EX-SOUTHEAST BASKETBALL COACH DIES

Carl Ritter and Kermit Meystedt, two of Southeast Missouri State University's all-time basketball greats, remember Charles Parsley as a disciplinarian who favored a fast-break style on the court and earned the admiration and respect of his players off the court.

Parsley, who ranks as Southeast's second all-time winningest men's basketball coach with a 175-101 record between 1958-70, died earlier this month in Las Vegas, where he had been living for the past 23 years. Parsley, who was 71, had cancer.

Ritter and Meystedt, who played for Parsley at different times, spoke with fondness about their former coach.

"I enjoyed my years with him and I hate to hear it," said Ritter, who scored 1,916 points from 1959-63 and still stands as the school's all-time leading scorer in men's basketball. "I thought very highly of him. I thought he was a good disciplinarian and I had a lot of respect for him.

"I think he changed the style of play at SEMO. He believed in the run-and-gun game, a fast-paced, up-tempo game. I really think that's what the people liked there. He worked us hard in practice and we were always in good shape, and he always had time to sit down and talk to you about your problems."

Said Meystedt, a Cape Girardeau native who played for Parsley from 1963-67 and ranks as the school's second all-time rebounder and 10th all-time scorer, "It's quite a shock. I thought a lot of him. He just had a tremendous personality and you liked him instantly. Everybody felt that way. He always had a smile on his face. He was the reason I went to SEMO.

"He was a very good game situation coach. We were always prepared for whoever we were going to face. We liked to run and gun, which fit my style perfectly.

Parsley, a native of London, Ky., earned honorable-mention All-American honors at Western Kentucky in 1949. After graduation, he spent some time with the NBA's Fort Wayne Pistons and Philadelphia Warriors.

After winning three state championships as a high school coach in Nebraska and Wyoming, Parsley was hired at Southeast in 1958. His first two teams went a combined 24-18, followed by his third team that put together what still stands as the best single-season winning percentage in school history.

The 1960-61 squad, led by Advance product and sharpshooter Ritter, went 25-3, won a regional title and finished second in the NCAA Small College Tournament, losing to Wittenberg 42-38 in the national championship game.

"We had a great team that year," said Ritter, who twice earned All-American honors playing under Parsley. "To me, he brought the fast break back into SEMO basketball. That's my feeling. I liked it.

"We were averaging 78 points a game that year, but they held us to 38. There was no shot clock and that's just the style of play they used. It worked."

Added Ritter, who has been an extremely successful high school coach in both basketball and volleyball at Bell City, "When I went into the coaching field, some of the things he used, in game situations and practice, I adopted myself."

Meystedt said Parsley served as something of a father figure to many of his players.

"I had lost my father when I was a sophomore in high school and he kind of filled that role. I was in his office quite a bit," Meystedt said. "We really liked him. I think he genuinely cared about us. You could go to him with any problems."

Parsley also led Southeast to regional titles in 1962 and 1964. He left Southeast in 1970 and went on to coach at Wisconsin-Milwaukee before ultimately settling in Las Vegas.

He is survived by his wife Edith of Las Vegas, daughter Debbie McEvoy of Las Vegas, son Charles of Vega, Texas, and brother Ray of Hampton, Neb.