Parkway South Athletic Director Retires After 30 Years

After 30 years at Parkway South, Chip Allison is tapping out. The longtime Patriot, a science teacher-turned athletic director who spent 16 years redefining the school’s wrestling program, announced his retirement in May.

“That’s what is neat about education: A lot of times you can change jobs right within the same school,” Allison said. “For me, always knowing everybody and being able to work with some very good people, that was certainly a plus.”

A teacher out of Southeast Missouri State University, Allison started his career as the wrestling coach at Hannibal High School in 1979. Two years later, he began nesting at Parkway South, teaching physical science, chemistry and physics.

He spent 16 years as the Patriots’ wrestling coach, including a run from 1984-87 that included four conference titles, four district titles and a 1985 season where the Patriots program went undefeated in each of its three levels. That 1985 Patriot squad was also credited for disrupting Francis Howell’s previously unbeaten win streak of 52 matches, which included four state championships.

Allison became South’s athletic director in 2001 and spent a decade organizing his coaches like he organized his wrestlers, also putting focus on more opportunity for women. With the addition of field hockey and girls lacrosse, two programs created under Allison’s tenure, Parkway South girls now have more athletic options than boys.

“When former athletes give a call or stop by school, I don’t think there is a better feeling a coach or teacher can have,” Allison said. “I think that’s why people in education enjoy it so much, to reminisce a little bit about what we accomplished, to be able to have that relationship with your former athletes and students. To me, that’s always been one of the most fulfilling things.”

Jim Lake developed that bond with Allison, in more ways than one. Lake, a 1993 South graduate and wrestler under Allison, now teaches at the high school and is coach of the wrestling squad.

“(Allison) was a great head coach,” Lake said. “He always had very high expectations for everybody in the program, and he also developed relationships individually with each person in the program. Ultimately, he cared about your well being and success, no matter how demanding it might have been or if you needed to be pushed beyond what you thought your limits were.

“He was extremely supportive of me in my first year as head coach, very positive. To some degree, it was very similar to how he was as a coach to me. The expectations were high, but every day he’d tell me ‘Rome isn’t built in a day, even though you want it to be.’”

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