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. He did not let his wheelchair stop him from living his best life.
He was a force of nature in making Crimson Cover a reality, first on local radio, then as a weekly TV program on WVUA-23, covering Alabama sports.
The radio show launched in 2008 with Tuscaloosa News sports writer Chase Goodbread. Soon after, Parker added former Alabama All-American defensive end John Copeland as a third co-host. In 2010, Parker convinced WVUA-23 to record a pilot episode of Crimson Cover TV, and the network has aired Crimson Cover every Friday since then.
Mike secured sponsors for the show, arranged remote broadcasts, offered unvarnished opinions and analysis on the air, and brought his vision to life.
Mike passed away at age 42 in February 2025. Mike, of course, was no fan of his wheelchair. At the reception following his memorial service, the Parker family fittingly hung Mike's wheelchair upside down. In that spirit, the PCA logo depicts a wheelchair being carried upside down by a pair of wings, emblematic of the mission to help wheelchair-using residents throughout Mike's home state of Alabama.
Crimson Cover continues to air each week in Mike's absence, but it will never be the same without him.
