Jim Sparks

I arrived in Oklahoma in early summer of 1957, as a result of my dad being transferred from his job with the Federal government in Pierre South Dakota. So I entered Harding as a Junior, after a long summer without having the opportunity to meet folks.

I very much enjoyed Harding and served in the Band, played basketball, and did my best to heckle the teaching staff. My favorite teacher hands down was Joe Walker and my neighbor Ms. Wiser grew on me. It was good to see her at Norman Neaves church at a prior reunion.

During that first summer I was introduced around by Anita Stewart whose dad was in the same office as my dad...and met Henry Bennett, the Hixon brothers and several others. Once school started, most of my time was spent with a motley group such as Johnny Zwick, Dash Briggs, Norman Neaves, Pat Sherril!!, Bob Murrell, my neighbor David Ingram, and the two Wheelers (Joey and Jody).

Great time at Harding and then went OU, pledged Beta with Jerry Richardson, Don Garret, Clark Ellison and other noble Oklahoma Citians...& majored in Civil Engineering. Had a plethora of memories, most of which are better left unsaid...but you can be guaranteed they involved fun.

In closing..if you peruse this entire writeup...you will see that Jim Sparks has always been a most fortunate person...meeting fun people, going fun places, and enjoying whatever pursuits I encountered.

Too many, and some experiences best left undescribed. But may as well confess to one since it is already listed on this web-site. The mysterious green army dye and massive bubbles entering the intersection of 36th Street and Walker??? that overflowed out of the fountain of the First Christian "dome" church....somehow was victimized by three sleuths one late evening. Seems as though they snuck away in a green (what the heck kind of car was that Johnny and Dash?). I am sure there may have been others involved, but not more than our carload.

And seems as though I recall school being cancelled mid-day after Xmas vacation due to a strong stench coming from some locker (nobody knew whose). Ugh turned out to be an overdead rabbit.
And the little bottles of strong stinking stuff they sell in magic shops was a popular item to sneakily open in class and let folks try to figure out who was the guilty party.

Cannot remember the teacher we used to heckle by whistling softly without moving lips. She never could figure it out...and she would sidle over to my side of the room whereupon I would shut up and had a trained companion supporter (was that you Dash) that would take over for me on the far side of the room. Drove her nuts.

And Joe Walker's psychology class was a blast. Remember wearing somebody else's lavish letter jacket to a "fortune teller" downtown as a class project. And of course she pegged me as "quite an athlete". Had fun giving that feedback in a class report. Other favorite stories too include:

(1) George Issaic's (of honored memory in Vietnam) presentation: George gave a talk on physical conditioning...and in the middle of it non-chalantly reached up and broke an egg and delivered it into a glass. He promptly drank the egg without breaking stride or making a smile....and continued his presentation. This was a "psychological" experiment to see reactions. IT WORKED

(2) Mary Stuart's presentation: A perfect presentation she set up with Joe Walker ahead of time. She got into her speech and Joe interrupted her saying she needed to "keep on topic". She continued...Joe interrupted her again and Mary acted perterbed,but continued. Same thing again and again..and all of a sudden Mary lit into Mr. Walker saying he was being rude, and interrupting and would he PLEASE allow her to finish. He responded and there was more purposefully crafted dissension. The class was mesmerized and silent...not believeing our ears. Nobody crossed Mr. Walker. When she finished it was announced to be "a designed plot"..and we were asked to make estimates of HOW LONG THE TENSION LASTED. Estimates were all over the map...but it was a fun idea. Thanks Mary.

Same class..when Mr. Walker gave an unbelievably hard test. Students can remember that Mr. Walker always posted daily wisdoms on the bulletin board and encouraged people to read them. Nobody did. Well..Joe posted the test on the bulletin board a few days ahead of test, WITH answers. Did it as a joke to test who read the board. ANSWER: NOBODY, save one (think it was one of the Youngburg twins, who only happened to see it because he sat right next to it). Notable to say..he never shared that fact!! Fun again...and my whole Harding experience was fun.