An Army of Normal Folks - Sparky Reardon: The Most Loved Dean Ever (Pt 2)

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Sparky Reardon worked in student services for 36 years at Ole Miss, including his final 14 years as the Dean of Students. His stories span the hilarious to the tragic and he is a one-of-a-kind leader who thousands call a mentor and a friend, including Coach Bill Courtney.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey, everybody. It's Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks, and we continue now with part two of our conversation with Sparky Reardon, right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. I started trying to get pregnant about four years ago now. We were getting a little bit older, and it just kind of felt like the window could be closing. Bloomberg and IHeard Podcasts present. IVF disrupted, the Kind Body story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. Introducing Kind Body, a new generation of women's health and fertility care. Backed by millions in venture capital and private equity, it grew like a tech startup.

While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned. and angry patience. You think you're finally, like, with the right people in the right hands. And then to find out again that you're just not. Don't be fooled. By what? All the bright and shiny. Listen to IVF disrupted, the kind body story, starting September 19 on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Secret Scandal, we pulled. back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Masiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ. My name is Elena Sada and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it.

Witness the journey from devout follower to determine survivor as Elena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get her podcasts. When your car is making a strange noise,

no matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone or just taking a deep, calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem,

you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council have resources available for you at loveyourmind today.org. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the Tech and Culture Podcast, their arno grows on the internet. There are no grows on the internet

is not just about tech. It's about culture and policy and art and expression and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emil Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer

who refuses to be cynical about the internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the internet for both good and bad.

They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice. at the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service, therefore we're not trading rice this season. It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the internet. Platforms exist because of the regular people on them,

and I think that's a real important story to keep repeating. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Listen to There Are No Girls on the Internet on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. From the studio who brought you the Pikedin Massacre and Murder 101, this is Incells. I am a loser. If I also a woman, I wouldn't date me either.

From the dark corners of the web, an emerging mindset. If I can't have you, girls, I will destroy you. A kind of subculture, a hidden world of resentment, cynicism, anger against women. A seed of loneliness explodes. I just hate myself. I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. At a deadly tipping point. Incells will be added to the terrorism guide.

Police say a driver intentionally drove into a crowd killing 10 people. Tomorrow is the day of retribution. I will have my revenge. This is InCels. Listen to season one of InCels starting September 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. Our show is an army of normal folks. And our thesis is that people wearing really nice clothes using big words that

nobody ever really uses in conversation on CNN and Fox are not fixing anything. that there's division surrounding us, which we're going to talk about later, that aren't doing anything. And so the proverbial question is, what's going to fix it? What's going to fix it? And our argument is an army of normal folks.

Just normal people, not the smart people in D.C. and Silicon Valley and with the Twitter and the Facebook and the CNN and not fixing anything. What's going to, fix it is just people employing their passion and their discipline and that colliding in an area of need. And then that's where magic happens. And you don't have to be part of some big organization or 501C3, just servant leadership. And if we had millions of these people in this

army of normal folks, we could genuinely change culture and change so much of what's ailing us right now. And as such, you're just a normal guy, Sparky, at the end of it, despite all of the accolades and all of the love and everything else, you're just like the rest of us. You're a normal guy. And I think what people oftentimes forget is normal people deal with financial troubles with kid troubles, with spouse troubles, with tragedies in their own life. And when they're in a position of leadership, they're supposed to have this approach. And everybody coming to them constantly, but they're dealing with their own normal person crap, like we all do with, because life is tough.

And you've had, and you talk about them. You've had some personal tragedies to work them with in your own life while all your world was going on. And you've lost both your siblings. You lost Vicki, your sister, and your brother, Speedy. Speedy was murdered.

and Vickley was lost in a car ride. How do you balance all your personal trauma while putting on this brave, fun, funny, mentoring, creative face? How does as a leader, how does this, the dean of students, how does this a guy that's trying to be there for everybody else, deal with that kind of trauma? That's a tough question.

