A role model, gunned down in South Phila., remembered

In life, Tyree Parks was described as a role model - a star high school athlete and youth coach, accepted to college the day he was gunned down in South Philadelphia.

At his funeral Friday, Parks' loved ones said he should continue to be an example, this time for the need to end the violence plaguing their neighborhood.

"This must stop," said his uncle, Pastor Larry Nelson. "We must learn the lesson that even now, in death, he is expressing."

Parks, 18, was killed on Jan. 22 in a drive-by shooting. No arrests have been made.

He was returning home with his nephew and two other teenagers from Audenreid High School on Tasker Street, where he coached a youth basketball team, police said.

Earlier in the day, he had learned that he had been accepted at Bloomsburg University, which his South Philadelphia High School football coach, Stanley "Stosh" Tunney, had attended.

"Instead of the streets getting him, he was going to go to college and get out," Tunney said. "He was going to beat the streets."

When Parks, a burly defensive lineman, told his coach that he had been accepted at Bloomsburg, Tunney told him, "That's my alma mater!"

Parks replied, " 'I know, Coach!,' " Tunney said. "He just had a big smile on his face."

Hours later, Parks would be dead.

Police believe Parks, who was carrying a gun, was killed as retribution for an earlier fight. Detectives do not know the name of the person with whom Parks fought, or what the fight was about, but they are pursuing leads, said Capt. James Clark, commander of the Homicide Unit.

Tunney said the news that Parks was carrying a gun was almost as shocking as his death.

"I would have thought he'd be the last person to have a gun," he said in an interview. "From what I'm hearing, he was just afraid to go out in that neighborhood. He must've just gotten spooked.

"For him to have a weapon - that was not him."

Parks' neighborhood - he lived in the 3000 block of Wharton Street - has long been marred by juvenile violence and territorial disputes, police said.

Parks' brother, Dwayne, was killed there in August 2002. Parks had become a father figure to his brother's son, also named Dwayne, but known as "Pop."

"We're constantly dealing with issues there," said police Deputy Commissioner Kevin Bethel. "If you're from the west side of this street versus the east side, that type of thing."

Violence in the neighborhood schools also has been grabbing headlines recently, and parents, teachers, and students complained this week of gang battles spilling into the classroom.

The same day Parks was killed, Audenreid was locked down after 20 teens burst into a classroom and attacked a female student. Police and school district officials do not know if that incident was related to Parks' death.

Bethel said police are looking at ways to address the violence, and plan to hold a public meeting with the school district soon.

"We're going to start being more aggressive," he said. "If these kids are not going to control themselves and stop from killing each other for no reason at all, we need to try some new tactics."

Nelson had his own theory on his nephew's death.

"It wasn't robbery. It wasn't for material gain," Nelson said. "It was something about [Parks] that somebody envied."

Nelson and other speakers at the Mitchum-Wilson Funeral Home on South 20th Street mixed their remembrances with calls against seeking revenge and the stop-snitching culture.

"There ain't nothing tough or smart about 'I ain't gonna say nothing,' " Nelson said.

LaGreta Brown, the principal at South Philadelphia High School, encouraged students to talk to an adult if they have problems on the streets.

"I don't want to be at anymore funerals, crying over another student," she told the crowd. "You have the potential to do anything you want. College is at your door, waiting for you to walk through."

Several speakers urged the students to be like their fallen classmate - to seek a college education, to help in their communities.

Parks' football teammates attended the standing-room service in their jerseys; the cheerleaders came in their uniforms. Hundreds of people filled every available space at the funeral home.

"Look about you at the size of this crowd," Nelson told them. "This one incident has affected so many people."

Several speakers promised that Parks would be honored for years to come, mostly for his coaching in youth leagues.

The president of the South Philadelphia Hurricanes, a youth football club, said Parks would be honored every homecoming.

Tunney said he would hold Parks' jersey number 55 until his nephew arrived to fill it.

And Wali Smith, a community support specialist for the city and a family friend, said he would push to rename the Donald Finnegan Playground for Parks. "Tyree will forever be in the hearts of South Philadelphia," he said.

Anyone with information in Parks' death should call the Homicide Unit at 215-686-3334/5.