Newspapers, GRASS ROOTS AND COCKLE BURRS; LaSalle, Louisiana Submitter: Jack Willis Date: 29 Sep 2004 Source: Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal "Grass Roots and Cockleburrs" Source Date: 20 Feb 2002 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** "Sparky" Wade: Jena's Giant There has never been, nor will there ever be, another athlete to equal Malcolm "Sparky" Wade in the total performance of a given sport, but the French have a word to describe him. Extraordinaire. The French use the term to describe vintage wines, beautiful women and rare painting masterpieces, but the word was actually coined to describe "Sparky" Wade. Mr. Eli Plummer said it perhaps best of all, in a tribute paid him: "When the small-of-size athlete aspires to larger-than-life goals, a gigantic pride is involved. The small athlete has to be his own kind of giant minus the physical attributes. That was what Malcolm "Sparky" Wade was: The Jena Giant." There has been much conjecture as to from where the nickname "Sparky" was derived. The general consensus is that it was bestowed upon him by Principal Eli Plummer, either for his ability to "spark" the girls, or the fact that he went up and down a basketball court like so many sparks flying. At any rate it stuck, and he took it to his grave. He was one of the finest, most disciplined basketball players to ever dribble a basketball. After an illustrious, whirl wind high school career, and graduation from Jena High School; he eventually wound up at LSU after a few "encouraging" words from then Governor Huey Pierce Long. Many alumni and sports writers have tried to compare "Sparky", LSU's first All-American to another three-time All-American, which would follow some 30 years later, "Pistol Pete" Maravich. And, this is impossible to do because it was two different eras, the two men possessed different physiques, it was two different styles, and two different types of basketball. All of Wade's feats in high school and college were accomplished when there was a jump ball or "tip off" after every field goal, which slowed the game and resulted in very small scores. Malcolm "Sparky" Wade was born in a section of town known as Old Jena on February 25, 1910, and ironically would die on his birthday 73 years later. He was one of three boys, and they had five sisters. The Wades lived in a huge house in Old Jena, which was regarded as one of the largest homes in the Jena area. The family would later lose the house to a disastrous fire, destroying many irreplaceable trophies and objects of memorabilia belonging to "Sparky." Sympathetic townspeople paid the rent on an old vacant store building across from the LaSalle Parish Courthouse for the family to live in, because at the time of the fire, "Sparky's" father Charles Wade was locked up in the Parish jail for over a year on a murder charge. He was later cleared of the charge. The widow was already cooking meals for her incarcerated husband, so she decided to open up a hamburger stand in the front of the old store to sustain her and her family. Sparky and his brother Oliver Peter "Pete" provided for their way through Jena High School, by "flipping" burgers and selling them to the courthouse crowd, and later "Sparky" would do the same thing in Baton Rouge to pay his way through LSU. When "Sparky" was only seven years old, "Sparky's" father Charles Fred Wade and his father-in-law W.Y. Warner got into an altercation, and Warner killed his son-in-law as a result of the family squabble. Many people had scant knowledge of all the setbacks and adversity that befell "Sparky" as a child and adolescent. "Sparky" enjoyed almost no childhood because of the families near poverty status, and the lessons learned from so many hardships, filled Sparky with a resolve to rise above his circumstances, and this he methodically set out to do. In 1969 I had the privilege of talking with Sparky over at his friend Jimmie Bardin's Tavern in Tullos, La. where he was visiting an old Urania Forester basketball team member, and lifelong friend, Lester Gaharan. Ironically Lester's brother T.H. "Bud" Gaharan would be one of the JHS coaches to take "Sparky" and the Jena Giants to National fame. Sparky started off, "I had to stretch to be 5' 7" tall. I knew that sooner or later the game of basketball would be dominated by the height of the players, so I had to have a weapon or equalizer, so I decided to develop my ball handling abilities." He paused reflectively and said, "I liked to have run my pore ol' mama crazy with a basketball. I even dribbled it to the supper table; I dribbled it walking to school. Why, I even slept with that dern ball. I'd wear the stitches off a ball, and Mr. Plummer would give me another one." I asked him if it were true that he'd build up a pine knot fires and practice shooting baskets after dark. He related, "I