|
NFL Greats
Gary Clark
by Chris Brophy
21/5/2008
 A few days before this past season’s Super Bowl was played, the latest group of players to win election to the Hall Of Fame was announced. After a long wait (many would say too long, others would say not long enough), former Redskins wide receiver Art Monk finally was confirmed as a Hall Of Famer. During the time where he had to wait and be the focal point of many a discussion on how worthy of the accolade he was, one of the talking points that was brought up against the Monk case was that his fellow Redskin wide receivers – in particular Gary Clark – were the guy(s) that made the big plays while Monk was merely a side show.
Whatever your opinion on that debate, the fact now is that Monk is a Hall Of Famer but Gary Clark is just a name in the preliminary Hall Of Fame candidates list that is quickly tossed aside. His case is certainly worth hearing though, and during the era that he played Clark was a big play receiver that always turned up in important games, his spirited play making him a Redskins fan favourite.
Born in May, 1962 in New River Valley, Virginia, Clark was the youngest of four children (three boys and a girl). His father was a school bus driver and a janitor. His mother was a teacher’s aid. He became a student at Pulaski County High School in Virginia playing football, basketball and running track. He started straight away as a wide receiver but also played safety. Whilst at High School, he was voted most likely to become a professional athlete by his follow students.
Gary received a scholarship to play football at James Madison University, an NCAA I-AA Division in Virginia. At JMU, he broke every receiving record, catching 155 passes for 2,863 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also showed ability as a return man, returning three punts for touchdowns (two in one game – from 89 and 87 yards in one game against Virginia in 1983). He earned All-American honorable mentions in both his junior and senior seasons (1982, 1983) and was the Virginia Offensive College Player of the year in 1982.
Professional football beckoned for Clark, just as his fellow students at Pulaski High had predicted, but because JMU was Division 1-AA the NFL overlooked him in their draft. Still, the United States Football League was in business at the time and the Jacksonville Bulls made him their first round selection (6th overall) in the second ever USFL draft.
His USFL career lasted barely two seasons, although he made USFL second team All-Pro in 1984. With the Bulls struggling financially, Clark was released by the team but his NFL rights had being picked up by the Washington Redskins. Now free to play in NFL, Clark turned up at the Redskins facility and impressed the coaches with his 4.38 speed despite two bad hamstrings. Having flashed ability as a return man in the past, Clark was thought off as being able to challenge for that role on the team but it was soon apparent the Redskins had something more than just a return man on their hands.
In his first NFL season, Clark caught 72 passes for 926 yards and 5 TDs. He bettered it the following year, catching 74 passes for 1,265 yards and 7 touchdowns. His big play ability was by now getting league wide notice as he was also selected for his first Pro Bowl and named All-Pro. In a Monday Night game against the team that would become World Champions that season – the New York Giants – Clark ripped off 11 receptions for 241 yards and a trip to pay dirt – a Redskins record receiving day (which was bettered in 1987 by Anthony Allen in a strike game).
Playing his best ball against the NFC East was something Clark excelled at. It’s well worth noting how tough the NFC East was back then, winning the division gave you an almost guaranteed shot at the Super Bowl, as in the eight years Clark spent as a Redskin, the Super Bowl was won by an NFC East side six times. His battles with Eagles All-Pro Cornerback Eric Allen were always great encounters to watch and I think it’s fair to say Clark came out on the winning side the majority of the time. Clark also seemed to save his best for big games or clutch moments. In 1986 against the Vikings during overtime, he took a short pass from QB Jay Schroeder, made the man covering him miss with a spin move and took the ball to the house for the winning TD. He would again haunt the Vikings in the 1987 NFC Championship Game, catching the decisive score with a 7 yard TD on a 3rd and 6 play. Clark was supposed to run a corner route on the play but had seen it was covered so improvised his pattern, finding the hole in the secondary from which QB Doug Williams picked him out. He had helped set up the score with a 45 hook up from Williams earlier in the drive.
 That would take Clark onto Super Bowl XXII against the Denver Broncos where he caught the go ahead score on a diving 27 yard catch in the left hand corner of the end zone that helped erase the Broncos 10-0 early lead, putting the Skins ahead 14-10. They would go on to blow out the Broncos 42-10. It’s fair to say that Super Bowl XXII belonged to fellow Redskins receiver Ricky Sanders that day, but Clark still made a telling contribution and is a part of (arguably) the most explosive quarter of football ever.
The 1987 season may have been Clark’s finest. Whilst the numbers don’t match up to 1986 (56 catches, 1066 yards and 7 TDs) he played in only 12 games due to the players strike of that season, and was one of only three players to post 1000 yards plus for the year (Jerry Rice and JT Smith being the others).
