Legendary Carson-Newman coach Ken Sparks has passed away

Legendary Carson-Newman coach Ken Sparks has passed away

Posted on March 29, 2017

JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – Following a five-year battle with cancer, legendary Carson-Newman head football coach Ken Sparks passed away Wednesday morning at 1:30.  He was 73.

Sparks announced his retirement on Nov. 14. He finished his Carson-Newman career after 37 seasons, 338 wins, 99 losses and two ties.   His career winning percentage of .7699 is the fourth highest in college football history while the 338 victories amount to the fifth best total nationally.

However, those numbers mattered little to Sparks.  The Eagles’ head man was far more likely to ask a player, colleague or coach how their heart was and to guide them to a life in the light of Christ.

Sparks himself lived his life at the foot of the cross, doing everything in his power to honor his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ at every turn.

Every year, he grounded the Carson-Newman football program in a theme that was rooted in a Bible verse.

The 2016 team’s theme is a good example of that.  Before the season began, Sparks set the theme as me 2 We for HE.  The theme was based on Philippians 1:27 – “Just one thing: live your (me) life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ (He), so (We) will be seen standing firm in one Spirit, with one mind, working side-by-side (we) for the gospel (He).”

For a Sparks-led practice, it was a common sight to see the session open and close with a prayer, led by players wearing Carson-Newman gear not adorned by C-N slogans, but with bible verses.

Following a comeback win over North Greenville on Homecoming in 2015, Sparks led the team in an impromptu rendition of “This Little Light of Mine” at the 50-yard-line in celebration.

The Sparks family will receive friends at Manley Baptist Church in Morristown, Tenn. from 2-6 p.m. Friday with a service to follow. That event is open to the public.

In accordance with the family’s wishes, the burial will be private and family only.

Sparks developed one of the winningest football programs in the history of the sport. The Eagles won five NAIA National Titles and played for it six times. A move to NCAA Division II didn’t slow Sparks’ Carson-Newman squad down. The Eagles played for the D-II National Title three times and were a semifinalist in 2009.

The rest of the numbers speak for themselves as Sparks has recorded 21 South Atlantic Conference Championships, 25 NCAA or NAIA playoff appearances, 104 All-Americans, and most recently, a street renamed after him that runs through the middle of Carson-Newman’s campus.

Sparks was inducted into the inaugural NCAA Division II Hall of Fame Coaches Class in 2010 along with Northwest Missouri State’s Mel Tjeerdsma and West Alabama’s Bobby Wallace.

Sparks is also a member of the South Atlantic Conference Hall of Fame, the Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame, the Carson-Newman Athletic Hall of Fame, the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and the NAIA Hall of Fame.

Sparks has been honored with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Achievement Award and National Coach of the Year. In 2002, Sparks received the All-American Football Foundation’s Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award. He is also a recipient of the FCA Grant Teaff Coach of the Year Award as well as the inaugural “Uncommon Award” presented by Tony Dungy.

A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Sparks began his coaching career at Gibbs High School in Knoxville, restarting the football program with a winning season. A year later Sparks coached quarterbacks and wide receivers at Tennessee Tech while earning his Master’s Degree. He coached Morristown East High School for one season before returning to his alma mater, Carson-Newman, to serve as offensive coordinator for then-Carson-Newman head coach Dal Shealy and oversee the track program. Sparks served both teams with distinction, receiving Southern Collegiate Track Coach of the Year honors in 1977. With Sparks running the offense, the 1972 Eagles advanced to their first-ever NAIA Champion Bowl, falling to East Texas State.

Sparks took over the Farragut High School football program in 1977, guiding the Admirals to a 29-5 record. Sparks was twice-voted KIL and KFA Coach of the Year. After three seasons, Sparks was asked to take command of the Carson-Newman football program where he would finish his career in legendary fashion.

He is survived by his wife Carol; son Chad Sparks and his wife Darla; daughter Chandra and her husband Chad Childress; stepson Tim Bobo and his wife Mindy; and stepdaughter Kim and her husband Dr. Dan Hines.  He is also survived by grandchildren Duncan, Drew and Dara Sparks; Clay, Cole, Calvin and Craten Childress; Lauren Grace, Emma and Anna Kate Hines; and Peyton Walker, Alexandra, Carlie and Christopher Bobo.

-Carson-Newman Athletics Release

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley Preview ACM Awards and Talk Hosting Mishaps

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley Preview ACM Awards and Talk Hosting Mishaps

Posted on March 29, 2017

Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley are making the media rounds as they prepare to host the 52nd Annual Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, April 2 in Las Vegas. The duo sat down with CBS This Morning today (March 29), to give a preview of the show.

