Dan Sparks (basketball)

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Dan Sparks
Personal information
Born (1945-04-17) April 17, 1945 (age 79)
Bloomington, Indiana
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High schoolBloomington South
(Bloomington, Indiana)
College
NBA draft1968: 4th round, 41st overall pick
Selected by the Cincinnati Royals
Playing career1968–1970
PositionPower forward
Number32
Coaching career1971–2013
Career history
As player:
1968–1970Miami Floridians
As coach:
1971–1974Vincennes (assistant)
1974–1978Kansas City Kings (assistant / scout)
1979–2005Vincennes
2005–2006Northern Colorado (assistant)
2006–2013Wabash Valley
Career highlights and awards
As player:
  • NJCAA national champion (1965)

As coach:

  • NABC National JC Coach of the Year (1986)
  • NJCAA national champion (1972)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com

Daniel E. Sparks (born April 17, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and college coach.[1] He played in the American Basketball Association for the Miami Floridians during the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons after a split collegiate career at Vincennes University and Weber State University.[1] Sparks was selected in both the 1968 ABA and NBA drafts by the Miami Floridians and Cincinnati Royals, respectively.[1][2]

In 2015, Sparks was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.[3] Although he garnered success as a player, having won the NJCAA national championship at Vincennes in 1965 and having served as Weber State's team MVP during their NCAA Tournament season in 1967–68, he is best known for his coaching career.[3] He coached at the junior college level for 33 seasons, primarily at his alma mater Vincennes, and amassed 869 wins (versus only 247 losses) during his hall of fame career.[3][4] Sparks coached 25 NJCAA All-Americans and 33 future professional players in his career, including Eric Williams, Shawn Marion, Tyrone Nesby, and Carl Landry.[4] He is the state of Indiana's all-time winningest coach (706 victories) and was the national coach of the year in 1985–86.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Daniel Sparks ABA stats". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  2. ^ "Miami Floridians (1968–1969)". databasebasketball.com. databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d "Dan Sparks". hoopshall.com. Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Ford, Steve (April 18, 2013). "After 869 victories, Sparks retires as Wabash Valley, junior college basketball coach". CourierPress.com. Evansville Courier Press. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
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