NFL greats remember agent Parker at Indiana funeral

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) Deion Sanders recalled Eugene Parker as a father figure and Rod Woodson said Saturday at the influential agent's funeral that Parker taught him how to be a good man.

Sanders and Woodson were among the NFL stars gathered in Parker's hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana, to remember one of the first prominent African-American football agents, according to WANE-TV (http://bit.ly/1MA6XDG) . Parker died in Atlanta on March 31 of cancer. He was 60.

Among Parker's Hall of Fame clients were Sanders, Woodson and Curtis Martin.

''He was my man. He was my confidant,'' Sanders said. ''Sure we wanted Super Bowls and awards but most of all we wanted to all be like Eugene Parker.''

Woodson said Parker was a man he could trust.

''Without Eugene I don't know where I would be today,'' Woodson said.

Parker's company, Relativity Sports, represented three of the top seven picks in the 2015 draft.

In 1995, Parker put together a $35 million contract for Sanders with the Dallas Cowboys that made Sanders the league's highest-paid defensive player.

But in college Parker was known for basketball and in 2001 was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame

He played at Purdue and was drafted by San Antonio in 1978. But he never played in the NBA.

Parker is survived by his wife, June, and five children.