Nate Clark
{{Short description|American football player (1933–2005)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college football player
| name = Nate Clark
| image = Nate Clark.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Nate Clark, 1955
| school = Hillsdale Chargers
| pastschools =
- Hillsdale (1953–1956)
| currentnumber =
| position = Halfback
| class = Graduate
| bowlgames =
| highschool =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1933|2|28}}
| birth_place = Hawkinsville, Georgia
| death_date = {{death date and age|2005|2|5|1933|2|28}}
| death_place =
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 8
| weight_lb = 195
| highlights =
- 2× First-team Little All-American (1955, 1956)
- NCAA scoring leader (1955)
}}
Nathan Clark Jr. (February 28, 1933 – February 9, 2005) was an American football halfback who played college football at Hillsdale College from 1953 to 1956. He led Hillsdale to consecutive undefeated seasons in 1955 and 1956 and was selected as a first-team back on the Little All-America teams in both years. He also led the country in scoring with 144 points scored in 1955.
==Early years==
Clark was born in Hawkinsville, Georgia, and raised in Benton Harbor, Michigan. He overcame a speech impediment.{{cite news|title=Sports Eye-Lites|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|author=Jim Shanahan|date=October 28, 1955|page=14|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767353/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}}
He excelled in sports and appeared in every football game for Benton Harbor High School from 1949 to 1952.{{cite news|title=Sports Eye-Lites|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|date=November 29, 1952|page=8|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88772895/sports-eye-lites/|via=Newspapers.com}} He was twice selected as an all-state player.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Scores With Legislators|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|date=November 8, 1955|page=1|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767464/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}} He was also a Golden Gloves champion of Michigan.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark On His Way To 2nd State Glove Title|newspaper=The Herald-Press|date=January 30, 1953|page=11|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88773154/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}} He compiled a 42–2 record as a boxer.{{cite news|title=Podoley, Clark Still Grid Greats (part 1)|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|author=Jim Benagh|date=September 23, 1976|page=1F|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88769136/podoley-clark-still-grid-greats/|via=Newspapers.com}}
Hillsdale College
Clark enrolled at Hillsdale College in the fall of 1953. He was the scoring leader for Hillsdale in 1953 with six touchdowns and one extra point in seven games played.{{cite news|title=Chips' Miller Rushing into Little All-America Picture|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=November 10, 1953|page=|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88773528/michigan-scoring-leaders-1953/|via=Newspapers.com}} As a sophomore in 1954, he was the top scorer in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Top Scorer In MIAA|newspaper=The News-Palladium|date=November 12, 1954|page=17|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88773797/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}}
In 1955, Clark rushed for 949 yards and led all of college football with 144 points (24 touchdowns) scored in nine games played.{{cite news|title=Hillsdale great Clark dead|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|date=February 12, 2005|page=2B|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79276945/detroit-free-press/|via=Newspapers.com}} His 144 points led small college football by 36 points over the second-highest scorer.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Wins Grid Point Title|newspaper=Battle Creek Enquirer|date=December 11, 1955|page=|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88768037/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}} It was also the highest point total scored by a football player in Michigan since Willie Heston in the early 1900s.{{cite news|title=Did Nate Clark Outscore Heston?|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|date=November 15, 1955|page=II-2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767739/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}} At the end of the season, he was selected by the Associated Press as a first-team back on the 1955 Little All-America college football team.{{cite news|title=Nation's Leading Scorer Makes Little All-America|newspaper=Bergen Evening Record|date=December 1, 1955|page=43|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88736626/nations-leading-scorer-makes-little/|via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|title=Nate Clark On 'Little' All-America|newspaper=Lansing State Journal|date=December 6, 1956|page=69|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88769710/nate-clark-on-little-all-america/|via=Newspapers.com}}
The 1955 Hillsdale team was invited to play in the 1956 Tangerine Bowl, but the players unanimously decided to decline the invitation after bowl officials advised that Hillsdale's four black players (Clark included) would not be allowed to play. Clark later recalled: "I felt bad for the team because it deprived them of the opportunity to play in the bowl, but I was proud of the guys who made the decision because we couldn’t go as a team."{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Hillsdale, Part 2: The Twentieth Century|publisher=Hillsdale College|author=Jacky Eubanks|date=April 9, 2019|url=https://www.hillsdale.edu/hillsdale-blog/writers/jacquelyn-eubanks/a-brief-history-of-hillsdale-part-2-the-twentieth-century/|accessdate=November 11, 2021}}
Clark was chosen as co-captain of the 1956 Hillsdale team.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Named Hillsdale Co-Captain For '56|newspaper=The Herald-Press|date=December 14, 1955|page=|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767838/nate-clark-named-hillsdale-co-captain/|via=Newspapers.com}} With defenses focusing on Clark, his scoring declined, but the extra coverage focused on Clark opened up room for other backs, and Hillsdale coach Muddy Waters opined that Clark played "the best of his four seasons" in 1956.{{cite news|title='Decoy" Nate Clark Worth More to Hillsdale|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|author=Marshall Dann|date=November 6, 1956|page=23|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767572/decoy-nate-clark-worth-more-to/|via=Newspapers.com}} He helped lead Hillsdale to its second consecutive undefeated season and was again included on the first team of the Little All-America team.{{cite news|title=Little All-American Headed By Runners|newspaper=The Knoxville Journal|date=December 6, 1956|page=15|author=Bob Hoobing|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88740211/little-all-american-headed-by-runners/|via=Newspapers.com}}
Family and later years
Clark was married in 1956 to his high school sweetheart, Lucille Butler.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Marries|newspaper=The Holland Evening Sentinel|date=February 4, 1956|page=6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88770137/nate-clark-marries/|via=Newspapers.com}} They had four children.
In June 1957, Clark received his bachelor's degree in physical education from Hillsdale.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark And Gordon Mallett Get Hillsdale Degrees|newspaper=The Herald-Press|date=June 7, 1957|page=10|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88772447/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}} He attended camp with the Green Bay Packers, but he hurt his knee and was cut in August 1957.{{cite news|title=Coming Home|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|date=July 23, 2000|url=https://www.heraldpalladium.com/coming-home/article_87043394-a884-59f5-ac45-834dccb58440.html}}{{cite news|title=Ask Waivers On Nate Clark|newspaper=The Herald-Palladium|date=August 15, 1957|page=17|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88768356/nate-clark/|via=Newspapers.com}}
He also returned to boxing in 1957.{{cite news|title=Nate Clark Wins On KO|newspaper=The Herald Press|date=February 8, 1957|page=|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88769365/nate-clark-wins-on-ko/|via=Newspapers.com}} Clark and his family moved to Detroit in 1969, where he worked for a construction company.{{cite news|title=Podoley, Clark Still Grid Greats After 20 Years (part 2)|newspaper=Detroit Free Press|author=Jim Benagh|date=September 23, 1976|page=5F|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88768638/podoley-clark-still-grid-greats-after/|via=Newspapers.com}} He was inducted into Hillsdale's athletic hall of fame in 1998.{{cite web|title=Nate Clark '57|publisher=Hillsdale College|accessdate=November 11, 2021|url=https://www.hillsdalechargers.com/athletics/HOF/nateclark}}
Clark suffered from diabetes in his later years. He died in 2005 at age 71.
References
{{Reflist}}
Additional reading
- [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/88767646/nate-clark-piles/ Nate Clark Piles Up TDs, Steak Dinners], October 25, 1955
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Nate}}
Category:American football halfbacks
Category:Hillsdale Chargers football players