This Alcatraz swimmer is no escapee. He is, in fact, Bakersfield College’s own Dr. Clark Parsons.
On Sept. 14, Parsons swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco, more than 13/4 miles, in the Alcatrz Invitational.
Parsons, 62, an instructional technology specialist who works in the faculty computer lab, decided to try the swim after hearing a woman at a Fort Ord conference discuss the event.
He said he thought, “I can do that. It was kind of a harebrained wild thing to do.”
While he had climbed a 20,000-foot mountain, Mount Chimborazo in Ecuador, that was more than 20 years ago.
Parsons said he had never attempted an ocean swim before.
In the two months before his Alcatraz swim, he trained by walking three to four miles a day, six days a week.
He also joined the Bakersfield Swim Club and received some coaching.
He said that during the two-month period, he began swimming one lap and worked up to 40 laps a day.
“I just did the 40 laps in the last couple of weeks before the race,” he said.
Parsons trained in the new Bakersfield College pool in the early mornings three to four times a week.
On the day of the Alcatraz race, some experienced swimmers were concerned about the fog, chilly 60-degree weather and the currents, which were more challenging than anticipated.
Lynne Cox, the event’s master of ceremonies, described it as “one of the more difficult swims in recent memory” in an interview with a reporter from the Pittsburgh Post-
Gazette.
The currents, she said, “were more challenging than anticipated and made the swim longer than the usual (13/4 miles).”
Parsons learned firsthand how tough the currents were when he and other swimmers were swept off course.
“The current twists you around,” he said. “You have to keep ahead of the current.”
After being repositioned twice by the official pilots, who drift and paddle among the swimmers, he finished in one hour and 27 minutes.
Despite the setback, he was happy to finish.
“I made it. I’m done.” Parsons said.
Along with mountain climbing, Parsons has tried poetry, singing, hiking and bowling.
In his late 40s, he also ran two half-marathons, both in Colorado.
When asked if the Alcatraz challenge changed him, Parsons said, “Oh, I guess it just renews my belief that I can do just about whatever I want, not whatever, but just about.”
Anna Agenjo, library director and his partner on the college bowling team said, “I don’t think anything is too daunting for him. Whatever he decides to do, he goes all the way.”
Parsons, who recently earned his Ph.D., works 40 to 60 hours per week one-on-one with the faculty, putting on workshops, getting media and instruction ready, and running the computer lab, keeping the software and hardware running.
He said his first career was working for Hewlett Packard for 25 years before coming to Bakersfield College a year and a half ago.
Parsons does have other accomplished areas of life.
His wife, Beverly, was with him at the Alcatraz event, rooting for him all the way.
And he speaks fondly of his three grown children – Jafe, 32; Jared, 35; and June, 37 – as well as his grandchild, Taylor, 10, all of whom live in Colorado.
His boss, Dr. Greg Chamberlain, dean of learning resources and information technology, said, “Clark is pretty tenacious and when he sets his mind to do something, you’re pretty much assured that he’ll do it.”
He described Parsons as someone who knows how to accomplish his goals.
When Chamberlain was asked if he would participate in such a race, he replied, “No way.”
But Parsons wants to try the swim again.
“I want to do this one more time to see if I can be more efficient,” Parsons said.
“However, there are other adventures my wife and I have been talking about doing, like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, hiking in New Zealand or kayaking in Alaska,” he said.