Betty Booker-Parks is a native of Hampshire, Tennessee. She attended Hampshire High School where she excelled in basketball and was voted four times as a high school MVP.
While attending Hampshire High School, Booker-Parks was named to the Tennessee All Star Team in 1976 with a career average of 30.2 points per game.
Upon graduating from Hampshire High School, Booker-Parks continued to excel on the court at Memphis State University where she was named 2nd Team All-American in 1975 and 1976.
During her collegiate career, Booker-Parks set the record for the number of games played (137), points scored (2,835), scoring average (20.7), field goals attempted (2,704), field goals made (1,203) and number of steals (360). Her record for most points scored in a game (41) stood strong for more than twenty years.
Booker-Parks was a first round draft choice in the Women’s Basketball League where she averaged 10 points per game.
In 1985, she was inducted into the Memphis State University Athletic Hall of Fame.
After an outstanding collegiate and professional career, Booker-Parks coached basketball, volleyball and track for 14 years at White Station High School in Memphis where she taught physical education.
During her tenure at White Station, she was named TSSAA district coach of the year six times in volleyball and four times in basketball. Her coaching strategies and diligence led her teams to compete at the sub-state and state levels. She was named the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s “Best of the Prep’s Coach of the Year” in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
In 1994, Booker-Parks was selected to play for the newly formed Memphis Blues professional basketball team. During that same year, the coach was unable to fulfill his duties, leaving the team without a coaching staff. Booker-Parks took on the daunting task of manager and coach. Through her exemplary leadership, the team went on to finish second in the league.
Today, Betty Booker-Parks is just as accomplished in the educational arena as she was on the court. In her current role as assistant principal for Kirby Middle School, one of the largest middle schools in West Tennessee, she regularly finds time to work with student athletes in the gym helping them improve their skills.