What started out as a way to pay for college has quickly parlayed into seven All-American honors, four national titles and a potential trip to the 2004 Olympics for senior sprinter Robert Parham.
“Growing up I loved football, basketball — pretty much all sports,” Parham said. “I just happened to fall into track and I’m glad I did because I could not see myself in any other sport.”
Parham began running competively as a sophomore in high school on the advice of summer track and field coach Daniel White. Parham said White helped him develop his skills and teach him how to become a competitive runner on the next level.
“Robert is a guy that has come a long way in four years,” said LSU track and field head coach Pat Henry. “He was recruited out of high school by a lot of schools, but I think some people missed on Robert.”
In his four seasons at LSU, Parham has specialized in the 60 and 200 meter sprints as well as the 4X100 and 4X400 with all four of his national championships coming in the 4X400 and 4X100.
And this year Parham wants to close out his LSU career with a bang.
“I feel good,” Parham said. “I feel a whole lot better than I did at the end of last year coming off of injury.”
Parham injured his hamstring at an early season indoor meet in Florida last season.
“It was a struggle all of last year,” Parham said. “More so a mental thing than a physical thing. I was worried too much about my hamstring and trying not to do stuff instead of trying to just run.”
The injury kept Parham out for most of the indoor season, but could not deter him from running at the NCAA’s.
“I went out there and embarassed myself in the national meet and did not do that well,” Parham said. “I got dead last and that is embarassing.”
Parham said he was ready to run mentally, but physically could not do it.
“I took about 3-4 weeks off and you can’t do that,” Parham said. “You can’t take so much time off and then go try to compete with the best athletes in the nation.”
Two national titles, the 4X400 and the 4X100, in the 2003 outdoor season helped Parham rebound from the early season injury. The 4X400 team posted the second-fastest time (3:02.01) in school history in the event.
Teammate Bennie Brazell said without Parham, the 4X100 and 4X400 team’s would not have been able to win their national titles.
“Getting him back (from injury) was really the nail in the coffin for us,” Brazell said.
Parham said he feels good mentally about this season, but is still trying to get back into the running shape he experienced at the beginning of the 2003 season. He said he is using the 2004 Olympics in Athens as a motivation.
“I like to say [the Olympics] will get me more ready,” Parham said. “Most of the time I am anxious to get out there and run. But with anxiety comes unuseful energy and unuseful energy brings injuries, so what I want to do is know that I am ready so hopefully I will make it to the USA trials and then the Olympic team.”
Henry said Parham has a reasonable shot of making it to Athens.
“He is in that top 15 guys right now at 20.4 [in the 60-meters] in the United States,” Henry said.