Julius Clifford Parsons Jr.

1947 - 03

Julius Clifford "Cliff" Parsons Jr., 63, formerly of Trotwood, Ohio, was born March 22, 1947, and passed away unexpectedly Wednesday, July 21, 2010, in the Anne Arundel Medical Center, Annapolis, Md. Mr. Parsons was born and raised in Monroeville, where he graduated from Gateway High School in 1965. He once scored 56 points in a high school game and was inducted into the Gateway Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He attended the Air Force Academy from 1965 to 1969, where he set several records as the center for the Academy Basketball team. He is still the only academy player to average a career double-double in scoring and rebounding at 19.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. In 1968, he was selected as a Helms Foundation All American and a Division 1 Academic All American. After graduation, he fulfilled his active duty commitment at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio from 1969 to 1974, where he held jobs as an industrial engineer, the base athletic director and commander of the base civil engineering squadron. During his Air Force tenure, he played on several championship Logistics Command, Air Force and Armed Forces Basketball All Star teams. In 1972, he helped lead the Armed Forces All Stars to the National AAU Championship and received AAU All American honors. Gregg Popovich, coach of the San Antonio Spurs, was a teammate of Cliff's on the Air Force Academy, Wright-Patterson and Air Force, Armed Forces All Star basketball teams. On separation from the Air Force, Mr. Parsons first played professional ball in Holland before migrating to Australia, where he played for the Dandenong Rangers in Australia's Premier League. He was employed as an industrial engineer by Brown and Williamson until he returned to the Dayton area in 1979. He held industrial engineering jobs at Hobart and Copeland before taking a position as head of the engineering department for Rexarc International. His last job in the Dayton area was with the consulting and services firm, Aerotek. For the last 40 years he served as the production manager for the optical ceramics division of Technology Assessment and Transfer Inc. in Annapolis, Md. He was preceded in death by his parents, Julius C. "Buck" Parsons Sr. and Jean Kennedy (Farr). He is survived by his wife, Beatrice (Saul); sister, Margaret "Gie" Parsons, of Clarion; mother-in-law, Bernice; brother-in-law, Galen R. Saul and special friend, Judy Frizzell; nephews, Brian (Veronica) Saul and Wesley (Kimberly) Saul; special great-nieces, Abbigail, Dominique and Danielle; and special great-nephew, Kyle. Viewing will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at ROGERS' FUNERAL HOME, 324 W. Main St., New Lebanon, OH 45345. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the funeral home. Interment will follow at Eversole Cemetery. If desired, donations may be made in memory of Cliff to the Air Force Academy, Wounded Warrior Project or the Humane Society of Greater Dayton.