Wheaton College Athletics

Chip Parrish earned First Team Division III All-American recognition from Football Gazette on two occasions in his career for the Wheaton football team and he also was selected to the Hewlett Packard Division III All-American team twice and also was named to the College Division of the GTE Academic All-America program, earning Second Team honors. He earned recognition in 1996 as the Co-CCIW Defensive Player of the Year and was named the Division III Linebacker of the Year by Football Gazette, setting Wheaton's single-season record for total tackles with 151. In four seasons with the Crusader football team, Parrish made 435 career tackles and in 1995 he helped lead Wheaton to its first appearance in the NCAA Division III Football Playoffs.

Chip mentions, "One of my favorite memories of Wheaton Football is our post game talks where Coach Swider would share with us his thoughts of the game while family members and friends gathered around us players and you would be kneeling right next to your teammate knowing you both laid it all out on the line and fought to the end. Also ringing the Little Brass Bell and singing "Sweet Low, Sweet Chariot after two great victories against North Central and Illinois Wesleyan were also great memories as well." 

He recalls, "Two very important life lessons that I learned during my years being a part of the Wheaton Football program is that life is full of sacrifices and commitments. To reach the highest level of being a football player demanded many sacrifices where you put the needs of your teammates and coaches before your own needs and desires. This meant you needed to make many more commitments in your daily life which were needed to be made to reach the highest athletic performance possible for yourself and the team. These two principles are still a vital part of my everyday living where I stress the importance of sacrifice and commitment to my business team or to my family.