You know, I go back to faith and family. I come from a very large family, extended cousins and all who have been very supportive and was supported of me. And when I lost my brother and sister within two years of each other, it was my faith and my family that sustained me. I think it was the family of Ole Miss and my faith that sustained me through the things that happened there. And lessons that I learned from my own experience, there were people who would come in and say to me, don't cry, you've got to be strong.

And I just wanna tell them to go to hell. I mean, and I know you can't tell people how to feel and what to do. There are no normal feelings in an abnormal situation. And you've just got to deal with the people and you gotta hug them and love them and help them get to where they wanna be. But it's a job.

Everybody has a job. everybody has issues. And I don't really think mine was that different than anybody else's. You talked about the day you returned to teaching after Vicki's death. Can you tell us about that? Yeah.

Because it speaks to vulnerability, I think. She was killed on December 29th. And I was teaching in Clarksdale, and I had a seventh grade class at 8 o'clock in the morning. And so it was after the holidays. It was the first class. And I walked back in, And I started teaching and talking about just mundane things, you know, sentence structure, whatever it was.

And I could just look at them, and they were looking at me. They were wanting to say something. These are seventh graders. They didn't know what to say. And I didn't really feel like I could say anything to them. And I was absolutely miserable. And I came out of that class. And the next class I went in and I said, hey, I know.

y'all all knew vicky i know y'all all like vicky she was your friend she was your teammate and uh i want you to know that i've been sad uh and i appreciate all of your love and don't ever feel like you can't talk to me about her because you can and uh it was it kind of freed me to get that out and and to talk about that and uh it was a tough time but but i grew from that and i learned from it We did a podcast in front of a very large law of audience with the director of the movie about Bonhoeffer. And your point about being vulnerable and saying, hey, I appreciate the help, even as in a leadership position, to allow yourself to be vulnerable and human, it reminds me of something Dietrich Bonhofer said. about how we need to be vulnerable about our sins. But I think you could make the exact point

about the challenges we face as human. Bonhofer wrote, He who is alone without sin is utterly alone. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not come because though they have fellowship with one another as believers and its devout people, they do not have fellowship as the undeveloped, the sinners. The pious fellowship permits

no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lie and hypocrisy. The fact is, all our sinners. Or we all face problems together. So would we talk about them with one another and not be alone. Ultimately, vulnerability is cleansing. And I think you can jump from what Bonhoeffer was saying about sin to tragedy and how we handle it.

But if I could make a point, I think... That's your, you're here. I'll shut up. Go ahead. If I could teach college students anything, I would teach them. to be empathetic to try to understand other people to understand where they are i mean you know i i look at these guys over here and think they're they're freshmen and what they're going through and you know they're bringing with them their pain from home they're bringing with them their joy

they're bringing them with their successes their worries and when when i would deal with them on campus i'd always try to understand what's going through this guy's head or what's going through this woman's in terms of where are they, you know. And also, you know, a kid came in and he missed a class because he was hung over and the professor knew it and everything. And hell, I could empathize with that. I knew exactly where he was coming from. And so I think that if we could just, if we had a class

and teaching how to people, people how to empathize, I think we'd be a whole lot better off as a society. I think normal folks need to learn how to do it. that. Amen. I've got some stats I want to read you, and I want you to give me the Sparks answer. It'll be your own personal Sparks plug.

Okay. Sparks plug. There's a story behind that that you're about to learn. Where we first met was I wrote for the Daily Mississippi, as you'll remember. Coach Brewer and I were pretty close. And I wrote a column that said, we need to quit waving the Confederate flag and playing Dixie of football games.

And now I grew up from my junior year in high school on, mixing my bourbon and Coke at the ball games with the stick from a Confederate flag. Anybody in here done that? Yeah, come on. Oh, I know you did. You're just not telling everybody. and I waved that Confederate flag with gusto and I loved when Dixie played and I never once had an ounce of my body think of that as anything racial.

