A HOUSE DIVIDED : Football: A family feud rages around Derek Sparks after Montclair Prep back takes up residence with foster parents.

Derek Sparks, the area’s top high school football player, gazes proudly at a basket overflowing with letters from some of the nation’s most famous universities--USC, Notre Dame, UCLA, Michigan. All promise the Montclair Prep running back the good life as a college football star.

But the correspondence represents more to Sparks than just the prospect of a college scholarship. It is proof that his California dream has been fulfilled and symbolizes the reason he left his small-town home in Texas two years ago.

“There’s a lot more opportunity for everything in California than there was in Texas,” he said. “As a little kid growing up on the poor side of town in Texas, coming to California was like a little kid going to Disneyland.”

Sparks has enjoyed two brilliant seasons since moving from tiny Wharton in southeastern Texas to Southern California. In 1988, he rushed for 1,394 yards at Banning High and was named the state sophomore player of the year by Cal-Hi Sports. Last year, he was The Times’ Valley Back of the Year after rushing for 1,944 yards and scoring 35 touchdowns.

Now Sparks, a 6-foot, 212-pounder, enters his senior season as one of the nation’s top prospects. “He’s not only one of the premier backs in Southern California, but he’s among the top 10 across the country,” according to Dick Lascola, who runs a recruiting service in San Diego.

No high school record in the state is safe this year, Sparks said, not even Russell White’s career rushing mark of 5,998 yards.

To set the record Sparks needs 2,661 yards, a seemingly impossible total in a 10-game season. But the Mounties expect to win the Southern Section Division X title, which would give Sparks four more cracks at it. And considering some of Montclair Prep’s opponents in the Alpha League, Sparks just might dethrone White.

“We’re not going to build yards just for Derek, but we think the record is very possible,” Montclair Prep Coach George Giannini said. “He’s a dominant threat and the way we run the ball, we think breaking the record is a realistic goal. We’d be very pleased with that.”

A slew of potential records notwithstanding, Sparks is troubled as he heads into his final season at Montclair Prep. Leland Sparks, who also moved from Wharton to California and is a wide receiver for the Mounties, has seen his cousin’s mood sour in recent months.

“There’s been stress on me too, but it’s not as bad as it has been for Derek. He’s been in the middle,” he said.

Derek Sparks might have little trouble sidestepping a linebacker or slipping past a defensive back, but, at 17, he has yet to master the moves necessary to thwart this current blitz. Caught in a battle with Jerome Sparks, his uncle and former legal guardian, Derek sought refuge last spring in Los Angeles County Juvenile Court, claiming he had been abandoned. The court assumed legal custody and Sparks is now a foster child of Steve and Susie Goldbaum, whose son John is a teammate of Sparks’ at Montclair Prep.

Jerome and June Sparks, Derek’s mother who lives in Texas, object to the arrangement and want Derek to leave the Goldbaum’s Granada Hills home and move into an apartment with Leland, a proposal neither Derek nor Leland favors. Leland lives in Chatsworth with the Cole family, whose son Greg played defensive back for the Mounties last season.

Jerome Sparks strenuously denies that he abandoned Derek and claims that Montclair Prep and its supporters have plotted to gain control of his nephew. His suspicions began in January and climaxed in May when he learned that he had lost legal guardianship of Derek to the court.

“I was like a grizzly bear that someone had come and taken his cub,” Jerome said. “I couldn’t believe they were saying I abandoned him. No way. I still say they cooked the whole thing up to get me out of the picture.”

Giannini, the Goldbaums and Derek Sparks all deny those charges. Derek said he is happy living with the Goldbaums and wants to stay there. He said he is pained his uncle and mother wish otherwise.

“I don’t know why your own people would put pressure on you when you’re trying to perform your best,” he said. “This is all killing me and hurting me. I’m busting my butt every day to do things right so I won’t have criticism coming (to) me in all these directions. It’s getting to the point where the football field is the only place I can have some peace.”

The discord started for the Sparks family last winter. Derek and Leland helped lead Montclair Prep to a 12-1 record last fall, during which time they lived in an apartment on the Van Nuys school’s campus with Eric Sparks, Jerome’s brother and a former assistant coach.

Also living in the apartment were teammates John Goldbaum and Donovan Roy. Because Montclair Prep is a licensed boarding school, the living arrangement violated no Southern Section rules. Those rules also permit Derek and Leland to retain their athletic eligibility while living with the families of their teammates.

When Derek, Leland and Eric Sparks returned from vacation in Texas, they needed new housing because Montclair Prep had torn down the apartment to make room for building expansion. Eric and Leland moved into an apartment together, but Derek asked John Goldbaum if he could stay with his family, a request the Goldbaums gladly met.

“Our sole reason for letting him stay is that he’s a great kid and he’s a great influence on my son,” said Steve Goldbaum, who owns a plumbing company in Granada Hills. “We told him he was more than welcome to stay.”

