THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511040481
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 197 lines
He is receiving recruiting mail again, just like in high school. Only now it comes from NFL teams and player agents.
Aaron Sparrow looks down at one day's delivery, which includes a questionnaire from the Atlanta Falcons and an introduction letter from an agent.
He cocks his head, smiles, and says: ``Junk mail.''
Sparrow is not a cynic, just a realist. That's what happens when your life has been played out under the spotlight of great expectations.
More often than not, Sparrow has thrived under the pressure:
Parade All-American . . . Quarterback of a state championship team at Wilson High School . . . CIAA rookie of the year . . . CIAA player of the year
But sometimes, the glare has been uncomfortable, even embarrassing:
His failure to achieve the required SAT score, preventing him from signing with his first choice, the University of Virginia . . . More headlines when he quit the Norfolk State team during his sophomore season . . . The sting of seeing his younger brother sentenced to prison.
Sparrow, who plays his final game for Norfolk State today at N.C. Central, has made the most of this rollercoaster ride. He has proven he can stay in the pocket and take the hits.
``He's been through the trials,'' said his mother, Cynthia.
Sparrow used to let his high school coaches do his talking, a hermit crab who shunned publicity.
``You can't stay in a shell your whole life,'' Sparrow said. ``I'm Aaron Sparrow. I have to live my life. I had to learn to account for myself and make decisions on my own.''
For nine years now - since his freshman year at Wilson - the media has been a part of his life. The relationship might have been at its worst his senior year at Wilson, during Sparrow's quest for the magic 700 on the SAT.
At the time, Sparrow was among the most prized high school quarterbacks in the nation - on par with Heath Shuler and Eric Zeier, both of whom now play in the NFL.
Sparrow recalls a conversation with Gary Tranquill, then the quarterbacks coach for Virginia.
``Coach Tranquill sat me down in his office and said there were three main things to focus on once I was at Virginia,'' said Sparrow, who at the time had given the Cavaliers a verbal commitment. ``No. 1 was academics. No. 2 was winning a national title. No. 3 was winning the Heisman Trophy.
``The guy is telling me all this stuff and I hadn't made my SAT score.''
Nor would he. Sparrow says he came close enough that tears actually welled in his eyes one night as he huddled with his grandmother.
``I was real angry and I was mad,'' Sparrow said. ``My grandmother just said, `Aaron, the cream always rises to the top.' ''
Sparrow weighed all his options. The top two seemed to be signing with Wisconsin and sitting out a year, or go to a prep school and trying again for the 700 and Virginia. Sparrow surprised most everyone by announcing he would go to Norfolk State.
``Let's be realistic,'' said Darnell Moore, Sparrow's high school coach who would later become his college coach. ``When a black kid who is an outstanding athlete doesn't make the grades or the score, people will always say go to a junior college or a prep school.
``But they're thinking about the kid as a Division I player, not a Division I student and I've seen too many graphics on televised games where the kid is majoring in university studies. And what's he going to do with that degree?
``When Aaron leaves Norfolk State he will be very well equipped for the real world. There will always be a job for a black man in social work.''
Sparrow, who will be 12 hours shy of his degree heading into spring semester, still keeps an eye on U.Va. and wonders what might have been.
``I watch (quarterback) Mike Groh all the time,'' Sparrow said. ``We'd have been battling it out for the starting spot. Not to be cocky, but I think I might have had an edge on Mike.''
Instead, he settled for bringing winning football back to Norfolk State, where his leadership qualities are as great as his talent. Sparrow often grabs as much blame as he can after a setback.
``Quarterbacks get much of the glory for the wins,'' Sparrow said. ``They should take the blame for the losses.
``I feel I'm strong enough to take it. Deep down inside, what makes me strong is the Lord. You can curse me, spit on me or try to pick a fight with me. But God says to forgive.''
That strength was severely tested during Archie ``Gunslinger'' Cooley's one-year reign at Norfolk State in 1993.
The Gunslinger and the All-American Flinger didn't blend well. Even though Sparrow was coming off a sensational freshman season, Cooley was harshly critical of his abilities. Sparrow would play one series, ride the bench the next.
On the field, Cooley had an old-school, get-in-your-face style, often using earthy language. Off the field, he was a cocky self-promoter whose program at Arkansas-Pine Bluff received the death penalty for rules violations.
Sparrow, meanwhile, was toting a handsized Bible in his equipment bag, pages dog-eared to mark certain passages in Psalms, Proverbs, Matthew and Revelations. He searched for words to live by and for inspiration.
``Oh Lord, in thee do I put my trust. Save me from all those that persecute me.''
The crossroads came with two weeks left in the season. Cooley had problems with Sparrow's mechanics and didn't think he could read defenses. Sparrow had heard enough. He quit.
Cooley put a band-aid on their squabble and Sparrow returned to the squad, but did not play in the last two games.