During his career as a Redskin, Clark and his fellow wide receiver team mates, Art Monk and Ricky Sanders became known as “The Posse”. In 1989 they became only the second NFL trio of receivers (the Chargers’ Kellen Winslow, Charlie Joiner and John Jefferson being the first in 1980) to all pass 1000 yards receiving in the same season.
Clark fell behind in the pecking order in 1988, with Doug Williams at QB, there seemed to be a preference for Ricky Sanders to get the ball more, since Williams and Sanders had formed a good relationship as members of the scout team. Still, once the QB job went to Mark Rypien in 1989, Clark again became the Skins’ most deadly big play threat through the air. In 1991, he earned his fourth Pro Bowl invite and became All-Pro for the second time as he helped the Skins crush all before them on the way to being crowned World Champions in Super Bowl XXVI. Again, when it mattered, Clark turned up his game. In the NFC Championship Game against the Lions, he sliced and diced the Lions’ secondary with several key catches including a 45 yard bomb from Rypien which in effect sealed the game. In the Super Bowl, he caught 7 balls for 114 yards and a 30 yard TD in the third quarter that responded to a mini-comeback by the Bills and helped put the third Vince Lombardi Trophy in eight years in the Redskins’ display cabinet.
Things began to slow down for Clark after that peak, much like they did for the whole Redskins team. He fell just shy of 1000 yards in 1992 and would never hit the mark again. With Joe Gibbs’s (first) retirement after the ’92 season and the advent of free agency, many of the Redskins veterans of those heady days either moved on or followed Gibbs by retiring. Clark went on to spend two years with the Phoenix/Arizona Cardinals and one final year with the Miami Dolphins before leaving the NFL. He was quoted as saying “I would have retired a Redskin if Joe Gibbs did not retire”. Whilst Clark never put up numbers for either team like he did for the Redskins, he managed to catch at least 50 balls in both his two seasons as a Cardinals, making him the first man in NFL history to catch at least 50 passes every season in his first ten NFL seasons. Only Marvin Harrison has managed to achieved this feat since. He finished his NFL career with 699 receptions, 10,856 yards, 65 touchdowns, and managed 27 100-plus yard receiving games for the Washington Redskins. At the time of his retirement, Clark was 6th all time on the NFL all-time receptions list. He is the third all-time leading receiver in Redskins history. The only two men in front of him are team mate Art Monk and his position coach, Charley Taylor. Considering both of those guys are Hall Of Famers and at one time held the all-time NFL receptions record, he’s keeping excellent company.
 Clark was Inducted Into the Redskins ‘Ring of Fame’ during the October 7th game against the Detroit Lions last season to go along with being named to the 70 Greatest Redskins list in 2002. He gave a rousing speech during his half time induction, imploring the fans to back the team to the hilt. The Redskins won the game 34-3. He was also inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame last year and was inducted into the JMU Hall Of Fame in 1994. He is the first player in school history to have their jersey retired.
With his football career over, Clark stayed in the DC/Virginia area. He has several business interests nowadays, not least a restaurant, and is often to be found in the team facility working out or attending team functions.
The way Clark played the game was what always stood out though. Despite being only 5’9″ and being 175lbs, he was regarded as one of the toughest players in the league. He consistently battled against hamstring injuries that meant he was barely able to practice at times but he would always be ready to go on game days, only missing six games in his eleven year NFL career. John Madden named him to his All-Madden team eight times and Clark was a player who would get down and block for a run play or fellow receiver down field with the same intensity that he would go after a tough catch. The tough grab was something Clark could always do well, it could be frustrating at times as he would occasionally drop a ball thrown right at his numbers but when it mattered, he always got the job down.
The best example of the ability to recover from a bad mistake was in 1991. Playing the Giants in the Meadowlands and at the time undefeated, the Skins were being given a tough time by the defending World Champions, but Clark had a great chance to end the first half positively as he broke free deep down the middle only to drop a perfect pass from Mark Rypien. He would make amends in the second half though as he scored two TDs, including the game winner on a very similar play to the drop, leaving Giants cornerback Everson Walls in his wake, and helping the team win the game 17-13.
Clark’s passion for the game and the fact he displayed it so vocally and by means of fan interaction made him a firm favourite with the Redskins faithful. Before home games at RFK he would run out of the tunnel and do a lap of the stadium, high-fiving his way round the front row. When he found the end zone, he’d always be pointing to the fans before jumping into the arms of his team mates.
Art Monk will head to the Hall Of Fame later this year. Gary Clark may well never receive that same honour, but he has a case that deserves hearing. Not that it matters too much to the majority of Redskins fans’ that saw him play. For them, Clark won games, trophies and their hearts.
Learn More about past NFL greats in our History Archive
|
