Stuart Lenox Clarkson (July 4, 1919 – October 26, 1957) was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

for the

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 ...

from 1942–51. He was the last pick in the

1942 NFL Draft The 1942 National Football League Draft was held on December 22, 1941, at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago. Two members of the draft class have been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Bill Dudley, the first overall selection by the Pit ...

. Clarkson was a two-time Little All-American at

Texas A&I University Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

(now Texas A&M-Kingsville), 1938 and 1939.Chicago Daily Tribune (October 27, 1957). "Stu Clarkson, Former Bear, Dies in Texas". ''Chicago Daily Tribune'', p. A-2. He was posthumously named to the Texas A&M-Kingsville Football Hall of Fame, 1972, and was named to the Texas A&M-Kingsville Football Team of Century in 2000. As a member of the 1946 World Champion Chicago Bears, he received an equal players share of $1,975.82. Following his tenure with the Chicago Bears, Clarkson was line coach and player for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

from 1952 to 1953. From 1943–45, Clarkson served with the United States Army in England, France and Germany. On June 6, 1944, Clarkson was part of the American forces landing at

Utah Beach Utah, commonly known as Utah Beach, was the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on June 6, 1944 (D-Day), during World War II. The westernmost of the five code-named la ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

.Pro Football Hall of Fame WWII Honor Roll
accessed May 25, 2017. On October 26, 1957, while coaching during a game for the Sugar Land (Texas) High School football team, Clarkson suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and died on the side of the field. Sugar Land went on to beat Hitchcock High, 25–0. Clarkson had 2 sons.

References

External links

* 1919 births 1957 deaths Chicago Bears players Players of American football from Texas Sportspeople from Corpus Christi, Texas Texas A&M–Kingsville Javelinas football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players United States Army personnel of World War II {{linebacker-1910s-stub