William Nolen Parker (born December 28, 1948) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

who played for eleven seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

North Texas University

Parker played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

North Texas University The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university located in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. Its main campus is in Denton, with a satellite campus in Frisco. It serves as the flagship of the University of North Texas Syst ...

. While playing at North Texas, Will made All Missouri Valley Conference in 1969 and 1970. In 2013 Will was voted as the Center for the North Texas All Century Team (1913–2013). In 2016 the North Texas Hall of Fame committee voted Will into the North Texas Hall of Fame.

San Francisco 49ers

Parker was originally drafted by the

in the

1971 NFL draft The 1971 NFL draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used the first overall pick ...

, made the Taxi Squad and participated in all practices for the entire season.

Buffalo Bills

Parker was traded to Buffalo in 1973 as a snapper, center and backup guard. He played eight years for the Bills. In 1976, going into his fourth year with the Buffalo Bills, Parker became their starting center. Despite a strong middle of the offensive line with Parker flanking left guard Reggie McKenzie and Hall-of-Fame right guard

Joe DeLamielleure Joseph Michael DeLamielleure ( ; born March 16, 1951) is an American former professional football player who was a guard in the National Football League (NFL). He was an All-American playing college football for the Michigan State Spartans. He ...

in all 14 games, that team had a 3-11 won-lost record, the offense scoring only 160 points (11.4 points/game), 26th among 28 teams in the NFL. In 1977 OJ Simpson Buffalo's outstanding running back '77 season in Buffalo was cut short by injury. Before the 1978 season, the Bills traded OJ Simpson to the San Francisco 49ers for a series of draft picks. 8Willie played three seasons with the team's fortune improving to 5–11 in 1978 and 7–9 in 1979, the first two years with

Chuck Knox Charles Robert Knox (April 27, 1932 – May 12, 2018) was an American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels. He served as head coach of three National Football League (NFL) teams, the Los Angeles Rams (1973–197 ...

as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

, the same linemen trio up the middle in all 16 games during three years. However, in the following year, Parker was traded to the Detroit Lions to help in rebuilding Detroit's offensive line.

Detroit Lions

In 1980, his final year in the NFL, Parker went to the

, starting only once in 4 games, as a career-ending injury occurred in his final game against the Chicago Bears. Willie came back to the Detroit Lions in 1981 Training Camp and due to work related issue, decided to retire. In all Willie spent 11 years in the NFL.

References

NFL.com player page
1948 births Living people Players of American football from Houston American football centers North Texas Mean Green football players Buffalo Bills players Detroit Lions players 20th-century American sportsmen {{offensive-lineman-1940s-stub