Super Sprague Defines a Super Spartan
Photo by Rebecca Holt
Well-known Senior Billy Sprague does more than win football games at TJ; he is an active leader for his community and stays busy with outside school activities.
At TJ, Billy is a leader on both the football and basketball teams, and has competed at the varsity level for both sports since his freshman year. Billy has maintained a 4.6 GPA throughout high school, achieving nothing but A’s and B’s. He is a part of school clubs like Peace Panel, which is a program run by students that promotes peace and non-violence at TJ. “I like the peace panel because it’s nice knowing that there are people in the school who want to promote peace and make TJ a better place,” said Billy, who was a part of the student assembly for the Peace Panel last year. “We just wanted to tell the students that violence is wrong and wanted students to help make TJ a better place,” said Billy, who is also part of the National Honor Society program (NHS).
For NHS, Billy has volunteered his time at the Glendale YMCA recreational center, and helped the Young Life program by serving food for children ages 11 through 18. “I like Young Life because it creates a community-like atmosphere at TJ, and it brings together all kinds of groups, like athletes and crafts people. We play fun games like bobbing for Snickers in Mountain Dew,” said Billy.
Outside of TJ, Billy is involved with a church youth group at Celebration Community Church. “One day my friend, whose father is the church pastor, invited me to a pool party, which was a part of being involved in youth group, and I liked it so I continued to attend youth group,” said Billy, who recalled a recent youth group mission trip to Los Angeles. “We went to a poor community in LA and our jobs consisted of feeding the homeless and helping a local church youth group with their community service activities, like at a YMCA. It was a lot of fun and it made you understand more about yourself and about the world around you. You also get the opportunity to develop great friendships with different people because we spend a lot of time together,” said Billy.
During the summer Billy plays club basketball for an AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) team called the Colorado Hawks, who travel to different states to compete in national tournaments. “It’s a lot of fun. It’s a team full of all-stars with kids from all over Colorado. We develop close relationships with each other from sharing a room with four other guys and playing two or three games a day,” said Billy, who also plays alongside TJ’s point guard Ray Riley. “I like playing with Ray. He is a great player and it’s always great to go back to school in August and to have so many memories over the summer with Ray. It just makes our relationship stronger,” said Billy. Ray and Billy have one favorite memory together from playing with the Hawks, when they won a National Championship in Wichita, Kansas. “That was a big thing for us because it ranked us as a top team in the nation, and teams from all over the country knew who we were,” said Billy.
Billy has always been associated with TJ because of his older brother and sister (Ben, who attends the University of Colorado, and Ellie, who attends college in San Francisco). Because of them, Billy has long been familiar with TJ’s traditions. Ben and Ellie competed in basketball and soccer, and Ben won a basketball state championship in 2005.
Billy did get to spend one year with his sister at TJ during his freshman year (her senior year). “It was a lot of fun to be able to spend time with my sister during my freshman year. She introduced me to a lot of her friends, and she would help me with any problem I faced. We were able to relate to each other because of us going to the same school,” said Billy, who says he is close to his brother and sister and they always do activities together, like seeing a basketball trainer. “We would go see a trainer together and improve our games together. It was a lot of fun and we would always push each other to become better players,” said Billy.
Billy’s brother Ben was a freshman in college during Billy’s freshman year in high school, so he didn’t get to see him as much, but when he did, they would play basketball. “We would always play one-on-one when Ben came home from college. It would always be an intense competition and I always became a better player from it. I beat him one time last year, but that was the only time,” said Billy. Even though Ben and Ellie are in college now, they visit when possible to support Billy in his football and basketball games.
Billy’s parents, Joe and Gretchen Sprague, are great supporters of TJ, which include athletics, prom committee, and the TJ craft fair, just to name a few. Gretchen is a part of the prom committee, where she offers what is needed and shares her ideas with the other members. For the TJ craft fair, she helps with the advertising and decorations. Billy’s parents support athletics by providing a place to stay before sports practice, and snacks before and after games. “It makes me feel good that they want to support my school and help make it a better place,” said Billy. Joe is also a community Board Member for TJ’s Computer Magnet Program.
Billy says that his biggest inspiration in his life is his older brother, Ben. “He has accomplished many things in his high school career, like being the captain of his basketball team, winning a state championship in basketball and he was valedictorian. I look up to him and I want to follow in his footsteps,” said Billy.
Grant Laman is the head coach for the boys’ varsity basketball team, and is in charge of the Spartan Edition. Laman has had the opportunity of both coaching and teaching Billy through his journey in high school. “Billy is a teacher’s dream student who always turns his work in on time, and his work is always of great quality. He is a very outgoing, positive, energetic, approachable person,” said Laman, who had the opportunity of coaching Ben when he was in high school, as well. “I see a lot of similarities between Billy and Ben. They are both exceptional workers and are great leaders. They will run through a wall in order to get the job done, and they never question anything. The only difference I see is that Billy can be a vocal leader on the court, and Billy is much bigger than Ben,” said Laman, who added that he has enjoyed coaching Billy for the past three years.
After high school, Billy hopes to attend either Kansas University, Princeton, or Colorado State University, and compete in football. “I want to play football in college, but I also want to go to a school that has an excellent academic program, which is important to me,” said Billy, who said he wants to major in either TV Broadcasting, or Business Management. “I already take a TV Broadcasting class at TJ and I like it a lot. It’s fun and gives you skills to do some amazing things with a camera and computer programs, as shown on the Spartan Edition,” said Billy.
After college, Billy hopes to either be playing in the NFL, or be working for a sports station like ESPN. “I want to use my video editing skills to do fun things about the football games. It’s also a way for me to stay in touch with football,” said Billy.
