About the only thing I had to go on was:
Phillippi Dwain Sparks - birth: April 15, 1969 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - appears at a young age to have moved to the poverty stricken area of Phoenix, Arizona (but why?). Grew up in Phoenix. Maintained a residence in Phoenix (saw a Family Search public record for him there in the early 90's). Once he was drafted by the Giants, it appears he moved to NYC (wiki - source?).
I did a quick Family Search of "Sparks" who were born in Oklahoma City around 1940, and came up with 10, 5 of which were male. It's conceivable one of them might have been his father, but absolutely no way to be sure. Since his family moved once, there's no way to know why they were moving or where they may have come from. Oklahoma City and Phoenix are known as military towns, so it could have been a military thing - which leads me to believe that his father might have originated elsewhere.
So basically, I'm not sure I've got much of anything except tiny clues leading nowhere.
