Al Clark (February 29, 1948 – June 4, 2004) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played six seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) with the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, and the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Early life

Clark was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana and attended Greenville Park High School in

Hammond Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in South ...

. He enrolled and played college football at Grambling State University before transferring to

Northern Arizona University Northern Arizona University (NAU) is a public research university based in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was founded in 1899 as the final public university established in the Arizona Territory, 13 years before Arizona was admitted as the 48th state. ...

and lastly Eastern Michigan University.

Professional career

Clark was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round of the

1971 NFL Draft The 1971 National Football League draft was held January 28–29, 1971, at the Belmont Plaza Hotel in New York City, New York. The Boston Patriots, who did not officially change their name to New England Patriots until after the draft, used th ...

, 72nd overall. After one year with the Lions as a cornerback and kick returner, Clark signed with the Rams, where he stayed for four years. His final year was with the Eagles in 1976. On December 10, 1972, Clark was on the field when St. Louis Cardinals' quarterback Jim Hart completed a pass to

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

(later known as Ahmad Rashad), who caught the ball on the run near his own 40-yard line. After

Gene Howard Gene Howard (born December 22, 1946) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the seventh round of the 1968 NFL Draft. He played college football at Langston Uni ...

Jim Nettles James William Nettles (born March 2, 1947) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or part of six seasons in Major League Baseball, between 1970 and 1981, for the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Roya ...

, Marlin McKeever, and Dave Elmendorf missed tackles, Clark brought down Moore on the Rams' one-yard line, making it the longest non-scoring pass play in National Football League history. Clark was a stellar special teams players for the Rams, making many big plays with blocked kicks and speed on the defensive side of the ball in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Made Rams jersey #44 a threat on the field and bolstered the Rams special teams and defense.

Later life

Clark died June 4, 2004, of undisclosed causes.

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
2004 deaths 1948 births Players of American football from Louisiana American football defensive backs African-American players of American football Grambling State Tigers football players Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football players Eastern Michigan Eagles football players Detroit Lions players Los Angeles Rams players Philadelphia Eagles players People from Bogalusa, Louisiana 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people {{defensiveback-1940s-stub