I was cheering on my football team and joining in my fellow fans having a big time at the ball game until I came to understand that people in the Northeast and people on the West Coast, they didn't understand that. They just saw the flag, and they just saw her Dixie being played, and they equated that to this backwards racial notion. And I also listened to Coach Brewer pontificate more than one time about how frustrated he was in recruiting, because he would develop great relationships

on the better players around the southeast and have them ready to come to Ole Miss. But all Jackie Sherrill from Mississippi State had to do was walk in and tell that boy's grandmama, do you see what they do on Saturdays? You see what they're waving and playing? You really want your son or your grandson to go down there to Old Miss be subject to that?

So I wrote a column about it, and for the young folks in here, you don't understand how deep the ties were. It's a lesson that maybe all tradition didn't good tradition. And I wrote a column about that and put it out on the Daily Mississippian. And I had death threats. I had my car tore up.

I had my windows broke. And I literally had letters of death threats. And you sent me a one-line handwritten note. I told me to come see at your office. You remember that? I do. We'll be right back. I started trying to get pregnant about. We're getting a little bit older, and it just kind of felt like the window could be closing.

Bloomberg and IHeart Podcasts present IVF Disrupted, the Kind Body story, a podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. Introducing Kind Body, a new generation of women's health and fertility care. Backed by millions in venture capital and private equity, it grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients. You think you're finally like with the right people in the right hands and then to find out again that you're just not. Don't be fooled. By what?

All the bright and shiny. Listen to IVF disrupted, the kind body story, starting September 19 on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Secret Scandal, we pulled back the curtain on a a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Masiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ.

My name is Elena Sada and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determine survivor as Elena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him. Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the light. Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel as part of the MyCultura podcast network on the IHeard Radio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get her podcasts. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech and culture podcast, their arno grows on the internet. There are no grows on the internet is not just about tech. It's about culture and policy and art and expression

and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emil Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life,

but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the internet for both good and bad. They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice with the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service,

therefore we're not trading rice this season. It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the Internet. Platforms exist because of the regular people on them, and I think that's a real important story to keep repeating. I created There Are No Girls on the Internet because the future belongs to all of us. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.

Listen to There are No Girls on the Internet on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. When your car is making a strange, noise. No matter what it is, you can't just pretend it's not happening. That's an interesting sound. It's like your mental health. If you're struggling and feeling overwhelmed, it's important to do something about it. It can be as simple as talking to someone, or just taking a deep, calming breath to ground yourself. Because once you start to address the problem, you can go so much further. The Huntsman Mental Health Institute and the Ad Council

have resources available for you at loveyourmindtay.org. From the studio who brought you the Pikedin Massacre and Murder 101, this is Incells. I am a loser. If I also a woman, I wouldn't date me either. From the dark corners of the web, an emerging mindset. If I can't have you, girls, I will destroy you. A kind of subculture, a hidden world of resentment, cynicism, anger against women. A seed of loneliness explodes. I just hate myself.

I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. At a deadly tipping point. Incells will be added to the terrorism guide. Police say a driver intentionally drove into a crowd, killing 10 people. Tomorrow is the day of retribution. I will have my revenge.

This is Incells. Listen to season one of Incells starting September 24th on the IHeart Radio app. a podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. It was something that had to happen, and you know, you can make it happen in many ways, but I always felt like that when we as administrators were trying to do it, that it wasn't going to happen. But when students stepped up and we could create an organic movement among the students,

to see what was happening, that it would happen. And so I never had a real role in dealing with the actual policies or anything like that, but I did advise the students in it, had students like yourself, and I was always trying to encourage them to do the thing. And, you know, I think when we talk about that, and you can't talk about Ole Miss without talking about how we just, beat up on ourselves with these kind of things. But anybody who looks at where we are today

with our enrollment, with our development on campus, with the leadership of Glenn Boyce, with baseball, basketball, football, women's basketball, women's basketball, what's happening in Oxford, anybody that doesn't appreciate where we are with that is crazy. And we would not be where we are. are today had we held on to those traditions that's the reason i choked up is i was thinking about

dropping out of this place i was that scared and you stood by me and there never would have been a charity boat well i have to i'm i'm going to do some revision on history here he started the charity bow after Chuck E. Bullens that went forever. But the real charity bow was started by Chip Pickering a couple years earlier, four years earlier.

