July 26, 2004
by Jim Sumner
Blue Devil Weekly
"I don't remember getting tired. I never thought about it. You were just prepared to do whatever the coaches asked you to."
If any Duke football player ever had a reason to be tired, it was George Clark. He was one of those 60-minute guys, back in the golden age of Duke football. Clark was a runner, a passer, a kicker, a kick returner and a defender, and he excelled in all of them.
George Clark grew up in Wilson, N.C., in the 1930s. Wilson High School had the legendary Leon Brogden coaching football, baseball and basketball. "I first remember seeing Coach Brogden when I was in the fifth grade," Clark recalls. "He organized softball games for the kids and pitched for both teams. I hit a home run one time, all the way across the road. I thought I was special." Brogden no doubt returned the thought when Clark reached high school and starred for all three of his teams.
A slight but speedy 5-foot-10, 168-pounder, Clark could have named his college. He looked only 75 miles or so down the road to Duke University. "I grew up during the great Wade teams, the Iron Dukes and so forth. It was an easy choice."
Clark arrived at Duke in the spring of 1944, during the middle of World War II. Like most of the male students on campus, he was enrolled in the Navy V-12 program. Eddie Cameron was football coach, as Wallace Wade was serving in the military.
From the beginning of his career, Clark demonstrated a knack for returning punts. "We were pretty aggressive on punt returns," he recalled. "I don't ever remember making a fair catch. It just wasn't an option. We were taught to catch the ball and go from there."
Against Wake Forest in 1944 Clark caught the ball on the Duke five and went 95 yards for a score. "I remember Tom Davis giving me a great block, driving his man off the field and onto the track. If I had that kind of room, I was tough to catch." The 95-yard punt return remains the Duke school record.
Duke went 5-4 in 1944, with losses to Army, Navy, and North Carolina Pre-Flight. Clark led the team with 528 yards rushing and a 19.7 punt return average. The latter also remains a school record.
One of the top college teams in the nation, Duke was awarded a Sugar Bowl bid to play Alabama. Clark had one of his best games. In the opening minutes he went 52 yards to set up his own subsequent touchdown. "It was 37-B," Clark remembered. "We would draw the defensive end inside, pull the fullback, and guard Ernie ?Bear' Knotts and I would break for the outside. If you could fool the end, the play could go a long way."
Alabama dominated in the middle portion of the game and jumped to a 19-7 lead before a Tom Davis score made it 19-13 at intermission. Duke regained the lead at 20-19 but an interception return put Alabama back on top 26-20. A Duke drive stalled on the Alabama one with only minutes left. The Crimson Tide took a safety and kicked the ball back to Duke. Clark returned the punt 22 yards to the Alabama 39. Two plays later Duke ran 37-B again. Clark took the snap from center, broke through right tackle and dragged defenders into the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown.
Alabama star Harry Gilmer completed a pass on the game's final play but Gordon Carver made the tackle at the Duke 25. The 29-26 win was Duke's first-ever bowl victory. Clark ended the contest with a game-high 123 yards rushing, on only 14 carries.
Clark, who also was a standout centerfielder for the Duke baseball team, continued as a mainstay in 1945, leading the team in rushing, scoring, passing yardage, total offense and kick returns. Against Wake Forest on Oct. 13 he put together what might be the most spectacular performance in Duke history. Clark had injured his back several weeks before and was listed as doubtful for the game. But the Duke medical staff worked a miracle and Clark was ready to go. The speedy tailback went 69 yards for a touchdown on the game's first play from scrimmage. With the score tied 6-6, Clark chased down Wake star Nick Sacrinty on a 61-yard punt return; Wake didn't score. Clark ended another threat with a pass deflection. He broke the 6-6 tie with an 11-yard touchdown run and broke a 13-13 tie with a 58-yard touchdown run.
With Duke ahead 20-19, Clark completed a 14-yard pass to John Krisza on fourth down to set up Duke's last score. Duke won 26-19 and Clark amassed a school record 214 rushing yards. The mark lasted for 44 years before being broken by Randy Cuthbert. Only Cuthbert, Robert Baldwin and Chris Douglas have surpassed that total in school history and none of them also played defense. Clark was rewarded for his sterling 1945 season by being named second-team All-America and first-team All-Southern Conference.
Clark served a tour aboard the U.S.S. Denver and came back to school for the 1946 and 1947 seasons. Wade was back as head coach and the transition was rocky. "Wade was different, quite a disciplinarian," Clark said. "He was not the kind of guy you could get close to. We had lots of guys back from the military and they had had enough of the military way of life." Duke went 4-5 and 4-3-2, a far cry from the pre-war days. Despite being bothered by the bad back, Clark led Duke in passing yardage, kickoff returns and punt returns in 1946 and was named Duke's outstanding player.
The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Clark in the second round of the 1946 draft. Only 168 pounds and still bothered by his back injury, Clark didn't accept their offer. Instead he went to New York and tried to make it in the music business. When he wasn't going to class, playing football or playing baseball, Clark sang in several student organizations at Duke. When he determined that he lacked world-class operatic talent, Clark taught school and coached in Tenafly, N.J., played one season of semipro football and earned a master's degree from Columbia in music education. He also served another tour in the Navy during the Korean War, making 11 crossings of the Atlantic Ocean.
In the early 1950s Clark moved back to North Carolina. He settled in High Point, selling insurance by day and using his music education degree at nights and weekends, as a church choir director and soloist. Clark describes music as "a real passion and the source of considerable pleasure over the years." He still lives in High Point and recently was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Clark also is a member of the Duke Sports Hall of Fame.
At one time or another George Clark led Duke in rushing, passing, total offense, scoring, kick returns and punt returns. He still places high in the Duke record books in several categories. Clark punted on occasion and was a standout defensive back. "We didn't have specialists in those days," Clark recalled. "You had your best athletes on the field as much as possible, doing as much as possible." Few in Duke history did as much as Clark.