When asked by the show’s co-host, Gayle King, if the two were worried about a mishap similar to what occurred at the Oscars—when Faye Dunaway announced the wrong winner for Best Movie—Dierks and Luke revealed their own mishap from last year’s show.

“I can’t imagine that happening to us,” Dierks said. “You never know. Last year when we started the show at the top—it’s live there are things that happen. We tried to involve some of our buddies in the crowd last year.”

“We had a series of six country music artists that were supposed to have a speaking role in the audience,” Luke continued.

“Someone jumped the gun a little bit, so we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants,” added Dierks.

“When we realized that somebody—and it wasn’t one of the artists—a camera guy missed his cue, just because there were a lot of moving parts, Dierks and I were like, ‘Umm OK, this is changing on the fly,'” recalled Luke.

“That gets me nervous just thinking about it,” Dierks said. “That’s why we have a backstage bar set up to help level out the nervousness.”

Watch Luke and Dierks preview the ACM Awards on CBS This Morning.

Hit Songwriter J.T. Harding Shares the Inspiration Behind Kenny Chesney’s “Bar at the End of the World”

Hit Songwriter J.T. Harding Shares the Inspiration Behind Kenny Chesney’s “Bar at the End of the World”

Posted on March 29, 2017

Singer/songwriter J.T. Harding has co-written hits for Keith Urban (“Somewhere in My Car”), Kenny Chesney (“Somewhere With You”), Blake Shelton (“Sangria”), Jake Owen (“Alone With You”) and more.

In 2016, J.T. scored his fifth No. 1 tune as a songwriter with Dierks Bentley’s “Different for Girls.” This year, he’s got his sights set on another possible chart-topper with Kenny Chesney’s “Bar at the End of the World,” which is currently No. 12 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart after 12 weeks.

J.T. Harding

J.T. sat down with Nash Country Daily to talk about the inspiration behind “Bar at the End of the World,” a song he co-wrote with David Lee Murphy and Aimee Mayo.

“A great friend of mine growing up, Greg, he moved to the Virgin Islands after college, and I go to visit him every year, sometimes twice a year,” says J.T. “And there are these bars there that you can only get to by boat, and when you get over there, there are no hotels, there aren’t any cars. But like the lyrics in the song, there are dollar bills all over the wall, there’s a gorgeous bartender wearing a ‘Dead Man Tell No Tales’ t-shirt—all these details from the song are right from those places. I said ‘I’ve got to write a song about this place,’ but I didn’t know what I was going to call it. I didn’t want to call it ‘Beach Bar’ or anything like that.

“Fast-forward about five or six months, I was visiting my brother in Boston, and we were driving and there’s this really, really old place called Tavern at the End of the World, and when I saw the sign, I said ‘Oh man, that’s my song title for my Virgin Islands song,’ but who’s going to sing the word ‘tavern’ besides Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean? So I thought I’d call it ‘Bar at the End of the World.’

“I knew I had an appointment with David Lee Murphy on my writing calendar. So I saved it for him and I was with [songwriter] Aimee Mayo, and I told David Lee the images and the titles and then David Lee just started strumming like the great songwriter that he is, and he just came right up with that opening lyric ‘There’s a trail of smoke coming out of a bottle / If you look real close, you can see it right there,’ and we were just off and running.

“On the way to that writing appointment, I had seen that it was 20 years to the day that [David Lee’s] ‘Dust on the Bottle’ had reached No. 1 [in 1995] so I just thought that there were good vibes all the way around. We wrote the whole song right then and there, and then we recorded it in our phones and Aimme, I believe, just emailed it to Kenny.

“Kenny did something really incredibly clever. The pre-chorus that says, ‘We’ll pull the ropes off the boat / We’ll throw ’em up on the dock’—we only had that in our song one time, but it’s a very catchy part so Kenny put it in twice before each chorus, and when I heard it I thought that was very clever. He is a very smart man.

“I think the hardest cut to get is a song on a Kenny Chesney album, so it’s incredibly exciting and just having it on the album was honestly such a thrill. I was actually back in the Virgin Islands this year when Aimme texted me the artwork for ‘Bar at the End of the World.’ Although she didn’t say ‘Hey, this is gonna be a single,’ I thought if they are making the artwork, that’s a great sign, and sure enough it was.”

Brooke Eden Talks About Her Musical Roots, Opening for Tim McGraw and Her New Single, “Act Like You Don’t”

Brooke Eden Talks About Her Musical Roots, Opening for Tim McGraw and Her New Single, “Act Like You Don’t”

Posted on March 29, 2017

Lisa talks with Brooke Eden about how her father got her started in music and prepared her for harsh criticism, the things she learned while opening for Tim McGraw, her new poodle, Dolly, writing her new single, “Act Like You Don’t,” and more.