Chip was a Sigma Chi and he started the game and the Sigma Chi has lost the first two games so they quit doing it. It's true. And then Chuckie got hurt in that same year there was a young man in Lauderdale, Mississippi, named Alan Moore, who had at a high school

or junior, who had the exact same injury that Chuckie did, same vertebrae, same everything, same paralysis, and they had no insurance, and they didn't even have enough money to buy the kid a wheelchair. And millions are pouring in for Chuckie and his care, so I went up to Baptist, Memphis, and I told them, no disrespect, we all want to support you, but I'd like to do this for this kid, but do it in your honor.

I wouldn't ever do it if you felt like it'd take away from you, and I'd just like your blessings. And he was, through his respirator, whispered to his caretaker, and it was Chuckie's big thing that year for the football team was he told the team, it's time. And that's what he said to me. And so I came back, talked to Coach Brewer, begged him for the equipment. He thought I was half out of my mind.

And then I came and talked to you, and you can vote Coach Brewer to give us the pads and that's how the charity bowl started and it never starts without you either spark well you're nice to say that it's true um so as a leader you deal with discipline you deal with hard times you deal with overcoming your own personal things as a normal person and still finding humor and laughter and inspiration you taught the leadership class you somehow knew the names of about 80% of everybody walking around campus. I want to correct that. I do not know the names of every student.

It sure felt like it. We called everybody by name. Well, I used to get the freshman directory, and I would study that. And then when Facebook came out, it was a piece of cake to learn names. But there was a student who came up to, well, this was only about six or seven years. I'd already been retired. A student came up to me in the Grove, and he was. He was drunk. He was about 30, former student. He was about 37, 38 years old. And he said,

You're supposed to remember everybody's name. What's my name? And I just, I said, you know, I always did my best to remember the names of those students that I cared about. Now, what's your name again? So you deal with discipline. You do it with humor. You deal with. with your own things. You deal with the toughest things. You deal with people like Brother Jim that we can't get into but read the book and look them up. That's my best story. Oh, well, go for it. Brother Jim was, how many of you remember Brother Jim? Okay, Brother Jim would come to campus. He was a street preacher, hellfire and brimstone. And he would stand, he was nice looking guy, blonde hair, war suit. He would stand out in front of the union. And he would, he would just,

antagonize students and just call him. He would take his beat-up Bible and look at girls with sorority shirts on and say, you are a whore. That's what he would do. Yes, ma'am, he would. He would absolutely do that. Which means their boyfriends. Stayed up on the steps of the union, and it didn't take him doing that for about five minutes

that there'd be 400 people gathered around knowing what was going on. He drew a crowd, sparky. Yeah, he was saved at a Van Halen concert. He tells that story. But the funniest thing was he and I got to, we were on a first-name basis, but Brian Hall is right next to the big cotapetry, and the theater students were in there at the time, and on the third floor was a studio, and there's a round kind of room with a window there, and Jim was just preaching, hellfire and brimstone going on and on, and having

sword drills. with the people back and forth. And theater students put a speaker in the window, and one of them got on, he went, Jim, Jim, this is God. Cut that out. Great story. All right, after this next question to answer,

we're going to open up to you guys. But here's something that with all of your experience or your knowledge and your success, leading young men, leading people, helping lead this university, I got to ask you this question. U.S. News & World Report just released a new public opinion survey. This one's probably not going to surprise you, but it's stark numbers you need to hear.

The article is titled, Americans say the U.S. is a, in a leadership crisis. More than four out of five adults, that's 85% of American surveys, say government officials and other community leaders care more about their own power and influence than what's best for the people they represent.

We talk about this lot on the show, and we always talk about the politician stuff. That's been that way for a long time. What's new about this is listen to the line. Four out of five, 85% say government officials and, this is the new part, other community leaders care more about their own power and influence than what's better for people they represent. Their distrust and disenchantment permeates major sectors of society as well. 73% don't trust health care leaders.

