Beth Sparks: Norman High Mom of the Month – Presented by Integris Express Care

By Justin Hite

Beth Sparks doesn’t have an official title with the Norman High football booster club or the team itself. She’s kind of the ultimate utility parent, saying that she’s willing and has done just about every job. That’s including delivering an entire truck bed of Arby’s sandwiches to feed six teams at a preseason scrimmage.

“I’m kind of an on-call volunteer right now,” Sparks said with a laugh. “I’ve done a little bit of everything with the program. I’m a catch-all person, who I hope they know they can call on when they need stuff.”

She’s been a morale booster and a parade participant. She’s carried Gatorade and snacks to road games and picked up locker rooms after home games. She’s sold everything from tickets to t-shirts to concessions while also setting up banquets and driving players to and from home after practice.

Sparks, whose older son, Hunt, currently plays at Princeton and whose younger son, Ben, is a sophomore, has even made up ice baths for post-game or post-practice cooldowns.

“I’m just that mom that calls and says, ‘What do you need?’” she said.

First-year coach Rocky Martin inherited a young team, and Sparks has tried to help keep the community involved and committed to the program. She’s been around for more than half a decade, and she has seen first hand one of the success stories coming out of the Tigers program – her son, Hunt. She’s got some built-in and well-earned credibility.

“I’m constantly talking to kids and parent about keeping the kids in the program, and talking with people about not transferring and not quitting,” Sparks said. “To build a program, you have to have that consistency. Coach Martin is doing a great job, but he’s building a whole new program. I’m doing a lot of morale boosting, behind the scenes. … Over the years, I’ve done pretty much everything.”

Helping to grow the Norman High program is something that Sparks is fully committed to – even if it means late-night hours making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or working as an unpaid chauffeur to dozens of fresh-off-the-field teenage athletes.

“I support athletics because I think that it teaches kids a lot more than just the sports,” Sparks said. “They’re learning commitment, dedication, how to deal with disappointment – a lot of life skills that they are going to take with them in college and into business and into working. … I think they learn a lot from that.”’