The April Fool’s Day column of 2014 on ButteSports.com was so over the top that I did not think anybody would believe it.

That was the column where I wrote that Arie Grey stepped down as Butte High’s football coach to take over the swimming program at the University of Great Falls, which is now the University of Providence. The joke said that Grey would be replaced by longtime Butte Central assistant Doug Peoples.

Nobody bleeds the color of his school more than Doug, so I certainly figured nobody would possibly believe that he would cross over to the Bulldogs. The column said that Doug planned to bring back the Butte High vs. Butte Central football game, and suggested that the schools were already fighting about where to play the game.

At the time, we were only a few years removed from the fight about playing a basketball game at the Maroon Activities Center.

Unfortunately, one of the renovations of ButteSports.com erased the comments below the old columns and stories. That comment section is where I learned that at least one person fell for the prank column, even though I thought I had made it obvious that it was an April Fool’s Day gag.

That person was the legendary Old Hippy himself, Rick Sparks.

“Sparky,” as he was affectionately known, expressed shock that Doug would take the job because he knew of his strong allegiance to the Maroons. But, Sparky, a former Butte Central assistant football coach, wished Doug luck in his new endeavor.

Then someone let Sparky in on the joke, and he commented one more time.

I cannot remember exactly what he said, but I’m pretty sure it started off like this: “You son of a …”

It was the only time that I was glad Sparky was not living in the Mining City at the time.

Sparky passed away last Tuesday night. He died just three days shy of his 78th birthday, which as the Fourth of July. The news of his passing shot through town like a shockwave of sadness. That sadness eventually gave way to smiles because, even in talking about his death, talking about Sparky makes you smile.

Everybody seemed to love Sparky, who moved back to Montana after two and a half decades teaching in California looking like a member of the band ZZ Top.

Before he left town in the mid 1980s, Sparky was a big, burly guy with a thick, but shorter beard. He returned as the skinny Old Hippy, as Tim Norbeck put it. Norbeck played football for Sparky at BC in the early 1980s.

Sparky just looked like a hippy. I do not think he was one. He also spoke softly after he moved back to Butte, but that is not necessarily how he was remembered by the athletes Sparky coached in football, track and wrestling.

For much of my career as a sportswriter, Sparky was a legend whom I had never met. I heard stories, and some of them were hard to believe.

Finally, sometime in the first decade of the 21st Century, I met Sparky on the sideline of a Butte Central football game at Bulldog Memorial Stadium. Norbeck introduced us, and I immediately liked Sparky, who was nothing like I expected.

We talked every time we saw each other at a game until Sparky moved to Missoula. Then, we would talk on Facebook or in emails.

When I started the ButteCast, Sparky was one of the first names I wrote down when making a list of prospective guests. He was also by far the most requested guest — mostly by the men and women he coached.

One of my favorite things about hosting that podcast is that it gives me a chance to be a part of some great conversations that will last forever. The voices on those podcasts will never die, and Sparky’s voice is one of them.

He was a guest on episode No. 42. We met at the Knights of Columbus Hall and talked for about an hour. He was in town to watch his grandson, Mario Rosemond, play basketball for Missoula Hellgate against Butte High.

Sparky was on his game that day in January of 2023. He talked about the great teams he was a part of as a player and a coach.

To his core, Sparky was a Bulldog. He was an All-State center on Butte High’s undefeated State championship football team in 1964. He was a proud member of the Butte High Silver B’s.

Sparky went on to a successful career playing football at the University of Montana before he eventually returned home to teach and coach at Butte Central. He was the offensive coordinator for the Maroons during BC’s 18-16 overtime loss to Butte High in 1981.

Sparky was inducted into the Butte Sports Hall of Fame as part of that 1964 Bulldog team. He was also inducted as the coach of four State champion track teams — three for the girls and one with the boys — and one State champion wrestling team at Butte Central.

Sparky was inducted into the Hall of Fame individually in 2009.  Sparky’s father, Bob Sparks, was inducted into the Hall in 1993. The elder Sparks spent years as a recreation director in Butte. He also coached Butte’s legendary independent football team, the Butte Buzzies.

“My dad had a huge influence on me,” Sparky said in the podcast.

“Were you like him as a coach?” I asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” Sparky said. “I don’t really recall of him being as goofy as I was.”

I asked Sparky about his 1964 Butte High teammates, guys like Jon McElroy, Jim Street, Ray Becky and Bill Sever, just to name a few. I asked which one was the toughest.

“I would probably say the toughest guy was Street,” Sparky said.

“Yeah, that would have been my guess because he still scares me,” I said.

Sparky laughed. He laughed a lot that day.

“Yeah, he does,” Sparky said. “He’s my very good friend, and he still scares me. And Becky, too.”

Sparky also talked about the time he poked a little fun at Sam Jankovich, Butte High’s notorious no-nonsense football coach, during a sketch at a school assembly.

“I played Jankovich, and everybody else played themselves,” Sparky said. “It was fun.”

Did Jankovich laugh at the skit?

“They say he did,” Sparky said. “I don’t know. I wasn’t hanging around.”

Sparky said that he wished he would have given the ball to Brian Morris one more time in that 1981 game against Butte High. That probably would have changed everything.

Then, Sparky brought up the column about Doug taking over the Bulldogs.

“I’ll never forgive you for tricking me that April Fools Day,” he said. “That’s funny.”

We had to cut the conversation off because Sparky had a game to go to. The podcast was — and still is — a hit. People bring up the Sparky episode all the time. They laugh at the stories he tells, and they were just glad to hear his voice.

Sparky had fun that day, too. I know that because he messaged me on Facebook shortly after to say thank you. He also said that he wanted to do a sequel episode because he had so many more stories to tell.

Of course, I said. Sparky was welcome any time for another appearance on the podcast. I told him to let me know the next time he was coming to town.

Unfortunately, that conversation never happened. Those stories are gone. At least they are in Sparky’s words. I will always regret not doing more to make that next episode happen.

However, at least I got the one Sparky episode, and it was great. You can hear why Sparky is the favorite teacher and coach for so many.

Sparky might be gone, but we can always go back to episode No. 42 of the ButteCast and listen in as his voice lives on.

 — Bill Foley, who has also fallen for a few April Fool’s Day pranks, can be reached at foles74@gmail.com. Follow him at twitter.com/Foles74 or Bluesky at @foles74.bsky.social. Listen to him on the ButteCast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find your favorite podcasts.