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Former MVNU storyteller has A Story of His Own


For two decades Dave Parsons had “the best view of all the significant moments” in MVNU sports history.

The former Sports Information Director left MVNU in 2014 to pursue a career with Donatos as a field marketing manager.

This weekend, Parsons will be inducted to the Cougar Wall of Fame to honor his 21 years of telling the stories of the University’s coaches and athletes.

“It was a privilege to be the storyteller for Cougar athletics for 21 years,” Parsons said. “The athletes worked hard, and I got to tell their story.”

As SID, Parsons said that his job was about “building relationships with great people.”

“Truly, it’s all about the people. The quality of the people here is amazing,” Parsons said.

The sporting events “just happened in between,” he said.

Parsons said he is humbled to be inducted to the Wall of Fame along with “so many great players and people who have a great history.”

Parsons came to MVNU as a shy, apprehensive freshman in 1990.

“I knew no one,” he said, but “it was a safe place. There weren’t cliques. You fit in with everyone.”

Somehow, the quiet kid who wasn’t even sure MVNU was right for him made friends, became more social and eventually was elected freshman class president.

He stayed on campus the summer after his freshman year, working as part of the paint crew, and “that’s when I really became part of the MVNU family,” he said.

Over the summer, professors and other staff would invite him to their homes for cookouts and take him to lunch after Sunday morning church.

He got involved in the athletic department as an undergrad as well, volunteering to help with game-day tasks, run the scoreboard and line judge for volleyball. He also worked in the cafeteria and after graduation served as an RD for Spruce Apartments.

Parsons also was hired as Assistant Sports Information Director after graduation, and became the University’s first full-time SID in 1998. He later completed a master’s degree in human resources management at MVNU and taught sports management classes at the University.

He also has run in two Boston Marathons.

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