From Gallagher With Love

Above the original white maple basketball court in Gallagher-Iba Arena sits a husband and his wife, who met in those exact seats almost 60 years ago on a blind date.

Oklahoma State is a lot of things to a lot of people, but to these two, Stillwater means so much more. For the husband, Gary Sparks, it's where he found his calling as an architect, after coming from humble beginnings. For the wife, Jerri Sparks, it's where she not only found her soulmate, but also found her career as a teacher.

Together, they would go on to attend almost every athletic event they could, and currently still hold season tickets for three sports at Oklahoma State. For them, Gallagher-Iba Arena truly is home.

Back to the start

Gary had never been west of the Mississippi River before coming to Oklahoma. Growing up, he was moved more than 38 times due to his father's job as a construction worker, traveling from Florida all the way to Michigan.

After graduating high school from Jasper, Ala., Gary moved to Atlanta to begin his life. He was able to secure a job as a janitor at an engineering building, however shortly after beginning his work, he moved in with his parents for the summer in Sand Springs, Okla.

After failing to find a job working on the Keystone Dam, Gary had to search elsewhere for work. He found a job hauling hay with two other young men his age, one of them being an architect major at OSU. After discussions around OSU and architecture, he had figured out what he was going to do.

Following many long, hot, and labor-intensive days in the Oklahoma summer heat, Gary had finally found what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He was going to go to Oklahoma State and begin to work on his degree to become an architect.

After borrowing a car to get to Stillwater, Gary had to begin from scratch. He didn't have an excellent education after moving numerous times throughout his childhood. At the time, he was only admitted to Oklahoma State because he was a resident of Oklahoma, so they had to let him in.

The odds, frankly, were stacked against him.

"My first design class was second semester of freshman year, and that first project was you had to draw an S with a drafting pen, with ink," Gary said. "I'm sitting there, I have ink all over me and I don't even know where to start. So, I think, I need to wait until everyone leaves, because this is pretty embarrassing, and then I'll start on my own. After you finish it, you have to go pin it up on the wall, so there's all these S's all around the room.

"I'd go look at them, look at mine and think this isn't going to cut it. So, I go back, put another piece of paper down and restarted it. I did that over and over and over again until finally I got one and thought it looked pretty good. I get back to class that afternoon, and they had graded all of them, I went to mine, and it was an A-plus. I said, 'I can do this. It's going to take me longer, I'm going to have to work harder, but there isn't anything they can't throw at me that I can't do.'"

Work hard he did.

Gary grinded out his architecture degree for six years, all while maintaining his relationship with his future wife that he had met at OSU. After graduating from Oklahoma State in 1966 with a degree in architecture, Gary and his wife would eventually move to Atlanta to begin their life.

Mr. Iba. Gallagher Hall. And a first date.

"I was so wrapped up in architecture, just trying to keep up and get out of that program that I didn't really have a social life," Gary said. "I didn't have the money; I didn't have the time. But, somewhere along the road, one of her sorority sister's boyfriends knew me, and asked me if I would like to go on a blind with them to a basketball game? I said sure, sounds good."

Reluctantly, Jerri agreed to go on the date with him to a basketball game between OSU and Iowa State on Feb. 1, 1964. The Cowboys won, 67-53.

Not wanting to miss any wrestling matches, Gary invited Jerri on a second date, to the Bedlam wrestling match on Feb. 8, 1964. He knew he wanted to see her again.

"Well, my roommates brow-beat me into it, I was a freshman," Jerri said. "So, I just decided that I wasn't going to date, I wasn't very interested. But they talked me into it and found me a ticket. It was good, and I was glad later!"

As is the case today, Bedlam tickets weren't so easy to find. You either had to win a ticket lottery or have some pretty good friends. So, when he first called, Gary wasn't so sure the date would happen.

In fact, the first call ended with her saying she didn't have a way into the wrestling match. But eventually Gary did get a second call with much better news.

"She called me back and said she found a ticket, so we were on," Gary said. "From there it just took off. But I knew after our second date, I just knew this was the 'gal I wanted to spend the rest of my life with."

Oklahoma State won bedlam, 21-3, and a journey that would eventually lead to marriage, kids, grandkids and lifelong happiness had just begun.

From there, Jerri raced to finish her education degree and finished the same time as Gary. She would be a teacher. He would be an architect. It was time to leave OSU and see what life had in store for the couple.

Out of college – It's time for the next step

"I got my draft notice in October, so we had only been there a couple months," Gary said. "I got my draft notice to report for my physical because of Vietnam. I really hadn't thought of Vietnam. I was 25, I didn't go to college right after high school I took a gap year. So, I'm 25 years old, horribly out of shape, and I'm thinking that they couldn't possibly want me. But, if you could walk in, you passed."

Gary served in the U.S. Army for two years, working in Germany. After those two years, he was honorably discharged from the Army, and moved to Tulsa with his wife to begin their life.

From there, he obtained his architectural license and finally in 1978, Gary opened his first architecture firm.

Fast-forward to 1995, and Oklahoma State had hired a new athletic director, Terry Don Phillips, with rumors of OSU wanting to build a new basketball arena off-campus happening around town.

Once he heard about these rumors, Gary was confused and shocked.