Show Participants

  • Brooke Eden
  • Lisa Konicki, NCD editor in chief

Show Links & Notes

The Writers Room, Ep. 69, 23 minutes
photos by Jason Simanek

Rascal Flatts Announce Track List for New Album, “Back To Us”

Rascal Flatts Announce Track List for New Album, “Back To Us”

Posted on March 29, 2017

Rascal Flatts is gearing up for the release of their tenth studio album, Back To Us. In preparation for the release, the guys—Gary LeVox, Jay DeMarcus and Joe Don Rooney— are revealing the tracks included on the album.

“There was a nostalgic feeling between the three of us while in the studio for this record, a feeling that was more reminiscent of our first albums,” said Jay.

The new album, set to drop on May 19, is the follow-up to their successful hit-producing album, Rewind, and features 13 new tracks (on deluxe edition) from some of country’s top songwriters, including Jesse Frasure, Cary Barlow, Shay Mooney of Dan+Shay, Luke Laird, Chris Stapleton and Chris DeSefano.

Joe Don, Jay and Gary have included some of their own cuts on the album such as, “Dance,” co-written by Joe Don; “Kiss While I Can,” co-written by Jay and “Our Night To Shine,” co-written by Gary. All three members also collaborated on the song “Are You Happy Now,” which features Lauren Alaina on vocals.

The trio will perform their current single and lead track off the album, “Yours If You Want It,” at the 52nd Annual Academy Awards in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 2 on CBS.

BACK TO US TRACK LIST with Songwriters
1. “Yours If You Want It”  – (Written by Andrew Dorff, Jonathan Singleton)
2. “Back To Us” – (Written by Cary Barlowe, David Hodges, Josh Thompson)
3. “I Know You Won’t” – (Written by Steve McEwan, Wendell Lee Mobley, Neil Thrasher)
4. “Hopin’ You Were Lookin’” –  (Written by Cary Barlowe, Jesse Frasure, Shay Mooney, Dan Smyers)
5. “Dance”  – (Written by Joe Don Rooney, Blair Daly, Troy Verges)
6. “Are You Happy Now” with Lauren Alaina –  (Written by Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, Joe Don Rooney, Sean McConnell)
7. “Love What You’ve Done With The Place” – (Written by Benjy Davis, Shay Mooney)
8. “Kiss You While I Can” –  (Written by Jay DeMarcus, Steven Lee Olsen, Greg Wells)
9. “Vandalized” –  (Written by Luke Laird, Chris Stapleton)
10.”Our Night To Shine” – (Written by Gary LeVox, Chris DeStefano, Travis Hill)

Deluxe Edition Tracks – Exclusive to Amazon
11. “Hands Talk”  – (Written by Gary LeVox, busbee, Jon Nite)
12. “Thieves” – (Written by Jay DeMarcus, Gary LeVox, Scooter Carusoe, Chris DeStefano)
13. “Roller Rink” – (Written by Nick Brophy, Jeffrey East, Jennifer Hanson)

Maren Morris Gets a New Look For ACM Awards

Maren Morris Gets a New Look For ACM Awards

Posted on March 29, 2017

Maren Morris is making a change. The “My Church” singer has decided to get a new look just before this weekend’s ACM awards on Sunday (April 2)

Photo by Chase Rollins / AFF-USA.com

Maren took to Instagram to post a picture of her new hair with a simple caption that said, “New woman. :).”

The petite brunette singer, whose hair had grown down to her waist, chopped it all off for a fresh new feeling.

Maren, a first-time ACM nominee, has already been announced as the ACM New Female Artist of the Year winner, before the ceremony takes place. She has earned six nominations in four different categories. She is also nominated twice for Album of the Year, as both producer and artist, on HERO.

You can also check out Maren’s new look when she performs at the 52nd Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, April 2 on CBS.

New woman. 🙂

A post shared by Maren Morris (@marenmorris) on

Bathroom acoustics before we open for @chrisstapleton 😊

A post shared by Maren Morris (@marenmorris) on

Watch Luke Bryan Take the “Cup Blowing Challenge”

Watch Luke Bryan Take the “Cup Blowing Challenge”

Posted on March 29, 2017

Luke Bryan made the rounds at the Nash Country Daily offices today (March 29) to talk about his upcoming hosting duties at the ACM Awards, but he manged to free up a little time for some shenanigans on Nash morning show Ty, Kelly & Chuck by taking the Cup Blowing Challenge.

The Cup Blowing Challenge is the latest internet trend—much like last year’s Water Bottle Flip Challenge—that has provoked a bevy of videos on social media. Participants attempt to blow a cup out of another cup and into a third cup. If that sounds confusing, just watch Luke huff and puff. It’s pretty funny stuff from Luke and co-hosts Ty Bentli, Kelly Ford and Chuck Wicks.

 

 

 

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