-48 in the ACC from 1960 through 1963. Gibson was hired to turn around the program, a task made easier when University Hall opened in 1965. Still, it was a struggle. Player attrition was a problem and "Boot the Hoot" signs were occasionally seen at the half-empty arena.

Parkhill helped change that. Freshmen weren't eligible for varsity competition in those days, so he starred for the freshmen team in 1970. That season Virginia shocked Charlie Scott and North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, an indication that Virginia's program was becoming competitive.

It became more than competitive in 1971. In early January, Virginia hosted four ACC games in an eight-day period. The Cavaliers won them all. The South Carolina game was the highlight. Frank McGuire's Gamecocks were ranked second in the country. Gibson spread the floor against the bigger but slower South Carolina players, who refused to come out of their zone much of the game. Parkhill spent much of the second half dribbling alone near mid-court. Trailing 49-48 with two minutes left, Virginia forced a turnover. Gibson called timeout twice to reinforce the basic strategy: let Parkhill make the play. Parkhill waited and waited until the last possible second. He got past his defender, pulled up and buried a 12-foot jumper to give Virginia the 50-49 win.

Gibson called this "the week that saved Virginia athletics." All of a sudden, Virginia basketball was important. Media attention was unprecedented. The wins propelled Virginia into the AP polls for two weeks, the first time Virginia had ever been nationally ranked. Virginia slumped down the stretch, finishing 15-11, still its most wins since 1954. Parkhill led the team with 16 points per game and was named second-team All-ACC.

Parkhill and Virginia exploded in 1972. Early in the season, Virginia defeated Duke in Durham, 86-77. It was Virginia's first win in Durham since 1927. They followed that with a 78-57 home thumping of fifth-ranked Maryland.

Parkhill had 19 points against Duke and 21 against Maryland. He then scored a school record 51 points in a 117-83 win over Baldwin-Wallace, shooting 19-33 from the field and 13-13 from the line. Parkhill continued to play at an exceptional level, 31 points against Richmond, 25 against Xavier, 24 in an 84-73 win at NC State.

What made Parkhill so good? Teammate Hobgood says, "First of all he was incredibly competitive. He had a burning desire to be the best. He was very dedicated in the gym, had a great work ethic. He understood the game, loved the pressure and wanted to have the ball in his hands with the game on the line. He was a quiet leader. He could give you a look that would stop you in your tracks but he usually led by example. He was a great teammate."

Parkhill was 6'4," a good athlete, and a skilled shooter and dribbler. His signature move was getting inside off the dribble and pulling up for a short, fall-away jumper. Parkhill also was the team's playmaker. He led Virginia in assists in all three of his varsity seasons.

Parkhill had plenty of help. Scott McCandlish, a skinny 6'10" center effectively patrolled the paint. Gibson surrounded him with forwards Jim Hobgood and Frank DeWitt, guards Parkhill and Tim Rash, and sixth man Chip Miller. Parkhill and Hobgood were juniors, the other four were seniors. Excepting McCandlish, all were mobile, versatile players in the 6'2" to 6'5" range. Parkhill says, "Gibson was very good at adapting to the skills of his players. We didn't have a lot of size so he figured out ways to let us use what we had."

By mid-January Virginia was 12-0 and ranked 8th in the country. On January 17th, third-ranked North Carolina came to Charlottesville for the most eagerly-anticipated regular-season game in Virginia history. The game was on regional television and was broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio network. Ticket scalpers worked outside University Hall. Thousands attended a pep rally the night before. Virginia's sports information staff was faced with a problem they had never had for a basketball game; they couldn't accommodate all the requests for press passes. Virginia Governor Linwood Holton attended, anxious to get on camera associated with Virginia's basketball program.

Hobgood recalls a Saturday early in 1970, his freshman season. His mother came down from Uniontown, Pennsylvania to take in a varsity game. Hobgood's mother disappeared during halftime. He found her in the lobby, crying. "There were more empty seats than fans," Hobgood says. "My high school had sell-outs every game and now this. My mother wondered what I had gotten myself into."

Now, a mere two years later, Virginia basketball was the hottest ticket in town.

North Carolina had a powerhouse team, led by Robert McAdoo and Dennis Wuycik. They broke open a close game with a 14-2 run late and held on for an 85-79 win. Parkhill scored 24 points in a losing cause. Still, says Hobgood the attention "was validation for how far we had come."

As disappointing as the loss was, it was still only January. Virginia ran off another winning streak, six straight, to go 18-1 and climb back to sixth in the polls. Several of these wins were nail-biters. Virginia won 62-58 at Clemson, 69-68 at home against NC State. West Virginia fell 89-88 in overtime, as Hobgood scored 22.

