There's a reason Jimmy Parker didn't want to be compared to his mother. 

Merceina Parker won hundreds of titles over a tournament tennis career that spanned more than 55 years, making her the winningest player in St. Louis history. How good was she? 70 Muny titles good. 15 St. Louis District championships good. 4 USTA National Senior titles good. And too many Missouri Valley titles to count good. 

She won at every level and in every era. Missouri Valley Women's Doubles title at 15. National Public Parks titles in 1940 and 1946. The USTA National Senior Singles Championship in 1959. The National Public Parks Women's 40 and Over Singles Championship in 1966. The USTA National Clay Court Senior Doubles Championship in 1979. And in 1981, she won it again alongside her partner, Marga Lee Mahony. 

She and Ward won the 1966 National Public Parks Senior Mixed Doubles Championship together, along with the 1962 Henry Shaw Memorial Mixed Doubles title and more Missouri Valley mixed doubles titles than anyone bothered to count. Winning was their love language. 

After graduating from Wisconsin, she came back to St. Louis. When she wasn't playing, she was teaching. The court was her classroom. She taught physical education at University City High School and later Villa Duchesne, and headed the St. Louis District Junior Training Program for two decades. 

Merceina Parker may be the only player in the St. Louis Hall of Fame with more numbers than letters in her biography. And she earned every single one. 

(1991)