Best known for coaching the Blue Devils to the conference football championship in 1965 although that stands as only one of Max Sparger's accomplishments at Stout.

Sparger arrived at UW-Stout in 1959 and served the institution in a variety of capacities, including as an assistant football and basketball coach, head wrestling coach, head golf coach, head track and field coach and head football coach. He served as UW-Stout’s athletics director from 1969-71.

Sparger  served as Athletic Director for two years before leaving to become Commissioner of Athletics for the nine-team Wisconsin State University Conference, a position he held for 22 years (1971-93).

Sparger was inducted into the UW-Stout Hall of Fame in 1980 and the NAIA District 14 Hall of Fame in 1985. The WIAC Men’s Scholar-Athlete Award is named in his honor. The UW-Stout football press box facility at Don & Nona Williams Stadium is named in his honor.

A football and wrestling student-athlete, Sparger earned a bachelor’s degree from Dubuque University (Iowa) and master’s degree in education from Macalester College (Minn.). He passed away in September 1993. Sparger was a native of Wichita Falls, Texas.

Sparger was inducted into the WIAC Hall of Fame in 2012, the first year of the Hall's existence.