UNSUNG HEROS: Most avid Chiefs fans can cite the exploits of the great players in team history, but there are many other players who have escaped the hype but yet played vital roles in their teams' success and, for one reason or another, have slipped the minds of many fans then and now. Throughout the year, we profile some who did more than simply play a part when they took the field for the Kansas City Chiefs.
This is the time of year that teams hand out their MVP and rookie awards. In many cases, the selections are obvious, but not always, especially when one goes to an offensive lineman.
And so it did to Glenn Parker.
Parker joined the Chiefs as a free agent in 1997 after spending seven seasons with the Buffalo Bills, where he was a starter on the offensive line until the team's salary cap made him a casualty.
The Chiefs quickly came to terms with Parker when it appeared Trezelle Jenkins was unable to hold down a starting position on the offensive line.
No doubt, General Manager Carl Peterson and Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer breathed a collective sigh of relief when Parker, a veteran from some good Buffalo teams, stepped in to the vacant hole at right offensive tackle.
Why is Glenn Parker a Chiefs unsung hero?
Who but a hero could start 15 games at right tackle in 1997, 15 at right tackle, left tackle and left guard in 1998, and 11 at left tackle in 1999? Left tackle is perhaps the most difficult position to play along the offensive line as it calls for the player to protect the quarterback's blindside.
Versatile? I'd say so.
It could be argued he saved the Chiefs in 1988 when he moved from right tackle to left guard after Dave Szott went down in the first week of the season. He later moved briefly to left tackle.
He was subsequently named the team's MVP in 1998 – an unheard-of award given the position he played.
Parker had to fill in again when the Chiefs' No. 1 pick in 1999, John Tait, a tackle, held out over training camp. He was what they call a "pro's pro" and had the mind to do what his coaches asked and not fret about it.
Parker said he enjoyed the opportunity to play other positions as he had always been inclined to "learn something new," and he was virtually learning it almost from the moment he arrived in Kansas City.
His departure for the New York Giants in 2000 was, again, the result of unavailable salary cap space, said General Manager Carl Peterson, and certainly not his play. The Giants no doubt saw in Parker what the Chiefs had when he was available previously.
