Former KC Chiefs safety Ron Parker will be inducted into Newberry HOF

Former K.C. Chiefs safety Ron Parker is being honored later this year as part of the latest Class of 2021 in Newberry College’s Athletic Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on September 11 during the team’s game against North Greenville.

That sort of sentence above, featuring a contest between two smaller schools, shows the sort of long climb that Ron Parker faced to make it in the National Football League and is a testament to his God-given talents along with a work ethic and determination that allowed him to enjoy such a long career in the league.

Parker was a second-team All-American in Division II during his collegiate career and that was enough to turn the heads of the Seattle Seahawks who reached out to Parker and convinced him to sign as a rookie free agent.

Parker would go on to make the practice squad for a few weeks before being released and claimed by the Oakland Raiders. With the Raiders, Parker would make his NFL debut before being released again and picked back up by Seattle. Parker would remain on the Seahawks active roster for the rest of the season and appeared in five total games between both teams.

Ron Parker will be inducted into Newberry College’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

The sophomore season in the NFL featured much of the same for Parker as he bounced between teams and practice squads. This time, the Carolina Panthers got involved and the Seahawks came calling a third time, as they clearly knew some undeveloped potential was there just waiting to be unlocked if given the chance. The 2012 season ended the same way as his rookie campaign with five total games played with little impact on the field between two franchises.

It’s here that John Dorsey’s eye for talent really came into play for the Chiefs, who claimed Parker off of waivers heading into the 2013 season. As the team with the worst record in the NFL the previous season, the Chiefs were first in line for claims on all roster cuts and their position that year yielded quite the bounty–a group that included Parker as well as defensive tackle Jaye Howard and cornerback Marcus Cooper.

Parker would go on to play in all 16 games in his first season in K.C. and would be entrenched as the team’s starting free safety next to Eric Berry for the next five seasons, a half decade of starting production all off of a waiver claim from a kid from Newberry College.

Parker would end his Chiefs career with 397 total tackles, 8 sacks, 11 interceptions, 48 passes deflected, and 3 forced fumbles in 94 games played. Parker was let go by the Chiefs the winter before the team’s Super Bowl run in 2019 and he would retire from football the following January.