Derek Sparks’ “House of Champions” began with a phone call as he was navigating through traffic on Interstate 5.
As the South King County resident and then-Garfield High School football coach answered, he learned that one of his players, Carrington Henry, was at the Washington Department of Social and Health Services holding just a suitcase.
Henry reported that he had nowhere to live and had asked to call Sparks.
“I turned the car around, I went to DSHS and picked him up,” Sparks said. “That sparked the whole thought of ‘what can I do to help?’ “
Enter the House of Champions, which aims to serve as a life skills and housing solution for homeless high school student-athletes in King County.
Sparks, who now is an assistant football coach at Kennedy Catholic, then came to a solution. He had considered listing his former residence in Kent for sale, but realized the condominium in a gated community would be a good place to help homeless student-athletes.
“It will make the kids feel like it’s a normal circumstance or situation for them to be in,” Sparks said.
As Sparks explained, three football players will be placed with a live-in house coach to ensure rules are followed. Sparks, who has worked as a career counselor at several high schools, will oversee the program. He wants to work with student-athletes on a variety of life skills, ranging from finances to nutrition.
Sparks said he knows the program is effective because he saw how it impacted Henry, who moved in with his grandmother once she’d found a stable home. When Henry came to stay with him, Sparks began researching homelessness, which he used to visualize as a man “holding a sign at a stoplight.” But through research, he learned that the issue is much more complex than he had imagined.
Growing problem
He culled data from the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, where he learned the number of homeless students in Washington state grew from 21,826 during the 2009-10 school year to 35,511 five years later.
“The statistics are staggering,” Sparks said. “Going into coaching, I realized this is an epidemic. It’s going in the wrong direction.”
One that won’t be resolved with just one House of Champions.
“We can’t save the world, but we can make an impact in our community, one kid at a time,” Sparks said. “The numbers are so intimidating that some folks don’t do anything. Part of my purpose as being an educator as a coach is to do something.”
He is hopeful the project will inspire others to help.
“My goal is to find other properties in the area and to get people who are like-minded involved, so we can duplicate what we are doing here,” he said. “We want to raise awareness and get the word out that this exists.”
Those interested in helping can attend the 4 p.m. open house on Sunday, Aug. 28, at 22031 39th Place South in Kent. Former Washington State University and NFL star quarterback Drew Bledsoe is sponsoring the open house.
Sparks said there is no ulterior motive behind the project. Bellevue High’s football program recently was sanctioned by the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association after boosters and coaches purportedly committed recruiting and other violations, according to a December 2015 investigation by The Seattle Times. Sparks wants to be “absolutely clear” that student-athletes from surrounding school districts, such as Auburn, Kent and Renton, will be welcomed into the House of Champions.
Some of his motivation, Sparks said, stems from his past. He chronicled his tumultuous recruiting experience in California in the 1999 book “Lessons of the Game: The Untold Story of High School Football,” co-written with Stuart K. Robinson.
Sparks, who was raised in a small town outside Houston, said the book does not focus only on sports. He writes about being raised as an only child by a single mother and not knowing his father.
“When I moved to California and lived with my teammate and his family, it had a positive impact on me,” Sparks said. “It showed me a positive image of the family unit and how it should function. I remember the conversations at dinner time. These homeless young boys deserve to have the same experience. At the House of Champions that’s what we are striving to provide.”
Despite the challenges he encountered, Sparks earned a scholarship to play football at WSU, where he earned his business degree. And he believes that all children can be successful.
“We feel like all kids are champions,” Sparks said. “We want to show them that if they’re willing to put in the work … they too can go as far as they want to go.”
