Candace Parker (born April 19, 1986) is an American basketball player at the University of Tennessee and the most celebrated female athlete in high school sports history. Candace attended Naperville Central High School in Naperville, Illinois, graduating in 2004. While in high school, Candace led her team to state titles in 2003 and 2004 and ammased numerous accolades.

Candace is the only two time award winner of the USA Today Player of the Year, winning the award in 2003 and 2004. Candace won the Naismith and Gatorade Awards as national basketball player of the year during her junior and senior years. Candace also won Gatorade's High School Athlete of the Year during her senior year. She was a consesus pick as player of the year in Illinois in 2002, 2003, and 2004. A four year member of the All-State first team, Candace compiled a school-record 2,768 points (22.9 ppg) and 1,592 rebounds (13.2 rpg), while starting 119 of the 121 games in which she played. She also became the first women's player to announce her NCAA women's basketball verbal commitment live on ESPNEWS.

Parker made sports history in March 2004 by winning the Slam Dunk contest of the McDonald's High School All-American Game near Oklahoma City. Only a 17-year-old high school senior, Parker beat five male competitors for the prestigious title, won in years past by LeBron James and Vince Carter. After throwing down several dunks in the opening rounds, Parker saved her most dramatic for the final victory. She darted down the left side of the lane, with her left arm covering her eyes, and jammed a crowd-pleasing clean right-handed dunk.

Basketball is a sport quite familiar to the Parker family. Her father Larry played at the University of Iowa, and her brother Anthony played in the NBA. Candace Nicole Parker was born on April 19, 1986, in St. Louis, Mo.

During the summer after her junior year, Candace tore her ACL in her left knee in a summer league game. She returned in December of her senior year and went on to lead her school to its second consecutive title. While training in the summer of 2004, Candace felt pain and was required to undergo surgery in her lateral meniscus and the lateral articular cartilage in her left knee. She ended up taking a medical redshirt her freshman year of college.