It takes a rare individual to be athletic enough to play football, basketball and golf at a varsity level in high school.

It takes something else completely to also be valedictorian of the senior class and involved in National Honor Society, Kosciusko Endowment Youth Services, Spanish Club, student government, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Varsity Club.

Tippecanoe Valley graduate Darren Parker is anything but the average teenager. As point guard for the basketball team, he engineered Valley's first sectional title since 1988. His stats did not show what he meant to the team on the floor.

"He played a tremendous part in us winning," Valley basketball coach Gregg Sciarra said. "He was our CEO out on the floor. He was a real good role model for the kids that came through. He leads by example. He's pretty savvy as to when to speak and when not to."

But now Parker is concentrating on golf. His score of 78 at Rozella Ford on Saturday at the sectional was second among individuals not advancing with a team. The top three individuals not on one of the top three teams advance to regionals on Friday.

"I knew with football and basketball I was done after high school," Parker said. "So I guess I worked a little harder than years past. Once golf season got here, I really started concentrating on it since it is something I'd like to try in college."

Valley's golf team had a strange season. Expectations were high and Vikings looked strong at the beginning of the season. Despite having seven straight road matches to start the year, Valley opened 4-0.

Even head coach Roger Moriarty expected great things. He was quoted as saying, "There's a nice blend of experience there, and I can't see us losing a whole lot of matches this year."

But things fell apart mid-way through the year and Valley fell to 8-7 despite returning four of five starters from the previous year's 10-6 team.

Parker was the lone bright spot, and even he admitted struggling with the losses.

"We thought we would be really good this year. Once things began to fall apart for everyone else, my score started to drop. I started to fall into the category where I didn't care for a while. About two weeks before the sectional, I decided that no matter if the team made it out or not, I wanted to."

Parker began to put his golf game back together and is now feeling good about it.

"I'm hitting the ball better than I have ever in my life," Parker said. "I'm starting to chip and putt better. My game's probably the best it's ever been."

Off the golf course, Parker is known by most by his nickname. When starting lineups were announced at basketball games, the name "Opie" could be heard coming from the speakers. The nickname came in ninth grade and fits pretty well. Like Andy Griffith's son, Parker is a pretty good kid. Unlike other teenagers, you won't find him at parties or those types of things.

"With my dad being in the school," Parker said, "I've learned to be level-headed enough to know where I should not be at times, where things are going to happen."

He also gained his maturity through an incident that happened when he was a freshman. He was with some kids who were not necessarily on their best behavior.

"I got in trouble enough for that just from guilt by association. So, now I've learned to stay clear away from all that stuff."

Parker will head to Ball State in the fall to major in computer science. He is going to try to walk on to the golf team. That's not an easy task. But, of course, either is playing three sports and being valedictorian, but that didn't stop him then.

Before heading off to college though, Parker will compete on Friday at the Homestead Regional His tee-time is 8:14 a.m. [[In-content Ad]]