Purdue Calumet’s Scott Sparks an All-Around Player in Golden Era

PUC-Purdue-Calumets-Scott-Sparks-an-All-Around-Player-in-Golden-EraScott Sparks played in what could arguably be called the golden era of Purdue University Calumet men’s basketball.

The Crown Point High School product could call three NAIA All-Americans his teammates, was a part of two Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference championships teams, and was part of class that saw the then-Lakers win 60 games.

Sparks of course, was a big, big part of all of that success.

“He was a great all-around player because he had good size, so he could go inside and rebound, yet he could handle the ball well enough that he could get out on the floor,” longtime Purdue Calumet assistant coach Tom Linger said of Sparks.

“He had a great 3-point shot – he really had all the skills, a complete skills package.”

Sparks, along with former women’s basketball standout Sandy Love-Todd, is part of the 2015-16 Purdue Calumet Athletic Hall of Fame class, set to be inducted Saturday during the men’s basketball contest. The Purdue Calumet men will host Indiana South Bend at 3 p.m. CT as part of a combo event with the women’s teams, which will play at 1 p.m. Saturday is also Kids Day, sponsored by McDonald’s, and Alumni Day.

Sparks, a 6-foot-5 forward who played for the Lakers from 1994-98, finished his career with 1,897 points (third-all time), finished with a career average of 14.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest and was named the CCAC’s Co-Player of the Year during the 1997-98 season with teammate and fellow Purdue Cal Hall of Famer Matt Blower.

The current Field Representative and President of Laborer’s International Union of America Local 41, Sparks joked that Blower – whom he was teammates with since junior high before their prep days at Crown Point – have a running joke about their scoring abilities.

“We actually played 10 straight years together, he was the best man at my wedding, so we get along pretty well,” Sparks said of Blower, who stands first in program history with 2,061 points. “He tells me that a lot of my points came from my assists, and I tell him that a lot my points came from his missed shots,” he added with a laugh.

Sparks held his own, however, exploding for 34 points in a win over Dubuque during his sophomore season, the same year he was named First Team All-Conference. The Lakers captured two of the programs’ three CCAC regular season championships in 1994-95 and 1997-98.

Sparks recalled the conference battles Purdue Calumet had against the likes of Olivet Nazarene, St. Francis and St. Xavier during his career, and Linger echoed those memories in what was special time to be a part of two Laker championships.

“At that time, there were some really great schools in the conference... we had some great battles with them,” Linger said. “Those weren’t easy games to win.

“...We just had a whole crew that could really play together and any one of them could step up – that was a pretty good era.”

After college, Sparks joined the Union and worked construction before taking is current position six years ago. In the meantime, he married former Purdue Calumet volleyball player Patricia Ryan, and the couple of 17 years have two children, Gabe, 18, and Abbi, 15.

Sparks said being a part of those Laker teams taught him about being a leader and how to have a strong work ethic – two qualities that he’s carried with him throughout his career.

Linger added that Sparks’ ability to be a great teammate might have been his best attribute.

“He was a classy young man, he was coachable, he was the kind of player who was always at practice, and you could always count on him... He was a scorer, but he was a team-mentality-type player.

“He wasn’t out there for Scott Sparks – he was out there for Purdue Calumet.”