College Commitment: Parker Gaddis (2015 Southridge HS/Clark CC-WA)
A year ago, Parker Gaddis wasn’t quite sure if he’d ever play college basketball again. But fast forward to the present for 2015 Southridge High School graduate and the versatile 6-foot-4, 175-pound guard is not only balling but balling at a high level. Gaddis finished off a great year with Clark College this past season and in the process, picked up all sorts of four-year recruiting interest and after taking a few official visits, announced over the weekend that he’d be signing with Colorado-Colorado Springs.
“The second I stepped on campus I felt really at peace with them,” Gaddis said. “Honestly I loved the connection the coaching staff had with the players. It seemed like a real family environment and when I played there on my visit, Coach Culver was already instilling so much confidence in me and my game. This was a place where I could go and be really myself which was super important for me and that was huge in my decision.”
Gaddis had picked up quite a bit of recruiting interest after his sophomore season at Clark – one in which he averaged 17.6 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. After the season he visited Jamestown in North Dakota, Western Washington, Colorado-Colorado Springs, and Adams State and all four offered him a scholarship. Colorado Christian, Black Hills State, and Alaska-Fairbanks were some of the other programs that wanted to get him on a visit but Gaddis made the call as he had found the right fit both off and on the court at UC-Colorado Springs.
“They really like my ability to handle the ball and pass,” Gaddis said. “The way that they play getting up the floor and up-tempo I can really help. I can rebound the ball well and then kick it up the floor really fast – I have really good vision in that sense. I definitely feel like I’ll be able to step in and make an immediate impact. I definitely need to keep working on shooting the three and improving my range, getting stronger, and getting more athletic.”
The commitment closes a chapter in what has been an incredible journey for Gaddis. After graduating from Southridge in 2015, he went on to play at Clackamas where he had a solid freshman season, averaging 11.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists. He was all set to transfer to Clark for his sophomre season but went to get a nagging hip injury checked out – only to find out that had a torn labrum. Further investigation revealed he had a degenerative bone condition on both sides of his hip.
Gaddis underwent two hip surgeries and sat out the year at Clark. The Penguins had a coaching change. An opportunity arose for Gaddis at Saddleback College in California but before he stepped foot on the court there, he physically still wasn’t right and didn’t play.
“Honestly that was the hardest thing for me,” Gaddis said. “As time went on I started to question if I would even get back. I’d been out for so long and I was in my third year in JUCO about to go into my fourth year and I just didn’t know if that’s what God had planned for me. So I had decided that I wasn’t going to come back (to basketball) and just go to school but then it was kind of random, I bumped into (Clark) Coach (Kevin) Johnson and he had a roster spot for me.”
At this point, it was a little too late in the calendar for Gaddis to get accepted into one of the schools he was looking to go to just for academics. And with his mother having recently moved back to the Vancouver area for a job, the choice was clear. “I thought about it and decided that I might as well give it a shot,” Gaddis said. “I had a good year and fell back in love with the game again and then I was blessed with these incredible opportunities. It’s been a crazy journey.”
Gaddis will have two years of eligibility remaining at UC-Colorado Springs.