He did not let his wheelchair stop him from living his best life.
Mike Parker was a fine son, a fun loving friend, a die hard fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide, and the founder of the Crimson Cover TV show on WVUA 23 in Tuscaloosa. After all those things and much more, he was also a wheelchair user for more than 20 years.
Following a 2004 diving accident while celebrating the Fourth of July, Mike was wheelchair bound with quadriplegia. But the accident did not take away the things that made him Mike: his humor, his opinions, his love of sports, or his determination to build something people would remember.
He was a force of nature in making Crimson Cover a reality. The show began on local radio, then grew into a weekly television program on WVUA 23 covering Alabama sports. Mike secured sponsors, arranged remote broadcasts, gave unvarnished opinions on air, and kept pushing the idea forward until it became real.
A Fourth of July diving accident leaves Mike with quadriplegia. He begins more than two decades as a wheelchair user.
Crimson Cover launches on local radio with Tuscaloosa News sports writer Chase Goodbread. Former Alabama All American John Copeland later joins the show.
Mike convinces WVUA 23 to record a pilot episode. Crimson Cover becomes a weekly television fixture covering Alabama sports.
Mike passes away at age 42. At the reception after his memorial service, his family hangs his wheelchair upside down. That image helps inspire the Parker Covers Alabama logo and mission.
Crimson Cover continues each week in Mike's absence, but the people who knew him say it will never be the same. Parker Covers Alabama exists so that his name continues to mean action, access and opportunity for wheelchair users throughout his home state.
