come to the Parish family home if Robert missed a practice and gave Parish a basketball to practice with. It was at this time that Parish started wearing his uniform No. 00; on the day they passed out the uniforms in junior high school, it was the only jersey left. “I really didn’t like basketball growing up.” Parish said, talking about how he focused instead on football, baseball, and track. “[Coach] Coleman would come to my house and take me to practice every day until I had to start showing up myself; I give all the credit to him.” Parish attended Woodlawn High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, where he played for Coach Ken Ivy. He had previously attended Union High School until it was closed due to desegregation. Named All-American, All-State, All-District, and All-City in 1972, Parish led Woodlawn High School to the 1972 Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class AAAA state championship. College career Parish attended Centenary College of Louisiana, playing for Coach Larry Little, from 1972–1976, choosing the school because it was close to his home. However, he received virtually no notice because of one of the most severe penalties ever levied by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. "The reason why I chose Centenary is because of their coaches," Parish said. "I was very impressed with the coaches." In 1965, the NCAA adopted the so-called "1.6 rule" to determine academic eligibility of incoming freshmen. Under its provisions, freshmen academically qualified if their high school grades and standardized test scores predicted a minimum college grade point average of 1.6 on a 4-point scale. Parish, who led Woodlawn High School in Shreveport to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class AAAA state championship in 1972, took a standardized test that did not fit the NCAA's formula; Centenary converted his score to an equivalent that fit the formula, which it had done for 12 other athletes in the previous two years. This was a violation of NCAA regulations; however, the NCAA had not paid any attention to the school's actions before Parish's recruitment. Shortly before Parish was to enroll, the NCAA notified Centenary that he and four other basketball players whose test scores had been converted were ineligible to play there, but said that the school would not be subject to penalty if it rescinded the five scholarships. Centenary argued that the rule did not say that the school could not