When you first see Travis Parker, you're probably thinking what a lot of other people are thinking: "I want to stay on this guy's good side."

At 6-foot-5, 245 pounds, Parker is an imposing figure. But it takes only a few minutes with Parker to find out that the image couldn't be further from the truth.

Not only is Parker one of the more outgoing members of the Penn State men's basketball team, he's one of the loudest.

"He's just really outgoing, he's loud. He's real loud," teammate Danny Morrissey said. "He has a real good personality, more joking around. He'll get on people in practice as everyone else does, he's just real loud. In the locker room, joking around, he's always loud."

And you can't blame Parker for talking up a storm and enjoying every minute of his life at Penn State. After all, it wasn't easy getting here.

* * *

Parker's love of basketball began growing up in Greenville, N.C., with late-night pick-up games at the age of 4.

"I played with my cousin when I was very small, I loved it ever since then," he said. "I had a little basketball court behind my house, and everybody used to come over, all of my friends. We used to stay up there all night until like 12, 1 o'clock in the morning playing basketball."

It was then that Parker learned the values of hard work and perseverance from his parents, Ray and Carolyn, traits that would especially help him in the future.

"We worked real hard to give him the Christian values that we have," Ray Parker said. "Family values had a big, big impact. We believe you have to work hard for what you want, and you have to always try to do something positive by yourself and take responsibility for your actions."

It was at North Pitt High School when Parker first experienced success on the court. As a three-year team captain, he led North Pitt to two district championships, two conference championships and took his school to the Class 2A state championship game.

Parker not only played basketball at North Pitt, but also football and track. In fact, as a wishbone quarterback, Parker was recruited by several colleges to play football -- but participating in so many sports was a disadvantage because he didn't have time to think about the schools' scholarship offers.

"With football you had to make a decision around basketball season time and I didn't want to make a decision by then," he said. "I just felt like they wouldn't stop calling. And they did. So that's when I decided to play basketball."

* * *

Though several Division I schools recruited Parker, the scholarship offers never came, partly because of his SAT score, Ray said. Instead of giving up his dream of playing at a high level, Parker looked for other routes to take him where he wanted to go.

That path began at Southwest Missouri State-West Plains, a junior college in the "Heart of the Ozarks" with 1,700 total students (a tiny fraction of the student population at Penn State). While Parker thought he knew what he was in for, he would soon find out otherwise.

The basketball coach at West Plains was Tom Barr, a man who wasted no time in getting Parker ready for the rigors of junior college athletics.

"It was hard, hard," Parker said. "My coach, I don't want to say it, but he was really crazy. Like, I never really conditioned, like college conditioned, in my life. When he told me that I had to run three and a half miles just to play one game that was real frustrating. I never had somebody get on me as much as he did."

And at that tiny school, times were anything but easy for Parker.

"There were times when I just wanted to quit and I just didn't want to finish it out," he said. "But I had people that helped me out and told me to continue to keep playing and not worry about it. One of my friends I played with was my roommate, and he helped me out a lot. He said, 'We came in here together, we're going to leave together.' "

Parker played the game with a vengeance. By his sophomore year, he was averaging 13.7 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, helping lead West Plains to the NJCAA Region 16 championship game.

With the help of his coach, his teammates and his family, he realized that nothing was going to get in his way.

"I learned that the only person that could stop me was myself," Parker said.

Soon after, Parker received the phone call he had been waiting to hear. On the other end was Penn State assistant coach James Johnson.

"I wanted to play at the highest
level of basketball, so why not
come to the Big Ten?" Parker said. "I had the opportunity so I took it."

Parker's parents were elated at the thought of their son attending Penn State. And after visiting Happy Valley last Easter, the Parkers knew their son had found his new home.

"He looked at us at breakfast when we first met Coach Johnson and said, 'I want to come here,' " Ray said.

"And we said, 'We liked it as soon as we got here.' "

In the past, Penn State has rarely recruited junior college players. Whether it was the university's stringent academic standards or the previous coaches' reluctance to pursue such athletes, it just hasn't happened.

Parker was the perfect person to break the pattern.

"He's a good student, and we thought he'd fit in here well here at Penn State with our atmosphere and our academics, and those were two really, really big things before we can get into the basketball part," Penn State coach Ed DeChellis said.

The forward chose Penn State over such schools as Arkansas State, Stephen F. Austin, UNC-Wilmington and East Tennessee State because he wanted to play in a major conference.

Now it was time to prove that he belonged.

* * *

"It's cold, man," Parker said of his new home with a laugh. "It did snow a lot in Missouri too, so I was kind of used to it. But as far as it being like 1 degree and stuff."

While it may not be as sunny as North Carolina, Parker loves his chance to play hoops in a major conference as a starting forward with the Nittany Lions.

And it's easy to see Parker's value to the team. He leads the Lions in steals with 25, has Penn State's best 3-point percentage at 35.9 percent, and is third in overall points, with 294 on the year for an average of 11.8 points per game.

But winning days haven't come often as the Lions have struggled to a record of 7-18 overall. For someone as competitive as Parker, it hasn't been easy.

So does he regret becoming a Lion?

He takes a long pause and sighs before answering the question.

"I don't know how to answer that," Parker said. "I don't think I have any regrets. It's just real frustrating to come to somewhere you think you could have made a difference but you didn't. It's not that I regret coming here, but it's very frustrating. But I think it will be OK. I've got another year, and we've got more games to finish out."

Though basketball is his life, Parker is just like many other college students. He likes to eat macaroni and cheese and fried chicken. He listens to rap (although he says most of his teammates don't like his "Southern" rap in the locker room -- they like "Northern" rap instead). And in his spare time he enjoys playing video games and hanging out with his teammates -- although he hasn't found a way to beat forward Geary Claxton in NBA Live just yet.

"I'd say Geary, that's all he does everyday," Parker said. "I'm going to find a way to win somehow -- I think he has a code in or something."

To which Claxton replied: "I don't put no codes in there."

Video games aside, the freshman values his friendship with Parker.

"He helps us out a lot on the court and off the court," Claxton said. "As a friend he's a very good guy, he's funny. He's just someone that cheers you up if you're down."

And Parker truly loves life as a student at Penn State -- the atmosphere, the surroundings and the people -- every part of it.

"In junior college I didn't have the chance to meet different people every day because there's not that many people," he said. "Meeting different people every day and seeing people that will help you out along the way any way they can, that's what I love the most."

So where does his path lead next? After his difficult journey to Penn State, Parker doesn't know yet. He's too busy soaking it all in and enjoying the moment.

"I've been thinking about what I want to do, but it's been going every which way," he said. "Maybe I want to coach, maybe I want to play somewhere at a different level, maybe I just want to get a job. I don't know yet. Right now I'm just living right now and whatever happens when I graduate happens."

You can be sure of one thing though -- no matter where his destination lies, he'll find a way to get there.