An Army of Normal Folks - Sparky Reardon: The Model of Servant Leadership

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

For our latest “Shop Talk”, Coach Bill pays tribute to Ole Miss’ former Dean of Students who changed his life and countless others.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with Shop Talk number 13. Alex, is 13 an unlucky number to you? I don't believe that. You don't believe in lucky and unlucky numbers? Well, I know we're not supposed to, but I can't help it. 13 is weird. So I'm going to offset Shop Talk number 13 with a really great story of a great guy. There's no way talking about Sparky Reardon in Shop Talk number 13 could be unlucky.

So we're going to talk about the Dean of Students at Ole Miss when I was in college and what he taught me in Shop Talk number 13. We'll be right back after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Last season, millions tuned into the Betrayal podcast to hear a shocking story of deception. I'm Andrea Gunning and now we're sharing an all-new story of betrayal. Stacey thought she had the perfect husband. Doctor, father, family man. It was the perfect cover for Justin Rutherford to hide behind. They led me into the house and I mean it was like a movie. He was sitting at our kitchen table. The cops were guarding him.

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They said my head should be cut off. The joy they brought to the nation. You're free completely. No one is there to destroy you. I'm John Legend. Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to season nine of Next Question with me, Katie Hurick. It is 2024, and we're going to get through this together, folks. My campaign promise to all of you here on Next Question,

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on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's take a moment to breathe. Deep inhale, extend your spine. Remain focused on what you're doing. If safe to do so, exhale slowly, leaning to one side. Inhale back to center. If safe to do so, exhale slowly to the opposite side.

Find mental health resources at loveyourmindtoday.org. This message is brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ed Council. ["Piano Music"] Okay, everybody, shop talk number 13, Sparky Reardon. So the first time I ever met Sparky, I was a student at Ole Miss, a freshman, and I was in freshman orientation, and every

freshman piled into this large auditorium and this guy, I would say he was about five foot ten, maybe 250 pounds. He was a robust fellow, rolls up to the podium and he has on khakis and a green sports jacket. And I mean like green. For purposes of this conversation, you need to know that the Grove at Ole Miss is a 10 to 15 acre plot of ground right in the middle of campus that is tree-lined and beautiful and grass and it's basically a park in the center of campus that's absolutely gorgeous. So when Sparky takes the podium he says my name and he's got on this green jacket he said my name is Sparky Reardon I'm the Dean of Students here and no I am not the Grove. He was big and green. He was this interesting guy and when you when you show up as a freshman you think

Dean of Students you know that's the one guy you don't want to mess with just leave the D.D. If you never meet the D.D. students in college you're probably in good shape. Sparky was different. He went on to welcome us to school. I started my freshman year, never really paid Sparky Reardon any much attention until my junior year. And I was walking to class across campus like everybody else. And I noticed here comes Dean Reardon and as I pass by him he looks at me and he says, good morning Bill and just walks by. And I'm like, how does this guy know my name? And then my senior year I signed up for a

leadership class and he was actually a professor and I got to know Sparky so much of what I know and learn and still carry with me today about how to coach, how to mentor, how to run a business, how to be a father and a husband. The basics of that was imprinted into me in that leadership class that Sparky taught me. What I found out was Sparky was from Clarksville or Clarks Delmas. He's from the Delta Mississippian. He too had gone to Ole Miss as a freshman and he started writing a column for the Daily Mississippian. It was called Sparks Plug. Fell in love with school,

went off and taught high school for a little bit, was brought back, took a job in administration at Ole Miss and one thing led to another and he became the Dean of Students at Ole Miss Sparky was the Dean of Students at Ole Miss when the football team still or the band at the football games and the basketball games still played Dixie and when everybody in the stands rave the Confederate flag at the games and Sparky was

one of those guys that could transcend difficult moments and reach you. And I'm going to tell you what his secret sauce was. He knew those he served. He literally sought out to look, this is a university now, this guy literally sought out to learn the names of the people that went to school at Ole Miss, all the students. And I'm not saying he knew every name of every student, but he knew a ton of them. He would look at composites and try to remember faces and names so that when he walked by, he would just simply call you by your name and

make you feel included and make you feel like you mattered. His version of leadership was to serve his community and to know his community. And his community were kids. Here's where Sparky really mattered to me. When Chuckie Mullins, who was a football player at Ole Miss that broke his neck, fell on the football field. And a group of us in my fraternity decided to try to start a philanthropic event, which was going to be a full padded football game to play in honor of Chuckie Mullins for another kid in Mississippi who'd hurt himself on a football field. We needed the field, we needed equipment, we needed publicity, we needed all kinds of things to start this fledgling idea. And I went to the Dean's students, I went to Sparky. But I went to Sparky after

talking to the athletic department, talking to the administration, and everybody's like, y'all are stupid, y'all are crazy, we're not doing this and everything and I went to Sparky and I told him the idea and Sparky thought it was great. Sparky walked us through it. Today that little football game is now the largest Greek philanthropy project in the entire United States and it only happened because we had a leader in Adidas students at the University of Mississippi at Ole Miss named Sparky Reardon who saw the passion in some students to do something good and worked alongside them to make it happen.