72% are disappointed in business leaders, and 68% don't trust education leaders. Politicians overwhelming come in mind when first, when Americans are asked about political leaders, 56%. But those survey had little positives say, the public-rated political leaders' trustworthiness among the lowest of any leader group at only 31%. and 75% say they have too much power. That may not be that shocking and new. But again, 72% don't trust business leaders. 73 don't trust health care leaders, doctors, administrators. 68% don't trust the profession you came from, Smirk.

The leadership void isn't helped by the fact that most Americans don't aspire to follow in the leader's footsteps. That's scary. Most Americans don't want to be business leaders or politicians or educational leaders because they don't trust them. Three and five say they don't see leaders today in any sector whom they aspire to emulate. We'll be right back. I started trying to get pregnant about four years ago now. We're getting a little bit older, and it just kind of felt like the window could be closing.

Bloomberg and IHeart podcast present. IVF disrupted, the kind body story. A podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. Introducing Kind Body, a new generation of women's health. and fertility care. Backed by millions in venture capital and private equity, it grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families,

it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients. You think you're finally like with the right people in the right hands, and then to find out again that you're just not. Don't be fooled. By what? All the bright and shiny. Listen to IVF disrupted, the Kind Body story, starting September 19 on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

At 19, Elena Sada believed she had found her calling. In the new season of Secret Scandal, we pulled back the curtain on a life built on devotion and deception. A man of God, Marcial Massiel, looked Elena in the eye and promised her a life of purpose within the Legion of Christ. My name is Elena Sada, and this is my story. It's a story of how I learned to hide, to cry, to survive, and eventually how I got out. This season on Sacred Scandal hear the full story from the woman who lived it. Witness the journey from devout follower to determined survivor as Elena exposes the man behind the cloth and the system that protected him.

Even the darkest secrets eventually find their way to the lights. Listen to Secret Scandal, the mini secrets of Marcial Masiel, as part of the My Cultura Podcast Network on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Don't let biased algorithms, or degree screens, or exclusive professional networks,

or stereotypes. Don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars be. beyond it. Find out how you can make stars part of your talent strategy at tear the paperceiling.org.

Brought to you by opportunity at work and the ad council. The internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the tech and culture podcast, their arno grows on the internet. There are no grows on the internet is not just about tech. It's about culture and policy and art and expression and how we as humans exist and fit with one another. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Emile Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses to be cynical about the internet.

I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake. It's a fascinating exploration about the power of the Internet for both good and bad. They use WhatsApp to get the price of rice at the market that is often 12 hours away. They're not going to be like, we don't like the terms of service, therefore we're not trading rice this season. It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the Internet. Platforms exist because of the regular people on them, and I think that's a real important story. to keep repeating.

I created there are no girls on the internet because the future belongs to all of us. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Listen to there are no girls on the internet on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. From the studio who brought you the Pikedin Masker and Murder 101, this is Incells. I am a loser. If also a woman, I wouldn't date me either. From the dark corners of the web, an emerging mindset. If I can't have you, good. Girls, I will destroy you.

A kind of subculture, a hidden world of resentment, cynicism, anger against women. A seat of loneliness explodes. I just hate myself. I don't know why you girls aren't attracted to me, but I will punish you all for it. At a deadly tipping point. Incells will be added to the terrorism guide. Police say a driver intentionally drove into a crowd killing 10 people. Tomorrow is the day of retribution.

I will have my revenge. This is Incells. Listen to Season 1 of Incells starting September 24th on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. what do you think is going on and how do we reverse this before we lose our very culture? I think the the most endangered

thing in our nation right now is the truth that there's so many attacks on the truth and you know when you think about education really all education is is a search for truth whether it's in a laboratory whether it's in the meaning of a poem or a book people look for truth there's attacks on law firms now and really lawyers are in the really in the business of getting to the truth the press you know at one point the press was the truth and there's so many attacks on on those entities right now

and I think that we have so much information coming at us, whether it's the internet, the TV, podcast, whatever, that it's kind of like drinking out of a fire hose. You really can't, you really don't know what's there. And I'd tell these young people who are here right now that the most important thing that you can do while you're here is to find out what your truth is, you know,

