Congrats to Dr. Sparks

Every day seems to mark a new degree this week. Today congratulations go out to my friend, Dr. Johnny V. Sparks, who passed his dissertation defense at Indiana University.

I seem to be more excited about Dr. Sparks than I was about Dr. Bradley.

I can clearly remember recruiting Johnny to IU. I remember standing around the conference table in room 326 of the Radio/TV building extolling the virtues of all things Hoosier to Johnny and his charming wife, Tammy. A couple of months later, they resided in Bloomington.

Now, more than three years later, he's a doctor of philosophy. Along the way, there were days we surely wanted to beat one another. Instead we have become close friends. We worked out together, wrote papers together, and argued over the cleanliness of a comforter in Amarillo.

It's friends such as Johnny that make the human experience what it is.

Congratulations, Dr. Sparks. You will be a credit to the state of Alabama. If the humidity ever gets to you, we'd love to have you here on the South Plains.