George Clark (American football coach)

{{Infobox college coach

| name = George Clark

| image = George "Potsy" Clark.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Clark from 1946 Cornhusker

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|3|20}}

| birth_place = Carthage, Illinois, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|11|8|1894|3|20}}

| death_place = La Jolla, California, U.S.

| alma_mater =

| player_sport1 = Football

| player_years2 = 1914–1915

| player_team2 = Illinois

| player_sport3 = Baseball

| player_years4 = 1915–1916

| player_team4 = Illinois

| player_positions = Quarterback (football)

| coach_sport1 = Football

| coach_years2 = 1916

| coach_team2 = Kansas (assistant)

| coach_years3 = 1919

| coach_team3 = Illinois (assistant)

| coach_years4 = 1920

| coach_team4 = Michigan Agricultural

| coach_years5 = 1921–1925

| coach_team5 = Kansas

| coach_years6 = 1926

| coach_team6 = Minnesota (associate HC)

| coach_years7 = 1927–1929

| coach_team7 = Butler

| coach_years8 = 1931–1936

| coach_team8 = Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions

| coach_years9 = 1937–1938

| coach_team9 = Brooklyn Dodgers

| coach_years10 = 1940

| coach_team10 = Detroit Lions

| coach_years11 = 1945

| coach_team11 = Nebraska

| coach_years12 = 1948

| coach_team12 = Nebraska

| coach_sport13 = Baseball

| coach_years14 = 1920

| coach_team14 = Illinois

| coach_years15 = 1921

| coach_team15 = Michigan Agricultural

| coach_years16 = 1922–1925

| coach_team16 = Kansas

| coach_years17 = 1927

| coach_team17 = Minnesota

| coach_years18 = 1928

| coach_team18 = Butler

| admin_years1 = 1927–1930

| admin_team1 = Butler

| admin_years2 = 1948–1953

| admin_team2 = Nebraska

| overall_record = 40–45–7 (college football)
64–42–12 (NFL)
71–55–3 (college baseball)

| bowl_record =

| tournament_record =

| championships = Football
1 NVC (1923)

| awards =

Third-team All-American (1914)
First-team All-Western (1914)

| coaching_records =

}}

George M. "Potsy" Clark (March 20, 1894 – November 8, 1972) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University, (1920), the University of Kansas (1921–1925), Butler University (1927–1929), and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1945, 1948), compiling a career college football record of 40–45–7. Clark was also the head coach of the National Football League's Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions (1931–1936, 1940) and Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1938), amassing a career NFL mark of 64–42–12.{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ClarPo0.htm|title=Potsy Clark Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks – Pro-Football-Reference.com|website=Pro-Football-Reference|access-date=December 21, 2020}} Clark's 1935 Detroit Lions team won the NFL Championship. From 1945 to 1953, Clark served as the athletic director at Nebraska.{{cite news |title=Potsy Clark Dead, Lions' First Coach |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Associated Press |date=November 10, 1972 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10910F63A591A7493C2A8178AD95F468785F9 |access-date=July 7, 2010 }}

File:111-SC-153740 89th Division football team wins championship match from St. Nazaire team, final score 13-0. Parc des Princes, Auteuil, Paris, Seine, France (cropped).jpg

As a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, Clark was a member of the U.S. Army's 89th Division's football team that won the AEF championship in March 1919.{{cite book |title=The Withington Story|last=Withington |first=Henry Restarick |year=1989 |publisher=Self-published |location=Phoenix, AZ |accessdate=December 19, 2023 |url=https://archive.org/details/withingtonstoryh00with}} In a team with many college football stars, Charles Gerhardt played quarterback and Clark played left halfback under the direction of right guard, team captain and coach Paul Withington.{{cite news |url=https://www.theworldwar.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/wwi-kansas-history-football.pdf |title=Kansas Football "Over There" |first=Doran L. |last=Cart |date=Autumn 2006 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=194–199 |magazine=Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains |access-date=August 7, 2024}}