and where you find it, whether it's in education, whether it's in conversation with other people, whatever it is, find your truth. Polonius told his son Laertes in Hamlet, he said, and this, as he was going to college, he said, in this above all, as the night follows the day, to thine own self be true, and as the night follows the day,

thou canst not then be false to any man. So I would encourage all of you to, to put your phones up to listen to you might your parents might get mad at me for saying this but you don't have to come up here with their values i'm not asking you to throw them away but make sure that they're going to end up being yours in the long run you don't have to come up here with your hometown values you have your own values you don't have to come up here with old mrs values what you need to do is find your value and figure out where it is and you do that by searching.

And really all you're doing right now is trying to get to the truth if you really want an education. So that's my take on that. I love that. All right, we're about to go to Q&A, but I want to say one thing about an army and normal folks. We are this little,

idea that started kind of on a wing and a prayer and honestly was supported by some of the very people in this room who I want to say to you I won't call y'all to embarrass you but thank you so much for helping Alex get this thing going we're about to start local chapters of the army in six cities across the country Atlanta and some others the chapters will do occasional service days together that we'll call army activations and we're going to launch and give circle, which is a really cold concept that's missing for most places. One of our past guest is the founder of Impact 100, where 100 women each donate $1,000. And then that hundred women with $1,000 each make one $100,000 gift together empowering normal folks to do

transformational philanthropy that they couldn't do on their own. And they can make a real impact with that kind of money, given our normal folks ethos that we're setting the minimum even lower to 10 bucks a month. So folks can still donate up to a million dollars if they want to, and you should have can, but 10 bucks a month. So our producer, Alex Cortez, is going to start one of our inaugural chapters right here in Oxford. If you're interested, Alex is around. Go to normalfolks.com us and sign up to join the Army. And we'd love to have your contact information You can talk to Alex after the event. He's the ugly guy wanting to wear a jacket like me,

but he doesn't pull it off as well as I do. You'll find him. And much like the old optimist clubs and things like that, we're starting Army of Normal Folks chapters that meet once a month and hopefully take the content inspiration from our guests and put it into action in communities.

So that opportunity is going to exist right here in Oxford. If any of you are interested, go to NormalFolks. us. With that, Alex, how are we going to do this? We're going to pass around a microphone. Okay, in the ties. You have 15 minutes to ask, Sparky, anything you want to ask, and I mean, I don't know if you want to ask me. Ask what you got one up here. Thank you, sirs. My name is J.T. Cunningham, and I'm from Pennsylvania. Sir, I really appreciate what you said about the importance of both having good values and finding truth in life. In all of your life, has there ever been a time

that you adhered to something as the truth or you had something as a very close value, but over time you've decided that that's not the truth or that's not a value that you hold dear anymore. I came from the Mississippi Delta. I guess race was a part of... I accepted what race, how people were viewed there.

And I used their words. And when I came up here, I actually had a paternity brother who pulled me aside and talked to me and said, you know, we're better than this. And so I think just my association with a good man who was a good friend changed me in the regard about how I felt about race.

And I think that could be said about any number of things. A thinking, be careful with this. When I say liberal, I don't get into politics on the show very much. When I say liberal, I don't mean in a political sense. I mean an open-minded, liberal-minded person who is always seeking the truth, which is what a liberal mind does. I think as you grow older and you open yourselves up to more and more truths,

I think we evolve as human beings. And that evolution simply makes us fuller and better. Come on. Test me. One up. There's one way back there, and there's one here. Test me. Hazard's a pony.

What's from Mississippi? How did you go from seventh grade teacher to dean of students? Well, I told you that I wanted to be on the path to become the dean of students. And my dad said, well, let's, before you go back to college, I want you to see if you really like education. And so I ended up, I taught junior high school, coached junior high football, sponsored the newspaper, directed the senior play,

advised the student council, which was really training for kind of what I did when I got here. The only thing I refused to do was to learn how to drive the bus. And then Dr. Trott left me with the cheerleaders, and I was just totally unprepared for that. They were egos that could tumble. Egos that could tumble. I'm in trouble now.