side them to make it happen. At Ole Miss, the fraternity, the Greek system is also very, very large, very ingrained in the fabric and the culture of the school. Sparky became the leading, one of the leading voices in the nation across the country for the anti-Hasing movement. And I remember him telling us that the culture that you wanted to create of brotherhood and friendship and sisterhood and all of that, that Hzing had no place in it. And back in those days, hazing was kind of a ritual and a rite of passage. And while certainly today hazing is rightly so viewed as something that is subservient and wrong,

it took a man like Sparky to change culture, but he didn't do it with a heavy hand. He did it by serving and explaining and walking alongside young, impressionable minds and helping them to see the right things and to see the way to do things. do things. Sparky Reardon was the model of a servant leader. And here's what he did. He sought to know your name. He sought to call you by your name. He sought to see you as a human being. He sought to find out what made you tick. He sought to find out what your dreams and goals and inhibitions were. And he sought to quell those inhibitions and help those goals come to fruition. And then he sought to make sure that you were engaging in things that were healthy and good

for you and good for your learning, but he never did it with a heavy hand by pushing down on you. He did it by walking that and serving alongside. So what does leadership look like today? What does servant leadership look like today? And I look across the spectrum of our politics, and I look across the spectrum of our politics and I look across the spectrum of many of our businesses I look across the spectrum of some of our families and I see this think like me do like me or you're my enemy mentality and I see this believe like me and think like me or I can't even be in the same room as you.

And I just wonder what if we had more sparky rears? Someone who's willing to see who you are for who you are, meet you are where you are, and serve you and in doing so leads you. And so I go back to that leadership class I took from Sparky and I understand that yeah we had textbooks and yes we had reading materials and yes it was a classroom but it wasn't the materials in the classroom and the text that I was learning from. It was the man himself, Sparky Reardon,

a servant leader who, who, who without his example, I'm not really sure if I'd have done a lot of things that have done. So shop talk number 13 guys, is being a servant leader. And the greatest illustration of that is Sparky Reardon. We got to start Meeting people where they are We got a spark Talking about the proper ways to conduct ourselves

We got to start helping those in and around us to reach their goals and dreams by serving them and walking alongside them and dreams by serving them and walking alongside them. We gotta start understanding that just because you don't look like me, think like me, or come from where I come from, or even have the same viewpoints and perspectives that I do, that we can still have conversations and serve one another, and then serve one another we can lead. So if you talk about an army of normal folks,

and you talk about servant leadership, we need to talk about being like Sparky. So shop talk number 13, instead of being Spark's plug, it's plug and spark. I hope you'll think about it. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. This is the story of how a group of people

brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol. The joy they brought to the nation. You're free completely. No one is there to destroy you. The danger they endured. They said my head should be cut off. I'm John Legend.

Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Last season, millions tuned into the Betrayal podcast to hear a shocking story of deception. I'm Andrea Gunning, and now we're sharing an all-new story of deception. I'm Andrea Gunning and now we're sharing an all new story of Betrayal. Justin Rutherford. Doctor, father, family man. It was the perfect cover to hide behind. Detective Weaver said, I'm sure you know why we're here. I was like, what in the world is going on? Listen to Betrayal on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. MTV's official challenge podcast is back for another season. And so are we.

I'm Tori Deal. And I'm Anissa Ferreira. The wait is over, guys. All Stars 4 is finally here. And this season takes it to a whole new level. Old school legends, modern power players, and ex players ex lovers are all competing in Cape Town South Africa for the prize of $300,000 and we're going to be right here along with you fans covering every episode on the podcast listen

to MTV's official challenge podcast on the I heart radio app Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. Welcome to season 9 of next question with me Katie correct that's big news to share with you in our season premiere featuring the one and only Chris Jenner. Oh my gosh, congratulations. That is very, very exciting.

And that's just the beginning. We'll also be joined by podcast hosts, Jay Shetty, Hillary Clinton, Renee Fleming, Liz Cheney, and many more. So come on in, take a break from the incessant negativity for a weekly dose of fascinating conversations. Some of them, I promise, will actually put you in a good mood. Listen to Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart radio app, Apple

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