Phil Clark (born April 28, 1945) is a former professional American football

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 ...

in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys,

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Northwestern University. He was drafted with the 76th overall pick in the third round of the

1967 NFL Draft The 1967 National Football League draft was conducted March 14–15, 1967, at the Gotham Hotel in New York City. It was the first common draft with the AFL, part of the AFL–NFL merger agreement of June 1966. This draft was delayed as new gui ...

by the Dallas Cowboys.

Early years

Clark attended Taylor High School, before accepting a football scholarship from Northwestern University. He was considered the fastest man on the team and played roving linebacker as a junior. In 1966, he was named the starter at safety, intercepting 3 passes while receiving second-team All-American and Al-Big Ten honors. He also played in the

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

, the Hula Bowl and the 1967 Chicago College All-Star Game.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

The Dallas Cowboys entered the

without a first and second round draft choice, that were traded as part of the price to resolve the Ralph Neely dispute with the Houston Oilers. With their first choice, Clark was selected in the third round (76th overall). As a rookie, he started 6 games at

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

in place of an injured

Mel Renfro Melvin Lacy Renfro (born December 30, 1941) is a former American football player, a cornerback who spent his entire 14-year career in the National Football League (NFL) with the Dallas Cowboys. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Ea ...

. The next year he was a reserve player behind

Mike Johnson James Michael Johnson (born January 30, 1972) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the List of speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 56th speaker of the United States House of Representatives since October 25, 20 ...

and Renfro. In

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

, he started in 13 games at right cornerback, before being benched in favor of

Otto Brown Otto Brown (January 12, 1947 – December 5, 2006) was an American football safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants. He played college football at Prairie View A&M University. Early years Brown atte ...

. On January 27,

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, he was traded along with

Craig Baynham Gordon Craig Baynham (born July 24, 1944, in Casper, Wyoming) is a former American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was drafted in the 12th round of th ...

to the

in exchange for a second round draft choice (#27- Bob Asher).

Chicago Bears

, the

switched him to

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

, where he earned the starter position. He was released on September 9,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

New England Patriots

On September 22,

, he signed as a free agent with the

. He was released on October 7, after playing in just two games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Phil 1945 births Living people People from Cleves, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio American football defensive backs Northwestern Wildcats football players Dallas Cowboys players Chicago Bears players New England Patriots players