Rock Falls High School student dies after car accident last week

ROCK FALLS – A Rock Falls High School senior student and football player has died due to injuries suffered in a vehicle accident last Friday in rural Henry County.

Brock Parker, 18, of Geneseo, died Friday afternoon at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, Iowa. His death was announced soon after by Rock Falls High School athletic director Rich Montgomery in Facebook and Twitter posts.

“Please keep the Parker family in your thoughts and prayers,” Montgomery concluded in the Facebook post, which otherwise matched the Twitter post.

Parker transferred from Geneseo High School this summer to Rock Falls High, where his father, Kevin, is a teacher and head football coach. In athletics, Brock was a lineman for the Rockets varsity football team, and competed in football and wrestling at Geneseo before transferring.

The accident happened a day before the football team played a home game against Rockford Lutheran. At that game, a large poster which read “Prayers for the Parkers” leaned along the Rockets’ bench during the game, and his game uniform, No. 55, was fixed to a small post near the Rockets’ field entrance near their locker room.

Assistant coaches Bob Mitton and Alex Leaf are in charge of the football team in Coach Parker’s absence. The Rockets will play as scheduled tonight at Genoa-Kingston, where a portion of its 50-50 raffle, “kick off for cash” contest and concession stand earnings will be donated to the Parker Family to help offset medical costs.

Newman Central Catholic High School also is donating a portion of its 50-50 to the Parker Family during its football home game tonight in Sterling against Bureau Valley.