Parkes Brittain: Swimming's first agent

Swimming World and Junior Swimmer, Nov 2002 by Whitten, Phillip

Swimming agent Parkes Brittain, who has been nominated for enshrinement in the International Swimming Hall of Fame, was a man who impacted the sport of swimming as have few others.

He was the first of a kind. And, according to all who knew him, he was one of a kind.

In a sport with almost no popular history, a sport in which even some of its greatest heroes have barely hung up their swim suits to dry before they are forgotten, Parker Brittain III is a name very few swimmers-or even coaches-- will recall. Yet Brittain was a man who impacted the sport of swimming as have few others, either before or after him.

He opened wide the gates of opportunity for countless postgraduate swimmers, allowing them to pursue their dreams and extend their careers. That is why Mark Henderson-a 1996 Olympic gold medalist and a member of the USOC Board of Director-has nominated Brittain for enshrinement in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Parker Brittain was swimming's first agent. Oh, there were Hollywood agents before him-high-powered wheeler-- dealers representing ex-swimmers such as Johnny Weissmuller, Buster Crabbe and Esther Williams, who had gone on to successful movie careers. But Parker was the first to demonstrate that swimmers-as swimmers-were marketable athletes who deserved the opportunity to train through their peak years.

Though a tough negotiator, he was no "show-me-the-money" kind of agent. Rather he was both agent and mentor for some of the biggest names in U.S. swimming during the 1980s and '90s.

Today, Evan Morgenstein has taken up where Parkes Brittain left off. Though their styles are completely different-- Parkes was more the Southern gentleman; Evan is pure New York street fighter-both care enormously about their clients as people.

Morgenstein acknowledges the debt he owes his predecessor. "Though I never met Parkes, he blazed the path for me and for everyone who wants to help Olympic athletes achieve their goals. What he evidently did was go beyond solidifying contracts-he built friendships with his clients. To my mind, that's more meaningful than any deal you could do, any amount of money you could bring in."

HIS ATHLETES CAME FIRST

Tragically, Parkes' career was cut short when he died of AIDS in 1994, in his late 30s. His passing was hard on those who knew him. Helen Broder, a former colleague, recalls that just days before he died, she watched him come staggering into the office, suffering from the effects of the medications he was taking, just to make sure "his" athletes were being cared for properly. With Parkes, his athletes always came first.

Rowdy Gaines was Parkes' first client, and Rowdy remembers their first encounter as if it were yesterday: "It was 1983, the year before the L.A. Olympics, when I met him at nationals in Indy. He came up to me and said he was interested in signing me. We all thought he was crazy-you weren't even allowed to accept money back then. But he said he'd set everything up in case I won.

"I signed and I became the first client of swimming's first agent. A few weeks later, Steve Lundquist signed, too. Though we didn't make a whole lot of money, everything worked out exactly like Parkes said it would. We were amazed!

"Parkes was a guy who was way ahead of his time. After Steve and I signed, Parkes sent out letters to, it must have been 500 companies, saying he had these two Olympic athletes and wouldn't you like to have them represent your company? Back then, no one knew what Peter Uebberoth was planning for the '84 Games, but Parkes seemed to know. Anyway, he got quite a few positive responses to his letters.

Today, Rowdy's agent is Evan Morgenstein. "Parkes and Evan are very similar," he says. They're like Jerry Maguire-they're very energetic and believe totally in their athletes."

Of all his clients, Parkes was probably closest to 1988 Olympic star, Matt Biondi. "I really wish Parkes were here today," Matt said recently. I didn't truly understand a lot of things we talked about while we were on tour after Seoul (1988). I didn't really get it 'til after he died. Now I do.

"1988 and '89 were the hardest years for me. To the world, I was a big star, but inside I was a little kid. Parkes tried to give me the skills I needed to deal with it. He wanted me to be more accepting of people-to do simple things such as make eye contact and shake people's hands. He helped me to understand how much people respected my accomplishments and the Olympic Games. He made me more mature, and helped me to grow up. If he could see me today, I think he'd be proud of me."

PERSUASIVE, CARING, SOPHISTICATED

By all accounts, Parker Brittain was a very persuasive guy. Matt recalls him as "the only person I've ever known who could return a plane to the boarding gate."

Matt tells the story like this: "We were on our way to Japan and Parkes' connecting flight was late. I kept looking for him but he didn't show up, so I got on the plane and we taxied out to the runway. I was moaning like Chewbacca in "Star Wars." All of a sudden, the plane stopped, taxied back to the gate and Parkes got on.