Not even cancer can keep Harvard’s most successful coach from the boathouse.

“He just wanted to be around us every day,” DiSanto said. “He wasn’t going to let a kidney infection or leukemia keep him from getting to the boathouse every day and coaching. He could’ve taken time off last year. That’s what most people would’ve done. I don’t think he wants to. He just loves coming down to the boathouse and coaching. We love having him there.”

Parker has made it clear that he has no intention of leaving coaching.

“It’s so fun,” he said. “I still enjoy the coaching, I enjoy the challenges, developing each squad and seeing if we can come up with fast crews. It’s not a question that comes up for me. It just seems like the natural thing to do.”

But someday, whether soon or in the far-off future, Parker will no longer be head coach at Newell. But his influence will remain for years to come.

“On the wall in Newell there’s a poster that says ‘Harry Parker, Head Coach 1963-[infinity]’” junior Josh Hicks noted in an e-mail. “And it’s true. After 50 years of educating rowers, of schooling them in the virtues of determination and courage, there’s no knowing where his influence stops.”

“His legacy is going to be an edifice,” Shealy added. “He is simply irreplaceable. I suspect that he’s going to stay in that position as long as he can. He has left a trail of accomplishment that is unparalleled. People are going to look up to him, as we all do, and revere him for many decades to come.”

—Staff writer Christina C. McClintock can be reached at ccmcclin@fas.harvard.edu.