College football coaching icon Sparks wins final victory
Ken Sparks, a Knoxville, Tn. native who became a coaching legend at Carson-Newman, died on Wednesday morning at 1:30 a.m. after a five year battle with prostate cancer. Coach Sparks was 73 years old.
He won 338 games at the Jefferson City University from which he graduated in 1967. That total ranks fifth among all college football coaches at all levels.
Sparks retired in November after the 2016 season. He had coached through physical adversity since being diagnosed in 2012.
In 2010, Sparks was honored with the Robert R. Ney- land Trophy. At the ceremony he said, “I am grateful to be part of a profession where you can teach about life while you are teaching about blocking and tackling. The Lord has blessed me. I hope that through things like this I can honor the Lord, and that it has more meaning than what is on the scoreboard at the end of the field.
The scoreboard reflected success for Sparks 77 percent of the time (338-992) while at Carson-Newman. Carson-Newman won NAIA National Titles in 1983, 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1989. They also reached the Title Game in 1987, falling to Cameron in the finals.
In 1990 Carson-Newman moved to NCAA Division II, but remained competitive and a frequent playoff participant reaching title games in 1996, 1998, and 1999 when they lost in four overtimes to Northwest Missouri State. Carson-Newman made the playoffs in 25 of Sparks’ 37 seasons. His Carson-Newman teams won 21 South Atlantic Conference Titles. The only college coaches with more wins are John Gagliardi, Joe Paterno, Eddie Robinson, and Bobby Bowden. In his last season, Sparks passed Pop Warner into fifth place for all-time wins.
Coach Sparks was inducted into the NCAA Division II Hall of Fame in 2010. He is also a member of the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame, the Carson-Newman Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame, and the NAIA Hall of Fame.
In addition to the Neyland Trophy, Coach sparks has been honored with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Acheivement Award and was named President of the American Football Coaches Association in 2007. In 2002 Sparks received the All-American Football Foundation’s Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award.
Ken Sparks was a simple man who would chuckle at the fuss being made of his passing and his accomplishments. In one of his last interviews, he was asked if he was afraid of dying. He said, “Hallelujah, No! Bring it on. I can’t wait to see all the Lord has in store for me.” Coach Sparks’ Goal in life was to be found faithful in the sight of the Lord. He said of his teams, “Our goal is to win life, not football games.”
Billy Graham once said, “One coach will impact more young people in one year than the average person does in a lifetime.”
Coach Sparks’ iconic stature was definitely found in his faithfulness. Matthew 25:21 says, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”