Chadron State College Athletics

Mike followed his older brother to Chadron State and was a two-time all-conference and all-district selection at defensive end. He also received NAIA All-American honors as a senior in 1971. Bill Giles called him “the best defensive lineman I ever coached.”   
Parks became associated with the U.S. Forest Service while working at the Pine Ridge Job Corps Center as a student at CSC. His tenure with the forest service included serving as a personnel staffing specialist in the Washington, D.C., office, four years. He transferred to the regional office in Denver in 1995 and served as the human resources officer for the 19 Forest Service Job Corps centers across the nation. Parks retired in 2006, and continued to live in the Denver area until his death.
He died on May 24, 2021 in a Denver-area hospital, following a heart attack.