Dave Parsel, Millennium Hall of Fame

Richard Dunn

Masters runner Dave Parsel is living proof that tragedy can turn to

treasure.

A former Estancia High and Orange Coast College football player, Parsel

never missed a game until breaking his leg at the end of his sophomore

year at OCC.

As part of his rehabilitation, Parsel, a small-framed wide receiver,

started jogging. Next thing you know, he’s entering a 5K race and a

distance runner is born.

Fast forward to 1997, about 20 years later.

After another serious setback -- skin cancer -- Parsel figures his

illustrious masters career is finished in terms of victory ribbons and

champagne celebrations.

Instead, the adversity becomes a blessing and now you can’t stop him.

“After I had the skin cancer on my leg removed, I missed 23 days of

running in a row,” Parsel said, “but when I got back into training and

racing, all of the sudden I had a breakthrough, and I started running and

racing a lot more.

“I figured I would not be winning any more races, and I was just glad to

be running, so I was not going to worry about (winning).”

After the removal of skin cancer on his leg, Parsel ended up competing in

37 events in 1997 and won 17 of them, mostly 5K and 10K races.

Parsel, who also met his future bride, Beth, that year, is a regular on

the marathon and half-marathon circuits and is one of the top masters

runners in Orange County.

Since a family reunion Oct. 18, 1997, Parsel hasn’t missed a day of

running and is on pace to run 12,000 miles in 1,000 days, a goal, if he

stays healthy, expected to be accomplished by the middle of July this

year.

Whether it’s a long run of 17 miles or an easy, three-mile jog, Parsel

runs every day rain or shine. He even ran on his wedding day, Jan. 9,

1998, then ran a half marathon the next day.

“I ran less than a mile on my wedding day,” he said. “It was my shortest

day. I just went in the morning for about 10 minutes and it helped relax

me.”

A sprinter in track and field at Estancia (Class of ‘73), Parsel was a

running back in football his freshman and sophomore years, but Dan

Princeotto became the varsity’s featured ballcarrier and Parsel moved to

wide receiver, where he caught passes from quarterback Mike Magner.

Parsel, also teammates with Eagle stars Vince Klees and Scott Gayner, did

not participate in sports while attending OCC out of high school.

But after OCC football coach Dick Tucker’s squad won the ’75 national

championship, Parsel returned to the gridiron and became the Pirates’

leading receiver in 1976, catching 22 passes for 307 yards. He had 18

receptions for 175 yards in ’77 before breaking his leg.

“Once I got the cast off, I started jogging around,” Parsel said. “It’s

ironic what turned me into a distance runner.”

In the summer of ‘79, Parsel entered his first race, a 10K in Bucyrus,

Ohio, his parents’ hometown, for fun. His expectations were low. Parsel

clocked a 43:38 and was “just glad to make it.” But he kept improving.

In the fall of 1985, Parsel was recruited by OCC men’s cross country

coach Gordie Fitzel. “I was 30, but I still wasn’t the oldest runner on

the team,” said Parsel, referring to then-43-year-old teammate Tom Burns.

Parsel, who had also competed in triathlons, kept getting faster and

faster. By the spring of ‘86, he won his first race, a 5K in Brentwood,

and wound up running the 5,000 and 10,000 meters for OCC’s track team.

In the fall of ‘86, Parsel won the Orange Empire Conference individual

cross country championship, then captured the state championship in the

10,000 meters the following spring for the Pirates. At age 32, Parsel was

named the school’s Male Athlete of the Year.

“I’m probably the oldest Athlete of the Year in the state of California

community colleges,” said Parsel, who has been on a road tear ever since,

having won 105 races and established personal-best times of 30:37 in the

10K and 14:43 in the 5K.

The brother of Tim, the current Estancia High Boys Athletic Director,

Parsel has competed in seven marathons in his masters career.

“It takes a long time to recover (from a marathon),” said Parsel, who

finished fourth overall (2:31:30) in his last marathon, the Pacific

Shoreline at Huntington Beach.

Growing up, Parsel once played Pop Warner football under Coach Rolly

Pulaski (a Newport Harbor High standout from the early 1950s). The team,

the Costa Mesa Cowboys, went 12-0 and captured the Southern California

championship.

But Parsel’s No. 1 highlight is winning the ’87 state championship in the

10K.

Parsel, today’s honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame, serves as

a volunteer running coach at OCC. He spent many years as a machine

operator and today is semiretired. “I haven’t made much and I don’t spend

much,” said the 5-foot-9 Parsel, who weighs as much today (150 pounds) as

he did during his junior year in high school.