Jerome Sparks begrudgingly accepted the arrangement, as long as it was temporary. But his discomfort grew when he felt that Derek had distanced himself from his mother when she made a surprise visit to Los Angeles in January.

Derek visited her too infrequently during her two-month stay, Jerome said. When Derek rejected his mother’s offer to live with Eric, Leland and herself in their two-bedroom apartment, the mother and Jerome grew edgy.

“My decision to live with the Goldbaums and not in the apartment with them was only because of the lack of space,” Derek said. “I lived in a tiny apartment all my life. Besides, the Goldbaums are good people and were treating me well. Everything was taken care of.”

Too much so, as far as Jerome was concerned. When he gained little satisfaction after voicing his concerns to Giannini and Principal V. E. Simpson, he threatened to withdraw Derek from school.

“After I told them we were looking for a new school, they started to hate me,” he said. “That’s when they cooked up this whole thing. They got him conditioned to talk to me a certain way. Derek was being used and he didn’t know it.”

Jerome claims that his fears were confirmed when the Goldbaums became Derek’s foster parents in April.

Derek and the Goldbaums offer a different version of events. They claim Jerome lost touch with Derek for more than a month last winter, prompting Derek to suggest the idea of foster care.

“That’s when everyone blew their top and started tripping out,” Derek said about his family. “I like to went crazy over that. I felt like I was about to explode.”

Said Steve Goldbaum: “After everything was done, then I found out that his family was upset. I should have gone to his uncle first. I’m not trying to take anyone’s family away.”

Under the terms of foster care, the Goldbaums receive $460 a month from the county Children’s Services Department, which also provides health insurance. The Goldbaums are charged with Derek’s care until he is 18, when he no longer is a ward of the court. He also retains the option of appealing to the court to seek new living conditions, including a return to Jerome’s custody.

The Goldbaums have three children and own a sprawling home in a well-to-do neighborhood. Money seems an unlikely motive for housing Derek.

“I think we probably lose money on the deal,” Steve Goldbaum said.

The bottom line, as far as Montclair Prep is concerned, is respect for Derek’s wishes. Giannini claims that the school has played no role in Derek’s decision to live with the Goldbaums and would not prevent him from leaving the school.

“This is very, very sad for Derek,” he said. “All we want is what is best for him. If he wanted to go back with Jerome, we would not stand in his way. But he’s very happy living at the Goldbaums.”

Despite the objections of his family, Derek returned to Granada Hills after a monthlong vacation in Texas this summer. He talks regularly with his uncle, who keeps a cordial if not close relationship with the Goldbaums. Jerome offered his best wishes to Susie Goldbaum on Mother’s Day last spring, and when Derek and Leland returned from their summer vacation in Texas, Jerome met them at the airport.

Jerome, 38, is a former semipro baseball player who moved to California in 1976, runs a carpet cleaning business and lives in Inglewood. He rues the loss of control he had over Derek and seems torn on how to handle the situation. One minute, he talks of Montclair Prep conspiracies and what he calls the brainwashing of his nephew. The next, he professes his loyalty and concern for Derek. He threatens to seek legal help, but so far has not done so.

Despite his changing sentiments, Jerome remains steadfast on one issue: He wants to reunite Derek and Leland under one roof.

“I just want Leland and Derek back together like we started,” he said.

Derek’s mother agrees, even though many of her fears for her only son’s well-being were allayed during Derek’s visit last month.

“We had a nice time and got along just fine,” she said. “I still don’t want him to stay at the Goldbaums. I want him around some of my people.”

Leland also laments Derek’s plight, although he remains on the periphery of the situation.

“We’ve been so close for so long that if he feels bad, I feel bad for the same reason,” he said. “I’d rather not comment on what Jerome is saying. But if there’s a problem, it’ll be worked out by the family.”

Derek is not so sure. To outsiders, his future might seem assured on the football field, but Derek has doubts about making it through his senior season. Still, he has impressed members of the Montclair Prep community with his maturity and strength of character.

“He’s a high-spirited young man and a fine human being,” said Lois Cole, who houses Leland at her Chatsworth home. “He’s very dedicated and takes great pride in what he supports. There’s no stopping Derek Sparks.”

On the football field, few would dispute that claim. But living in California has proved troublesome for Derek, who expresses no regret about leaving Texas.

“You would think I would have regrets, but I don’t,” he said. “I knew it would be a challenge coming to California, but the hard part has come off the field. Everybody is always calling me to give me advice. I don’t trust anyone anymore. I don’t trust a soul. I just have to look out for myself.

“But I’m happy at Montclair Prep and living with the Goldbaums. I don’t want to let all these things distract me. I just want to get on the field and score some touchdowns.”

That has always been the easy part for Derek Sparks.