Basketball great Barry Parkhill was one of the best all-purpose guards in the Atlantic Coast Conference from 1971-73. The 6-foot-4 native Pennsylvanian led the conference in scoring with 21.6 points a game as a junior in 1972, when the Cavaliers went 21-7 and were selected to play in the National Invitational Tournament for only the second time in school history. That season he was also named ACC Player of the Year and later Athlete of the Year. Parkhill compiled a career average of 18.2 points a game and also managed a total of 369 assists, which was tops in Virginia history at the time. The figures helped him become only the second player in school history to have his basketball jersey retired (#40) and in 2000 he was named the fourth greatest athlete in University of Virginia history.
Parkhill became a first-round draft choice of the Virginia Squires in the American Basketball Association and the Portland Trailblazers of the National Basketball Association. After four seasons with the ABA Virginia Squires and the St. Louis Spirits, he began coaching. He was a University of Virginia graduate assistant coach and then became head coach at the College of William & Mary from 1984-87, followed by a 1989-90 stint at the helm of St. Michael’s College in Vermont. Then came a year as an assistant at the United States Naval Academy.
Parkhill returned to his alma mater in 1992 as a fundraiser and later became the Associate Athletic Director for Development. He previously served dual roles as Director of Alumni Development for the University of Virginia Alumni Association and Director of Capital Projects for Athletics. He also spent three years as the Associate Director of Regional Development.