"I was over here one day, helping the interior design department with some interior design students," Gary said. "On the way home, I was listening to a sports talk show, and the guy on the radio said that the latest news out of Stillwater was that the city and university were thinking about building a new arena off-campus on the west side of town. I almost drove my car into a ditch when I heard that."

Upon hearing this, Gary knew that couldn't happen. It would change everything that Oklahoma State had built up to that point, and he didn't want anything to happen to the place that he loved, the place where he found his lifelong partner.

"When I got back to Tulsa, I had this crazy idea," he said. "Why couldn't you go on the outside of the building and expand it and put a new roof over it. Then, everybody could continue to operate and practice and play while that's going on. Then, when you're finished come in and take that old roof off and you just have this new arena."

So, he got to work.

Gary bounced that radical idea off his co-workers, who all said it could be done. It would be difficult, and it had never been done before, but it could be done.

That's all that he needed to hear.

With the support of his co-workers, Gary presented the idea to Phillips, who was just beginning his tenure as the athletic director at OSU.

"I presented the concept to him, and he said, 'I love it, it's a great idea, but can we do it?'" Gary said. "I said 'yeah, we can do it.' He asked if anything like this had been done before, I said 'no, not that I know of, but I checked all the boxes, and it can be done.'"

With the approval of Phillips and the board of regents, Gary set out to get to work.

Five years and countless hours of work later, the new Gallagher-Iba Arena was completed. Completely renovated with a new capacity of 13,611 people, Gary was the mastermind that brought the new GIA fans know today, the building that houses America's rowdiest arena and the building where he met his wife.

"I think for me, it's home," Gary said. "But the arena, knowing that there were people that bought into that idea to expand it and renovate it without really understanding, they just accepted it on faith, that this guy, Gary Sparks, came up with this crazy idea and they bought into it and believed in it.

"Then, we had this tremendous team that put it all together and did it, I mean that's pretty special, it doesn't happen very often. I walk in there and I'm very grateful that there were people who bought into the idea and were willing to take a chance and we were able to pull it off."

There's more to do here at Oklahoma State

Gallagher-Iba Arena, the place he met his wife, was bigger than ever. The ole barn in its new form was spectacular, just as it had always been.

But the proud alumnus wasn't done there.

After completing Gallagher-Iba Arena successfully, Gary set out on his newest project: renovating Lewis Field, which would become known as Boone Pickens Stadium.

"It was challenging project, then we finished that, and the next big challenge was the stadium, because it was horrible," Gary said.

With the help of the legendary Boone Pickens, Gary was able to help fully renovate the now Boone Pickens Stadium. Not only was the field renovated, but Gary, along with Phillips, hoped it would only help increase the love and pride OSU fans around the state, and country, had in their proud school.

"Something Jill (Gary and Jerri's daughter) picked up on, unlike a lot of universities, they don't really embrace their culture, their logo and who they are as much as I think they could," Gary said. "Whereas here, we're Cowboys and Cowgirls and we're proud of that. You can't have too much Cowboy and Cowgirl orange wherever it is. We want people to know that's who we are, and we're proud of it. Like Gundy said, we have a logo and we embraced that back in 1995."

Following the completion of those two high-profile renovations, Gary continued designing buildings across Oklahoma.

Notably, he designed the Oklahoma Aquarium, as well as numerous churches throughout the state and he more recently designed the newly renovated Wesley building on campus here in Stillwater.

For all his contributions to the state, and university, in 2010 Gary was nominated and inducted into the Oklahoma State University Alumni Hall of Fame.

This place is home

There's a reason why Oklahoma State is such a special place, and it's the people. The people of OSU make it what it is, a truly one-of-a-kind campus where everyone supports everyone in anything they do.

When he first got to campus, Gary had no idea that he would eventually get to be the mastermind behind renovating America's rowdiest arena. Or that this would be the place he would meet his future wife.

Looking back, he just feels blessed to have had that opportunity.

"I think what really helped me appreciate what we had accomplished was seeing the reaction of the fans, the visitors, and the visiting team," Gary said. "At that time, this place was really rocking, I mean it was full every night. It was intimidating, and the thing I think sports architects need to remember is that their number one goal should be to make the arena as intimidating as possible to the opponent. The closer the fans are to the event, the better. The more intimidating you can make that, the more home-field advantage you have, and we were able to do that with both of these projects."

So, the next time you come to a game in GIA, you'll more than likely see the Sparks. They don't miss a game. Sixty years later, they always find their way back to the two seats where it all started.

"It's home," Jerri said. "Of all the places in Stillwater, I don't go to my sorority house, Gallagher-Iba is home. I love it. I love the beginning of basketball season."

This is the first in our upcoming summer series featuring the stories that make Gallagher-Iba Arena special. Do you have a story about GIA that shows why it's special to you or your family? Someone you met there, a memory with a family member or friend that sticks out to you? Let us know.

Tweet or DM us on Twitter (@OSUMBB), find us on Facebook (Oklahoma State Cowboy Basketball) or email Patrick Osborne (patrick.osborne10@okstate.edu) with your story.

Throughout the summer, we will be sharing your stories to help tell what it is that makes Gallagher-Iba Arena mean so much to the Oklahoma State family.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Related Videos