 After retiring from basketball, Parker created the Sonny Parker Youth Foundation in Chicago to help inner-city students.Parker was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended Chicago's Farragut High School, where he received All-City, All-State, and All-Public League honors.In appreciation of his efforts on the school's basketball team, he has been named to the Farragut Hall of Fame, the Chicago Public Schools Hall of Fame, and the Illinois High School Hall of Fame.