Former police officer Mike Parker, who founded the Toxteth Scorpions basketball team after the 1981 riots, has died aged 71 after being diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2021.
Spurred on by the Toxteth riots, sergeant Mike Parker set up the multicultural basketball team with the aim of building trust between the police and public. Initially based at the Methodist Youth Centre in Beaconsfield Street, the squad later moved to the Toxteth Sports Centre. Within six years, they became the unbeaten First Division leaders of the Merseyside League, despite some opposition to its set-up reflecting L8's richly multicultural environment.
From police officer to basketball coach
Mike played basketball for England before serving as a police officer in Liverpool in the 1980s. He was on the front lines during the 1981 Toxteth Riots, a mass outbreak of civil unrest following the heavy-handed arrest of photographer Leroy Cooper, against a backdrop of alleged racism, frequent stop and searches, and hard-line tactics.
After bearing witness to the violence first-hand, Mike decided to set up his own basketball club for young men living in Toxteth. His wife Polly, 72, said: 'He got them all together in the local church hall and got them all training and coached them to a level that they were competing up and down the country, and they won a lot of trophies.'
She added: 'His whole purpose for doing it was to get them off the streets and on the right path, and a lot of these lads were still in contact with us and came to Mike's funeral, and spoke very highly of him.'
Dementia diagnosis and deterioration
Mike spent 23 years with the police force before a back injury forced him into early retirement. Almost 40 years after his coaching days, he was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2021. He died in October last year.
Polly said: 'Mike was always a very gregarious, outgoing, fun-loving sportsman. He played every game under the sun. He was a tennis player with a Liverpool tennis club and latterly he played golf and was a member of Delamere golf club.'
She recalled: 'He noticed he couldn't understand or keep the score of his golf any more. He couldn't read the time on the clock. And I noticed in Covid-19 lockdown, I could see there were things that were not right with him at all.'
Lewy body dementia is a form of dementia which causes visual hallucinations, fluctuations in cognitive abilities, and physical problems similar to Parkinson's Disease. Polly said: 'It was a gradual thing that Mike deteriorated. It changed his personality. It changed his strength. He was 6ft 4in, physically fit, but it took its toll not only on his brain, but on his body as well.'
She added: 'He got weaker, he couldn't play sports. He absolutely adored Liverpool FC and he would watch the matches, but he couldn't comprehend it any more.'
Plea for more support and awareness
Polly said: 'Mike spent his whole life helping people, and when he needed help himself it wasn't there. People know all about cancer and Alzheimer's, but what Mike had was Lewy body dementia.'
She nursed him at home for nearly five years and said: 'When I needed a little bit of respite, nowhere would take him because of the severity of his dementia.'
Since Mike's death in October 2025, Polly has been raising money for the Lewy Body Society, the only charity in the UK dedicated exclusively to Lewy body dementia research. She said: 'There's not a day goes by that I don't cry. Just talking about it is upsetting. But I feel so passionate that I've got to do something, because nobody really helped Mike. If we can stop it happening to one more person, or raise awareness, it would just be amazing.'
