God bless Parker's family and friends.
I know he was in the ER Thursday, as I was in the hospital area at the same time, and the UNI athletic staff were also there. And quite distraught. I do not believe he died early today... Saturday. Either way it doesn't really matter. Gone way way too soon. Edit: yes, unfortunately he passed away Saturday.
One of the news channels ran a suicide notice after the story. They didn’t directly tie the two together, but they ran the suicide hotline thing immediately after the story on him.
Probably. Most common reason for this sort of thing, sudden death in an athlete, is undiagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Basically where you have an enlarged heart for genetic reasons which messes with the electrical conduction of the heart in a way that can lead to a fatal arrhythmia (ventricular fibrillation). It's the way a number of athletes have died during competition or workouts - Hank Gathers, Reggie Lewis, Miklos Feher, Mark-Vivien Foe.
I really hope and pray there have been no cruel comments regarding Parker's death. At least on this site it all seems to be proper respect for him and his family. And since I visit absolutely no other site, I'm hoping it isn't the case. That would be pretty sad if it was.