did it a few times. My good friend Windsor Floyd would keep my fires going, and I kept him busy packing knots, but I mainly concentrated on ball handling." Another factor that contributes to the legend surrounding Sparky Wade, is that neither Jena, nor it's sister school Trout-Good Pine, had an indoor gymnasium until 1931, after Sparky had graduated. Most of his ball handling techniques were perfected on dirt courts at home and at school. On January 13, 1928 at mid-term, students at Jena High School, under the direction of faculty advisor R. J. Miles, initiated a newspaper-style of reporting events at the school printed in The Jena Times. It was called The Giant Tribe, the name of today's Jena High School yearbook. In it's premier article it tells of Coach Jay Pipes, along with his assistant "coach" Wade getting his team into shape for the coming season. The Giants kicked off the season by playing at La. College against their freshmen Wildcats. Jena came away the victory by a final score of 28 to 17. "Sparky" scored 14 of the 28 points, an accomplishment that would often happen when needed for the rest of his high school career. Other team players were Russell, Trotti, Jones, Burdick, and Girlinghouse. A week later, the Giants played Winnfield and part of the account of the games reads "The mighty Giants of Jena High completed another lap of their onward march to State honors today when they trounced the Winnfield High Tigers by the decisive score of 28 to 14. In the opening quarter, the great Winn Parish Felines uncorked a cyclonic offense that causes a stir in the Giant camp, but they found their stride in the second quarter and went on to victory." On February 23,1928 the Giants took first place in the Parish Basket Ball Rally by beating the Urania Foresters team by a final score of 15 to 7. Wind was a decisive factor in the game, causing many field goal attempts to miss the basket. This tournament was played on dirt courts, out of doors, probably at the Tall Timber ballpark where backstops with goals had been constructed. The boys from Jena were deeply tanned because they were so exposed to sun and wind year round. In 1928 the Giants went to the semi-finals of the State Tournament held at La. State Normal in Natchitoches, where 43 teams were entered. They were beaten in the Finals by a stronger team from Coushatta. The Giants played four grinding games on Saturday, the finals day. They were simply exhausted. The 1929 school year had found three of the players from the previous year returning. They were "Sparky" Wade, "Pud" Doughty and Everett Warner. Newcomers to the team were Clyde Stallcup, LeRoy Floyd, John Norris, Herbert Russell, Fred Whatley and "Pete" Renfrow. Malcolm "Sparky" Wade's forte, as previously stated was ball handling, but when the occasion demanded, he could be a very proficient field goal shooter. In a game against the Tioga Indians, the much taller team repeatedly won the tip-off after every field goal, so the Giants had to rely on speed and defensive tactics to take the ball away. Then the Indians started grabbing the Giant's in-bound passes, so "Sparky " did something he'd never done before. He moved out to center court and his teammates starting feeding him the ball. All the endless hours of practice paid off handsomely. He started knocking the bottom out of the basket every time he got his hands on the ball. The defense started coming out trying to stop his crack shooting. He simply passed off to his unguarded teammates who would score. The Giants relied on "man-to-man" defense. "Sparky" Wade has to be recognized for another ability other than his basketball handling. He also invented psychological warfare and "trash talking." Invariably the opposing team would assign their best guard to try and hound "Sparky" to keep him from scoring and performing like he was capable of. If a talented opposing guard was giving him a particularly hard time, "Sparky" would take an in bounds pass, and begin dribbling towards the opponent's goal. All the while methodically looking the opposing player square in the eye. Then in a low voice only audible to his opponent, he would start making very disparaging remarks about the player's heritage, particularly his mother. This would infuriate his tormentor and he would swing at "Sparky". The referees would then throw the player out of the game for attempting to start a fight. Then "Sparky" was free to do his thing, which was to make monkeys out of the opposing team, and score points. In March of the1928-29 season the Jena Giants won State by taking on all comers. They beat Holy Cross of New Orleans, Bolton of Alexandria, Walker from near Baton Rouge, and Ouachita Parish High School for the State Championship. This entitled them to a trip to Chicago, Ill. to the National Finals. To Be Continued Next Week (2-20-02) Jack Morgan Willis