Photo: Thomas Graning, The Daily Mississippian.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I attended the Auburn-Ole Miss baseball game April 4, and Sparky threw the ceremonial first pitch to start the series. The team signed a baseball for Sparky, and he sat two rows in front of me to watch the game. A young boy, no more than 5 years old, sat a couple seats down from him. Sometime in the middle of the game, Sparky gave the boy the ball. The boy’s eyes lit up and he looked over toward his mother, who smiled at Sparky and assured her son it was his to keep.
Sparky didn’t know I was watching, and I don’t think anyone else saw it. He didn’t do it for me to write about it in The DM — it was just a genuine gesture to make the kid happy. I believe that moment in Oxford-University Stadium that night is a testament to Sparky’s whole career at Ole Miss. He is always there, always doing things for the benefit of young folks, and he never does anything for recognition. He has genuinely cared about the university and its students.
I truly enjoyed getting to know Sparky a little over the past four years, and I know I am not the only one who can say that. Best wishes, Sparky. I know we’ll all run into you in the Grove or at Swayze in the years to come.
University of Mississippi Dean of Students Sparky Reardon, who has worked at Ole Miss for 36 years, will retire this semester. Sparky sat down with The Daily Mississippian last week to reflect on his past and discuss some of his future. Since he has accumulated so much leave over his career, he has been able to use much of it this year.
“I don’t know if anyone is ever really ready for retirement,” Sparky said. “The more I talk to friends who have retired, they tell me it’s something you just get used to. And I’ve been able to get a little taste of that with the leave I’ve been able to take this year.”
Sparky was on campus for many events — both positive and negative — during his tenure. When he reflects on them today, he remembers a few in particular. Perhaps the most memorable positive event for him was the presidential debate in 2008.
“That was just a wonderful event for our students and university,” he said. “I was able to work with some great student leaders who came up with the idea of the festival in the Grove. To me, that was one of the best days I’ve had at Ole Miss.”
One thing that Sparky talked a good bit about was how the university has grown over the years he has been here.
“Students are more socially conscious when it comes to giving back to the community,” he said. “Students are much more involved and active in that regard, and I’m really pleased to see that.”
He also reflected on some of the down times.
“Anytime we lost students, those times were always extremely painful,” he said. “Other painful times were when students did stupid things. They put us in the public eye, and you found yourself explaining, adjudicating, teaching and justifying, and some of those things were impossible sometimes. It was hard to see the university get slammed like that, but I continue to think the best thing you can do in those situations is just tell the truth.
“The most painful thing is, I’ve waited 37 years for other students to step up. To actually be on the ground floor when those things were happening and say, ‘No, you’re not going to do this.’ I keep looking for the bystanders.”
When some students see Sparky walking around campus, they see the administrator with round glasses who remembers everyone’s name. What they don’t realize is that Sparky attended Ole Miss as a student in the early 1970s — an era he called “a very thoughtful but fun time.”
“We were on the back side of the 1960s, and we saw some of the great changes of society. You could see attitudes changing, and you could see the country changing. Vietnam was going on, and it was just thoughtful,” he said. “But we also had a blast during that time.”
When he was a student, Ole Miss football went to the Liberty, Sugar, Gator and Peach Bowls. He was one year younger than Archie, so he was able to enjoy some of those special moments in the school’s football history. He recalled working at The DM, where he wrote a sports column called “Spark’s Plug” and made some of his best lifelong friends.
“Some of us at The DM questioned the value of campus favorites and other smaller campus elections,” he said. “We ran a rock for homecoming queen, and her name was Roxanna Boulder. She was disqualified because she wasn’t a student. Her motto was ‘Don’t take her for granite.’ That was just a hilarious memory I have as a student.”
Sparky said he did some other things as a student that should have gotten him called into the dean of students’ office, but never anything that would have gotten him expelled.
“Anything I did in college was a lot of fun, but I consider it research for the job I’ve been doing for so long,” he said with a chuckle. “Experimental research.”
As for retirement, Sparky plans to spend his days reading, working in his yard, continuing to enjoy watching Ole Miss sports and traveling. He will continue to reside in Oxford, and he says he will teach in some capacity on a part-time basis.
“I’m not retiring so I can work more,” he joked. “I’m certainly not going to tie myself down.”
The Ole Miss Class of 2005 created a scholarship in Sparky’s name, and he was honored two weekends ago at a gala in Taylor. For Sparky, it is a special honor that he cherishes.
“That’s one of the only times I’ve ever been surprised at Ole Miss,” he said of the scholarship. “I want that scholarship to go to the students who have records of leadership in high school that might not be able to receive other scholarships on campus. Those students are just as important as the ones with high grades and high scholarships.”
As Sparky parts ways with his current position at the university, he says he isn’t sad. Instead, he is excited for his future and for the university’s future. He has given a lot of advice to students over the years, but he expressed a final piece of advice during the interview last week.
“Own Ole Miss,” he said. “It’s not your school. You are just borrowing it for four years. What you do now will have an impact on everyone who has been here and will come here. Take care of what you own.”
As he stood up to leave the interview, he had one more thing to say — a comment students hear from most retirees in Oxford already.
“Get off my lawn!”
