​Jul. 22—A couple of weeks ago, a representative from the Big Sky Conference reached out to Pam Parks to prepare her for this Saturday’s event at Northern Quest Resort & Casino, when Parks will be formally inducted into the league’s Hall of Fame.That prompted Parks, now 74, to reflect on her career in athletics, nearly all of it spent at Eastern Washington University..”I am very honored, but I really go, ‘why’?” Parks said last week. “I wasn’t that successful.”But, Parks conceded, she did go into administration, coach volleyball at two Big Sky schools and experience success, so she does “kind of get it.”Others, though, are more convinced.”She is a transformational leader,” said Andrea Zacher Zaman, who played for Parks and still lives in Spokane. “She instilled a conviction that we’re strong, we’re capable, and we’re destined to succeed, and you can’t really do that unless you root yourself somewhere.”She was — she is — committed to this community.”Parks is one of eight people who will join the Big Sky Hall of Fame on Saturday. The others are: football coach Dennis Erickson (Idaho and Montana State), track and field athlete Jackie Ross Mattox (Idaho), football player Frank Hawkins (Nevada), cross country and track and field coach Eric Heins (Northern Arizona), cross country and track and field athlete Amber Henry (Weber State), basketball player Michael Ray Richardson (Montana) and basketball player Willie Sojourner (Weber State).Since honoring its first class in 2022, the Big Sky Hall of Fame has grown to 54 members, including three others from Eastern Washington. Quarterback Erik Meyer was inducted in 2024. Offensive lineman Michael Roos and volleyball player Kim Exner were both inducted in 2023.”The Big Sky in and of itself is such a special, special conference,” Exner said this week. “I’ve been ingrained in it. For me, that (Hall of Fame induction) night, and seeing the faces that have been a part of my journey for so long … It was such a family feeling.”Parks, who coached Exner during both of Exner’s Big Sky Player of the Year seasons in 1998 and 1999, should have a significant support section Saturday, too.”She’s been a lifelong friend, and not just with me but so many of her players,” said Juli Argotow-Jones, a former EWU volleyball player. “People having their first babies, getting married, getting sick, succeeding — she’ll be the first one there. She’s been highly influential.”‘The fiercest competitor’Parks said she was fortunate that as a female in the 1950s and 1960s she even had the chance to play sports in high school. She lived in Oregon for part of that, then moved to Oakesdale, where they had girls basketball, badminton, volleyball and track and field.That spurred her interest in pursuing athletics in college. When she got to Eastern Washington, she tried out for the volleyball team — and got cut.”There were 80 girls that tried out for the team,” Parks said. “I had instincts, but I didn’t have technique. I served wi