The bump in the road came back in State College, in mid-February. Five of Virginia's players were from Pennsylvania, including starters Parkhill, Hobgood, and DeWitt. They desperately wanted to win at Penn State and played tight. Virginia lost 86-74, with a 54-39 rebound differential being crucial. Parkhill scored 20.

The Cavaliers followed with a home loss to a Duke team they had handled easily on the road. Parkhill says, "We were still feeling sorry for ourselves from the Penn State game."

Home wins over Clemson and Pittsburgh stopped the slide.

Virginia entered the last week of the regular season 8-2 in the ACC. But its final two games were on the road against North Carolina and Maryland, the ACC's other two top teams. Parkhill had 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists in Chapel Hill but the Tar Heels were too strong, winning 91-78. Virginia also lost at Maryland, 45-42 in a cautious, tense game. Parkhill scored half of Virginia's points. Virginia and Maryland finished at 8-4, one game behind North Carolina.

The Cavaliers defeated Wake Forest 74-65 in the ACC Tournament. Parkhill led everybody with 24 points, while McCandlish added 20 points and 16 rebounds. This brought up the rubber-match with Maryland in the semifinals. Again, Parkhill was dominant, scoring 24 points. But Maryland had too much firepower inside and won 62-57.

Virginia was 21-6. These days they would probably be a three or four seed in the NCAAs. In 1972, that sent them to Madison Square Garden for the NIT. Parkhill says, "We knew going in that we had to win the ACC Tournament and we didn't. The NIT was a much bigger deal in those days. We didn't feel slighted." This was Virginia's first post-season trip since the 1940 NIT.

But the long season had taken its toll. Virginia was matched against Lafayette on a Friday night. Hobgood recalls "I was already planning how I would spend my weekend in New York. Maybe we overlooked them." In Parkhill's words, "we laid a bomb, a big fat bomb." Led by Todd Tripucka (25 points), whose younger brother Tracy would star at Notre Dame and in the NBA, Lafayette tied the game at 71 with seconds left. Virginia called timeout to set up the final shot.

Hobgood tells the story. "Usually in these situations Barry would make the inbounds pass with the understanding that he would get the ball right back. I guess Coach Gibson thought we didn't have enough time for this." DeWitt was picked to make the inbounds pass. Parkhill went one way, the inbounds pass went the other. LaFayette's Jay Mottola picked up the lose ball and was fouled. He made the second of two free throws and Virginia's season was over.

Parkhill led the ACC in scoring in 1972 at 21.6 points per game. He was named ACC Player of the Year, unanimous All-ACC, and second-team AP and UPI All-America. He won the McKelvin Award as the ACC's top athlete.

Virginia lost four of its top six players from the 1972 team. Freshmen were eligible in 1973 for the first time since the Korean War, meaning teams were adding both sophomores and freshmen. The Cavaliers said hello to two of the best players in Virginia history, sophomore Gus Gerard and freshman Wally Walker. Parkhill says, "We had more talent but less experience. We weren't as cohesive."

Hobgood adds, "Not everyone understood that Barry was option number one. We got away from what worked."

The close wins of 1972 turned into close loses in 1973. The highlight was an 84-78 win at UNC, Virginia's first win in Chapel Hill since 1911. Parkhill's stats were down. He had tried out for the 1972 Olympic team and had been one of the last cuts. "I really wanted that. It was (one of) the biggest disappointments of my athletic career. Maybe it affected my confidence."

Still, Parkhill had a good season by any standard other than his sterling 1972 campaign. He averaged 16.8 points per game and was named second-team All-ACC. Virginia defeated Duke in the ACC Tournament but lost to NC State to finish 13-12. The Greensboro crowd gave Parkhill a minute-long standing ovation when he left the floor for the final time.

Virginia retired Parkhill's number "40" and the school's new practice court bears his name. He spent three seasons in the ABA and coached at a number of places, including a stint as an assistant at Penn State under his brother Bruce.

Parkhill has been a fund-raiser at Virginia since 1992 and currently is associate director of athletics for development. He jokes that "raising money for the John Paul Jones arena should guarantee my employment for a long time."

Hobgood, who analyzes Virginia basketball for the school's radio network, says, "What stands out about Barry is how grounded he was and is. With the possible exception of Ralph Sampson, he was under more scrutiny than any Virginia athlete ever. He lost his privacy but it never affected him or his game. He is an incredible person. It's always special when a team does things it has never done before. Our teams laid the foundation for all the good things have happened since."

Parkhill concludes, "My college experience was great. We proved that Virginia could win in the ACC and that's not a bad legacy to have."

Jim Sumner's articles on southern sports history have appeared in the ACC Handbook, the ACC Area Sports Journal, Blue Devil Weekly, Inside Carolina, the Wolfpacker, Baseball America, Basketball America, and other publications. His latest book, Tales From the Duke Blue Devils Hardwood, was published in 2005. In his bimonthly column "Looking Back... by Jim Sumner", he will examine the rich history of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

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