Hank Parkhurst, the former vice president of standard oil, was the first alcoholic Bill talked to in towns after he returned from his long trip to Akron. He was Bill's first successful prospect in New York, followed shortly thereafter by Fitz Mayo. Hank was much more than that though, for it can be argued that without him there would be no alcoholics anonymous as we know it. It was Hank who pushed bill into writing the book, it was Hank who helped fund it, and it was Hank who helped pushed alcoholics anonymous away from the fundamental Christianity of the Oxford Group. Ebby Thacher told Bill on their walk back to the subway that he had given his life to Christ, which was one of the reasons why Bill was so lukewarm on the idea. Bill knew that Parkhurst was vehemently agnostic and therefore was going to be hostile to anything resembling Christianity, so he presented the idea of a spiritual Awakening in the terms familiar to us now: a higher power greater than ourselves who could restore us to sanity. It was Hank and Jim Burwell who insisted that God be mentioned as "God of my understanding" in order that agnostics be included.
Hank had a very traumatic relapse followed by a series of personal attacks on Bill Wilson they got him booted out of the canon. It's s unfortunate because one of the truisms of life is that we learn more from failure than success, and you can't feel more spectacularly than Hank did. Ebby was never able to stay sober either, yet he is known throughout AA as one of the early influences.
It is only recently that Hank Parkhurst even had a Wikipedia page. I encourage all alcoholics to read about this man and make sure that he isn't forgotten. Maybe one day we will see his picture up there with Bill and Bob as one of the true co-founders of AA. Without him none of us would be here.