IRVING, Texas – Legendary former Carson-Newman head football coach Ken Sparks has been nominated for the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced Monday afternoon.
The announcement comes concurrently with the distribution of the ballot, which was emailed Monday to the more than 12,000 NFF members and current NFF Hall of Famers whose votes will be tabulated and submitted to the NFF’s Honors Court, which will deliberate and select the class.
Sparks announced his retirement on Nov. 14, 2016 before passing away after a lengthy battle with prostate cancer on March 29, 2017.
He finished his Carson-Newman career after 37 seasons, 338 wins, 99 losses and two ties. His career winning percentage of .7699 is the fourth highest in college football history while the 338 victories amount to the fifth best total nationally.
Sparks developed one of the winningest football programs in the history of the sport. The Eagles won five NAIA National Titles and played for it six times. A move to NCAA Division II didn’t slow Sparks’ Carson-Newman squad down. The Eagles played for the D-II National Title three times and were a semifinalist in 2009.
The rest of the numbers speak for themselves as Sparks has recorded 21 South Atlantic Conference Championships, 25 NCAA or NAIA playoff appearances, 104 All-Americans, and most recently, a street renamed after him that runs through the middle of Carson-Newman’s campus.
Sparks was inducted into the inaugural NCAA Division II Hall of Fame Coaches Class in 2010 along with Northwest Missouri State’s Mel Tjeerdsma and West Alabama’s Bobby Wallace.
Sparks is also a member of the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame, the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, the Carson-Newman Athletic Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.
Sparks was honored with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Achievement Award and National Coach of the Year. In 2002, Sparks received the All-American Football Foundation’s Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also a recipient of the FCA Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award as well as the inaugural “Uncommon Award” presented by Tony Dungy.
A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Sparks began his coaching career at Gibbs High School in Knoxville, restarting the football program with a winning season. A year later Sparks coached quarterbacks and wide receivers at Tennessee Tech while earning his Master’s Degree. He coached Morristown East High School for one season before returning to his alma mater, Carson-Newman, to serve as offensive coordinator for then-Carson-Newman head coach Dal Shealy and oversee the track program. Sparks served both teams with distinction, receiving Southern Collegiate Track Coach of the Year honors in 1977. With Sparks running the offense, the 1972 Eagles advanced to their first-ever NAIA Champion Bowl, falling to East Texas State.
Sparks took over the Farragut High School football program in 1977, guiding the Admirals to a 29-5 record. Sparks was twice-voted KIL and KFA Coach of the Year. After three seasons, Sparks was asked to take command of the Carson-Newman football program where he would finish his career in legendary fashion.