Hall of Fame
Clark, a native of Pontiac, Michigan and graduate of Royal Oak Kimball HS, lettered four seasons (1966-69) in baseball as a second baseman for the Tartars. During his WSU career Clark set or tied five season and ten career records, and he was the team's first-ever Most Valuable Player. At Royal Oak Kimball HS Clark earned Michigan All-State Honorable Mention honors playing for one of the premiere prep baseball schools in the state. But he was not recruited during his senior season, so he decided to attend Wayne State and play baseball as a walk-on. Clark spent his first winter at WSU under the tutelage of Dr. Leon Lande, who was then the Tartars' head baseball coach. Clark credits Lande, a premiere batting instructor and theorist who has worked with several professional players, including Dick McAuliffe, with improving his hitting. Clark's career WSU batting average was .320, which placed him 12th on the all-time list after the 1969 season. In his freshman season, Clark finished with a .403 average, which was the best-ever by a WSU freshman. Clark finished ranked 43rd in the NCAA College Division in batting that season. He hit safely in Wayne State's last 12 games, and batted .440 over that stretch. The Tartars finished tied for second in the Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) in 1966, in their last season as members of the PAC. During the remainder of Clark's career the Tartars played as an independent. Clark set five WSU single-season records, setting at least one per season. Besides his .403 freshman batting average, he also had a record 40 total bases in 1966. As a sophomore Clark had a record four triples. Despite missing the final three games of the 1967 season with a knee injury, Clark led the squad in batting with a .379 average. In his junior year Clark played in 28 games, and as a senior his 21 stolen bases were a new season standard. His 10 career records were for games played (89), innings played (701), at-bats (297), hits (95), runs (61), RBI (57), doubles (15), triples (15), home runs (6) and total bases (144). Clark was ejected by his teammates as co-captain of the 1968 and 1969 squads, and he was the only Tartar to play every inning in both seasons. After conclusion of the 1969 season Clark was named the team's first-ever Most Valuable Player. Clark was also named to the 1969 edition of Outstanding College Athletes of America. In the summers of 1969 and 1970 Clark played with the Inland Tool Manufacturing (ITM) baseball team. ITM's coach at that time, Larry Weis, is now Wayne State's head men's cross country coach. After graduating with a B.S. in Business Administration from Wayne State in 1970, Clark moved to Florida in February 1971, in an attempt to earn a professional baseball contract. Despite several tryouts that year, a contract never materialized, and Clark then entered private business. Since 1977 Clark has owned and operated his own business in southern Florida, Eastern Electric, which installs electrical wiring in residential homes. A resident of Wellington, Florida, Clark is the father of three daughters, Kim, Jennifer and Erin.
