When U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks was growing up, his father worked long hours as a lawyer. He never saw any of his son’s basketball games and only attended one swim meet in the youngster’s many years of competition.
Although his father’s daily grind spanned six or seven days a week, the future federal judge for the Western District of Texas saw something in his dad that influenced him to follow the same path. The elder Sparks worked hard, not because he wanted the paycheck, but because he felt satisfied doing important work and was good at it.