Head coaching record

=College football=

{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Michigan Agricultural Aggies

| conf = Independent

| startyear = 1920

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1920

| name = Michigan Agricultural

| overall = 4–6

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Michigan Agricultural

| overall = 4–6

| confrecord =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Kansas Jayhawks

| conf = Missouri Valley Conference

| startyear = 1921

| endyear = 1925

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1921

| name = Kansas

| overall = 4–3

| conference = 3–3

| confstanding = 5th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1922

| name = Kansas

| overall = 3–4–1

| conference = 1–3–1

| confstanding = 6th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship = conference

| year = 1923

| name = Kansas

| overall = 5–0–3

| conference = 3–0–3

| confstanding = T–1st

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1924

| name = Kansas

| overall = 2–5–1

| conference = 2–4–1

| confstanding = 7th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1925

| name = Kansas

| overall = 2–5–1

| conference = 2–5–1

| confstanding = 8th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Kansas

| overall = 16–17–6

| confrecord = 11–15–6

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Butler Bulldogs

| conf = Independent

| startyear = 1927

| endyear = 1929

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1927

| name = Butler

| overall = 4–3–1

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1928

| name = Butler

| overall = 6–2

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1929

| name = Butler

| overall = 4–4

| conference =

| confstanding =

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Butler

| overall = 14–9–1

| confrecord =

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Nebraska Cornhuskers

| conf = Big Six Conference

| startyear = 1945

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1945

| name = Nebraska

| overall = 4–5

| conference = 2–3

| confstanding = 4th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead

| name = Nebraska Cornhuskers

| conf = Big Seven Conference

| startyear = 1948

| endyear = single

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Entry

| championship =

| year = 1948

| name = Nebraska

| overall = 2–8

| conference = 2–4

| confstanding = T–5th

| bowlname =

| bowloutcome =

| bcsbowl =

| ranking = no

| ranking2 = no

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal

| name = Nebraska

| overall = 6–13

| confrecord = 4–7

}}

{{CFB Yearly Record End

| overall = 40–45–7

| bowls = no

| poll = no

| polltype =

}}

=NFL=

rowspan="2"\|Team	rowspan="2"\|Year	colspan="5"\|Regular season	colspan="4"\|Postseason
class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
PRT\|\|1931 \|\|11\|\|3\|\|0\|\| .786 \|\|2nd in NFL\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
style="background:#fdd;" !PRT	1932	6	2	2	.750	3rd in NFL	0	1	.000	Lost Playoff Game to Chicago Bears
PRT\|\|1933 \|\|6\|\|5\|\|0\|\| .545 \|\|2nd in NFL Western\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
DET\|\|1934 \|\|10\|\|3\|\|0\|\| .769 \|\|2nd in NFL Western\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
style="background:#FDE910;" !DET\|\|1935 \|\|7\|\|3\|\|2\|\| .769 \|\|1st in NFL Western\|\| 1 \|\| 0 \|\| 1.000 \|\| Won NFL Championship over New York Giants
DET\|\|1936 \|\|8\|\|4\|\|0\|\| .667 \|\|3rd in NFL Western\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
BKK\|\|1937 \|\|3\|\|7\|\|1\|\| .300 \|\|4th in NFL Eastern\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
BKK\|\|1937 \|\|4\|\|4\|\|3\|\| .500 \|\|3rd in NFL Eastern\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
BKK\|\|1939 \|\|4\|\|6\|\|1\|\| .400 \|\|3rd in NFL Eastern\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
colspan="2"\|BKK Total\|\|11\|\|17\|\|5\|\|.393\|\|\|


\|
DET\|\|1940 \|\|5\|\|5\|\|1\|\| .500 \|\|3rd in NFL Western\|\| - \|\| - \|\| - \|\| -
colspan="2"\|PRT/DET Total\|\|53\|\|25\|\|7\|\|.679\|\|\|\|1\|\|0\|\|1.000\|\|
colspan="2"\|Total\|\|64\|\|42\|\|12\|\|.604\|\|\|\|1\|\|0\|\|1.000\|\|