Maxwell Lander ("Maxie") Parks (born July 9, 1951) is an American former athlete from Fresno, California.
Winner of the USA Olympic Trials in 1976, he did not gain a medal in the individual event (he came in fifth), but did become a winner of a gold medal in 4 × 400 m Men's relay race with Herman Frazier, Benny Brown, and Fred Newhouse at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. In the 1970s he competed for UCLA for several years. UCLA Bruins, 1973 Track and Field, uclabruins.com. Retrieved 18 March 2012. In 1977 he ran on the 1977 IAAF Athletics World Cup, anchoring the 4 × 400 m relay team to what appeared to be a runaway victory when he collapsed on the track with a severely pulled hamstring 150 m from the finish. This unfortunate injury denied the USA a seemingly certain victory in the team competition, the victory instead going to East Germany. The Cup Turned Into A Coup, Kenny Marks, Sports Illustrated, 12 September 1977. Retrieved 18 March 2012. Parks did not compete again that season, but did return in 1978 to again capture the national title at 400 m.
Any hope of Olympic success in 1980 was denied by the USA boycott of those games, but in any event Parks's form meant he only reached the semi-final stage at the Olympic trials.
Prior to UCLA he was a graduate of Washington Union High School, then Fresno City College.
In 1979 Parks coached for the Athletes in Action.Tustin News, June 14, 1979 Retrieved Dec 1, 2020
Parks was in 2010 honoured as a member of the '100 Stars for 100 Years' for Fresno City College. In the publicity for the event, Parks is stated as having received the honour of being, in 1990, inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. '100 Stars for 100 Years List is Complete', 30/7/2010. Retrieved 18 March 2012. Parks has also been elected into the California Community College Track and Field Hall of Fame.
His grandson Cedric Coward plays for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies.
Rankings Parks was ranked among the best in the US and the world in the 400 m/440 y events over the period 1973 to 1978, according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News. +100 metersYearWorld rankUS rank1973 - 5th1974 - 6th1975 - -1976 5th 3rd1977 4th 2nd1978 4th 3rd
USA Championships Parks was a very successful competitor in the US National Championships between 1973 and 1978: A History Of The Results Of The National Track & Field Championships Of The USA From 1876 Through 2003, Track and Field News, Retrieved 18 March 2012. +USA ChampionshipsYear100 m1973 4th1974 -1975 -1976 1st1977 3rd1978 1st
Best performances Notes for tables: world rankings are based on the best time for each athlete. 440 yard times are converted to 400 metres times by subtracting 0.3 s for manual-timed results. for comparison with automatically timed races, manual times have a factor of 0.14 s added. +400 metersYearResultWorld RankLocationDate1973 45.5 9th Bakersfield Jun 161974 45.76 11th Austin Aug 241975 45.9 30th Bakersfield May 171976 44.82 4th Westwood Jun 121977 45.45 7th Zurich Aug 241978 45.15 6th Westwood Jun 10
References