That following spring, Cooley resigned under pressure and was replaced by Moore, who became Sparrow's third head coach in three years at Norfolk State.
But Sparrow could not have been happier. Moore had coached him at Wilson, and it was a grand reunion. Sparrow blossomed, leading Norfolk State to a 7-3 mark and earning CIAA offensive player of the year honors as a junior.
This season, the Spartans are 6-3 heading into today's finale at North Carolina Central. Sparrow was leading Division II in total offense until a shoulder injury knocked him out of the final three quarters of last week's game against Johnson C. Smith.
Norfolk State is promoting Sparrow for the Harlon Hill Trophy, given to Division II's national player of the year.
The Cooley era seems so far away now, and yet it was less than two years ago. Sparrow still curbs his comments about the friction.
``It was just a situation I decided I had to deal with and it made me a stronger person,'' Sparrow said. ``In a way, it made me more of a man. I decided that I wasn't going to die over the stuff that was happening then.
``I taught myself to expect good things, but be prepared for the bad things that might come along.''
Nothing, however, could have prepared him for his brother's downfall.
Like Aaron in 1989, Darron Sparrow quarterbacked Wilson to a state title, in 1991. The comparisons were inevitable, and while the brothers bear a resemblance, there are marked differences as well.
Darron is lefthanded, and was not as gifted a passer. There was no college career in his immediate future, and he began to run with a rough crowd - easy to do when your family lives in the Portsmouth neighborhoods of Prentis Park, Dale Homes and Lincoln Park, where gunfire and drugs are part of the landscape.
Aaron, off at school, didn't witness much of Darron's deterioration. But there were rumors.
``I didn't want to believe what I was hearing on the street,'' Aaron said. ``But when I'd go home on a Sunday and he wouldn't show up at the house until late that night, I began to think things.''
It all came crashing down when Darron received an 18-year sentence last March for shooting a convenience store worker twice in the chest during a robbery.
Darron is in Portsmouth City Jail, although there is talk of parole while his conviction is appealed. The brothers talk by phone on weekends, but Thursday's visiting hours coincide with football practice.
``It's strange at times to talk to him,'' Aaron Sparrow said. ``He's matured since all of this happened. You know, when we talk, sometimes he gives me advice now.''
Sparrow believes his own successes may have helped bring on Darron's problems.
``There were a lot of comparisons growing up,'' Sparrow said. ``But . . . every brother's not the same. Everybody doesn't have the same destination.''
Occasionally, Sparrow is reminded that his life - and his family's - is an open book.
``There was a scout for the Saints at practice one day recently and he comes up and says, `How's your brother doing?' '' Sparrow said. ``I'm sitting there thinking, `How did he know?' But my life is out there. People know about things. I've accepted that.''
There are five other siblings living at home with Sparrow's father, Alonzo, and mother - four boys and a girl ranging in age from 4 to 14.
Sometimes Sparrow brings home practice equipment in need of washing. If he doesn't keep a close watch, brothers Sam, Joshua and Jesus - ages 8, 5 and 4 - will divide it among themselves.
One will put on a jersey, another the pants, another will tape his shoes the way big brother does. And each will hang towels from their belts, just like No. 10.
``They look up to him a lot and get very excited when they see him play,'' Cynthia Sparrow said.
Alonzo Sparrow has been disabled for 11 years. The family has survived on disability checks, welfare and the occasional borrowed dollar.
``They are making it with God's help and living one day at a time,'' Sparrow said. ``I feel a lot of responsibility there. If I'd been playing at a Division I school and would have had the kind of year I had last year (3,212 yards passing, 31 touchdowns), I would have declared myself eligible for the draft as a junior and gone pro.''
Minimum wage for first-year players in the NFL is $119,000. Millionaire rookies abound. Sparrow naturally envisions himself freeing his family from poverty's grasp.
Moore believes Sparrow shoulders too much weight when thinking about it, but doesn't fault him.
``Unless you work in situations where you see this day to day,'' Moore said, ``you don't know what kind of excess baggage kids like Aaron bring with them.''
Cynthia Sparrow wishes her son wouldn't clutter his mind with the added pressures of family.
``I just keep telling him, `Let's see what happens,' '' she said. ``I don't want him thinking we need the money. Whatever happens, we'll make do.
``And I'm just very proud of the way he's grown up. In our neighborhood, you've done excellent if you just graduate from high school.''
Once upon a time, Aaron Sparrow dreamed of winning a state football championship game.
That one came true. Now, he dreams of a bigger game.
``I dream about playing in the Super Bowl,'' he said. ``Not so much about the game. I can't even tell you if we win or not, or who I'm playing for.
``I dream about running out onto the field for introductions and everybody's screaming and going wild.
``Believe me. I have dreams.''
Even realists are allowed to dream. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Christopher Reddick, The Virginian-Pilot
Aaron Sparrow...
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