Foots Parnell to reign at Krewe Ball

Foots Parnell’s regalia as king of the 48th Beaux Arts Krewe Ball this month will have a special addition: a mallard patch. Seven of his guards will be wearing it as well. 

As members of the Smiling Mallards Society, they have been hunting together for 30 years. Parnell’s kingship marks their fourth member to serve as Krewe king.

“We are like a band of brothers,” Parnell said. “One of the most fortunate things that has happened to me is having a lot of friends from different backgrounds. That is rewarding.”

The club of wing shooters traveled to South Dakota for the opening of pheasant season last year and has been to Mexico, Montana, Argentina and other places over the years.

Parnell is passionate about his involvement with the Krewe and various causes in the community, but his face lights up the most talking about being outdoors with the Mallards and spending time with his family — especially grandchildren Carleton and Hugh — at his hunting property in Maplesville. Nestled in the hills of Chilton County, the farm was originally owned by his grandfather, Leighton Calhoun Parnell Sr., who first developed the nickname “Foots” that would be passed down three generations. They call the property “Foothills.”

A Birmingham native, Parnell was a member of the second graduating class at Mountain Brook High School. He said they call it “the class that never left” because so many of them stayed in Birmingham. A group of about 25 of their classmates celebrated their 50th and 60th birthdays with “Men in Black” parties where they were the only attendees to wear tuxes.

After earning a degree in economics at the University of Alabama, Parnell started in the commercial mortgage business. Today he is the managing member of Interfirst Capital LLC, which originates and secures commercial mortgage loans for shopping centers, apartment complexes and other projects. 

He and his wife, Allene, celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on an African safari last year.

Parnell has long been active in the community, serving as past president of Mountain Brook Club and Redstone Club and a longtime member of Independent Presbyterian Church, but today he focuses on raising funds for three causes closest to his heart.

He played baseball at the University of Alabama and now serves on the steering committee for a new $40 million baseball stadium being built in Tuscaloosa. The school’s previous stadium had been named after Parnell’s grandfather, Joe Sewell. 

After losing his daughter, Carleton, to a battle with cancer in 2002, Parnell became active with the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center, which he counts as a “fabulous state-of-the-art facility.” He served as president of its advisory board and co-chair of fundraising for the Hazelrig-Salter Radiation Oncology Building that opened two years ago.

 “A lot of people don’t realize the quality of the care that’s here,” Parnell said. “The best quality care is right here, and the research is incredible.”

The center is working to create more affiliations with community hospitals in surrounding areas and to build awareness about cancer treatment in the Black Belt region, he noted.

Parnell is also looking forward to the opening of another building, the new PreSchool Partners facility scheduled for completion by May, and how it will allow the program to increase its enrollment by 60 percent. He has served as co-chair for its capital campaign, and his daughter, Allene Neighbors, works as the organization’s development director.

“What they do for those at-risk kids is remarkable,” Parnell said. “If they are prepared for kindergarten with parental guidance, they will succeed in school.”

Parnell said being asked to serve as king of what he calls “Birmingham’s Mardi Gras”this month is a humbling honor, and he is especially excited to be there with his niece, Mary Virginia Grisham, who will be presented, and her father, James Ernest “Bo” Grisham, who is the Krewe president this year. Parnell’s father was an early member of the Krewe, and his uncle Dr. Joseph Sewell Jr. was the king in 1974.