During his 41 years at Baylor University, Maxey Parrish truly saw it all: sidelines, courtsides, Olympic games, board rooms, and classrooms. He taught across the world, earned countless awards, and even founded Baylor’s athletics website, embracing every opportunity that came his way. Yet beyond these achievements, Parrish’s greatest impact was made outside the classroom, where he touched the lives of an immeasurable number of students as he made education his mission field.
Parrish’s Baylor journey began as a student, writing sports for The Lariat and The Round Up before graduating with a journalism degree in 1978. Following brief stints working at Southern Methodist University and Centenary College of Louisiana, Parrish returned to Baylor in 1980 as the director of the Sports Information Department. He headed the department for 20 years, managing publicity for Baylor’s 17-sport program and creating the University’s first athletic website.
During this time, Parrish also served as a press officer at eight events — from the World University Games in Czechoslovakia and South Korea to the Olympic Games in Barcelona and Atlanta, where he won the Best in the Nation writing award from CoSIDA — for the United States Olympic Committee. He sat on the College Sports Information Directors of America Board of Directors for many years, served one term as the organization’s president, and earned a master’s degree in sports management.
In 2001, Parrish moved on to teaching full time in the journalism department where he would spend another 21 years teaching media writing, public relations, sports writing, sports PR, and international journalism.
In his new position, Parrish began leading student mission trips visiting Rwanda, Ukraine, Armenia, Australia, South Africa, Nicaragua, Ghana, Spain, and other countries in Eastern Europe.
The increase in travel, along with a paper one of his students wrote exploring the impact studying abroad had on his life, inspired Parrish to look into Baylor’s study abroad programs. The more he learned, the more he wanted to get involved. Parrish began leading various study-abroad programs, and it quickly became a passion.
Parrish served as the Baylor in Maastricht Program director in 2009, 2013, and 2015. He was the Baylor in Florence Program director in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and the Baylor in Budapest Program director from 2016 to 2020. In fall 2020, he served as the Baylor in St. Andrews Program director.
Time and time again, Parrish has been recognized for his outstanding work and dedication to teaching. In 2019, he was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America’s Hall of Fame. In 2005, Baylor honored him with the Collins Outstanding Professor award and again in 2006 with the Division of Student Life Outstanding Faculty Partner award. In 2012, he was awarded the Guidestone Outstanding Professor Award.
Parrish believes that Baylor is a life-changing place. The reason it is, for so many people, is because of professors like him. From the beginning of his teaching career, Parrish distinguished himself as an exemplary educator. His time at Baylor was especially impactful because of his genuine love for his students.
Having been deeply shaped by mentors who invested in his life, Parrish sought to offer that same guidance and care in his own classroom. During his years at Baylor, he intentionally became the kind of mentor students turned to not just for academic guidance but also for guidance in their daily lives. Whether in Texas or far beyond.
Parrish and his wife Susanne — who he met as a journalism student — live overlooking Barroom Bay at Port O’ Connor with their 17-year-old Chihuahua, Buddy. They share two children, Annabeth and Mary Katherine.
Read about the complete 2026 class of Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony honorees in a special edition of Baylor Line Magazine.
