Benton rededicates Sparks Field, 50 years after Jimmy Sparks’ death

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) -- A high school football stadium can be hallowed ground and the front porch to a lot of communities — a place where bonds form that can last a lifetime.

Sometimes those bonds grow stronger because of a shared loss. Even 50 years later.

James “Jimmy” Sparks, a multi-sport athlete for the Benton Cardinals in the mid-1970s, was a hardworking student-athlete who didn’t know a stranger. To this day, teammates describe Sparks as someone with a good attitude, a hard worker, a great athlete and a very good teammate. He made friends wherever he was, and not just on the Southside.

On Oct. 8, 1976, during Benton’s homecoming game against Maryville, Sparks was injured on what appeared to be a routine tackle. He never returned to the game.

When the Cardinals came back into the locker room, Coach Richard Lehman told the team the injury was serious.

Just days later, on Oct. 13 at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Sparks died from the injuries he suffered that night. He was 17.

His teammates, his family and an entire community were stunned and heartbroken. A News-Press story from that week captured the shock. One student said that when word of Sparks’ death spread, everyone “sat there for about five minutes in silence. It was a shock to everyone.”

The loss left many teenagers asking why and how it could happen. His football teammates rallied anyway. On Oct. 18, they took the field against Cameron and shut out the Dragons in honor of their teammate.

“I think we were closer after Jim passed away, and we used that strength and encouragement as we encouraged each other to get through that,” former teammate Scott Pendleton said. “We finally made it through the season.”

After Sparks’ death, Pendleton said, Benton didn’t lose again that stretch with the team finishing 7-2 in their senior year.

“(We) tried to instill Jim’s personality in others because he just had that effect,” Pendleton said.

The grief reached beyond the roster. Mike Musser, a teammate on the 1976 team, said the Southside came together.

“Kids in the school, alumni, (who) didn’t even know him, rallied around this entire school and picked it up off its knees,” Musser said.

Sparks died 50 years ago this month. In his memory, his 1976 teammates reunited this week to keep that memory alive. On Thursday afternoon, they spoke to the current Benton football team, sharing Sparks’ passion with a new generation of Cardinals.

On Friday night, those same teammates returned to their hallowed ground — and to the game that made them family for life — as Benton rededicated Sparks Field in Jimmy’s honor.

Sparks’ teammates won the homecoming game the night he was hurt. They won again the next time out, against Cameron.

And whether you believe in something bigger than ourselves or not, there was something unique about this past Friday night.

On the night of the rededication, the 2026 Cardinals won their game against — you guessed it — the Cameron Dragons.