So after I did that, I got my master's going to night school at Delta State, came back here, thought I had a job at Ole Miss, but they didn't hire me. And a wonderful woman named Gene Jones hired me in the counseling center as a graduate assistant. And the next year I got hired in admissions. It was just putting myself in the right place at the right time. Good question, though. Thank you. I hate to be the last one with a stupid question, but how did you and Speedy get your names and who was the oldest?

Well, you know, I've never done a session where people did not ask that question. My brother, Speedy, was expected in October, but he didn't get here until November. her. So my mother's first cousin said, oh, Speedy finally got here. And then when that same cousin found out that she was pregnant with me, he said, well, the next one's going to be sparky. So it was prenatal, you know, and it's good in some sense, but some senses, you know, it's easy to write on a bathroom wall as a lot of guys did in college. I want to thank the Ole Miss Women's Council. I want to thank all of you for being here. Sparky, I want to thank you for this time for joining us on the show. Most importantly, I want to thank

you for the impact you've had on my life. It's profound from everything you did all the way to the lessons I learned in your leadership class that are actually some of which are in my book from things you taught me. And I think I speak on behalf of so many people in Oxford and so much of the alumni. You, my friend, are a living icon, and we are lucky to have had you in our lives. I appreciate that. I'll say this, and I don't, this is not false humility. I learned more from the students and my colleagues than I ever taught them. So that's the truth. Appreciate it.

One last time, everybody, Sparky Reardon. Thank you. I love you. There you go. Thank y'all. Thank you, buddy. Appreciate you. And thank you for joining us this week.

If Sparky Reardon has inspired you in general, or better yet, to take action by working with students, mentoring, leading, or buying its book, The Dean, or something else entirely, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me any time at Bill at normalfolks.us, and you'll hear back from me. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with friends on social. Subscribe to our podcast, rate it, review it, join the army at normalfokes.us, any and all of these things that will help us grow. And Army, Army, of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

Until next time, do it you can. Ah, come on. Why is this taking so long? This thing is ancient. Still using yesterday's tech, upgrade to the ThinkPad X-1 Carbon, ultra-light, ultra-powerful, and built for serious productivity, with Intel Core Ultra processors, blazing speed, and AI power performance. It keeps up with your business, not the other way around.

Whoa, this thing moves. Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Win the tech search at Lenovo.com. Lenovo, Lenovo. Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. Introducing IVF disrupted, the Kind Body Store.

A podcast about a company that promised to revolutionize fertility care. It grew like a tech startup. While Kind Body did help women start families, it also left behind a stream of disillusioned and angry patients. You think you're finally, like, in the right hand. You're just not. Listen to IvyF Disrupted, the Kind Body Story, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Sacred Scandal is back, the hit True Crime Podcasts, covers hidden truths and shattered faith. For 19 years, Elena Sata was a nun for the Legion of Christ. This season, she's telling her story. When I first joined the Legion of Christ, I felt chosen. I was 19 years old when Marcial Masel, the leader of the Legionaries, looked me in the eye and told me I had a calling. Surviving meant hiding.

Escaping took courage, risking everything to tell her truth. Listen to sacred scandal, the many secrets of Marcial Masiel on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Internet is something we make, not just something that happens to us. I'm Bridget Todd, host of the Tech and Culture Podcasts. There are No Girls on the Internet. In our new season, I'm talking to people like Anil Dash, an OG entrepreneur and writer who refuses this to be cynical about the Internet. I love tech. You know, I've been a nerd my whole life, but it does have to be for something. Like, it's not just for its own sake.

It's an inspiring story that focuses on people as the core building blocks of the Internet. Listen to There are No Girls on the Internet on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Don't let biased algorithms or degree screens or exclusive professional networks or stereotypes. Don't let anything keep you from discovering the half of the workforce who are stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the stars beyond it. Find out how you can make stars part of your talent strategy at tear the papersealing.org, brought to you by opportunity at work in the ad council. This is an IHeart podcast.