Thomas Clarke (21 November 1906 – 24 July 1981) was an

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

footballer who played 103 games for

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1927 to 1934, and 105 games for Brunswick in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1935 to 1940. "A fine wingman whose only significant weakness was a slight lack of leg speed, a deficiency he helped overcome with excellent anticipation and smooth ball handling", Tom Clarke won Essendon's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

in 1931. He finished his career in the VFA with Brunswick. He was the ground curator at the Essendon Cricket Ground (Windy Hill), an Essendon Football Club Committee member from 1944 to 1961, and its Vice-President from 1962 to 1973.Mapleston (1996), p.420. His older son, Jack Clarke, an architect, who played 263 games with Essendon, was also captain of Essendon from 1958 to 1964, and its coach from 1967 to 1970. His younger son,

Ron Clarke Ronald William Clarke, AO, MBE (21 February 1937 – 17 June 2015) was an Australian athlete, writer, and the Mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012. He was one of the best-known middle- and long-distance runners in the 1960s, notable for ...

, a champion athlete (who set seventeen world records), went on to win medals at the 1964 (Tokyo) Olympics, and at the Commonwealth Games in 1962 (Perth), 1966 (Kingston), and 1970 (Edinburgh).

Footnotes

References

* Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.

External links

*
Boyles Football Photos: Tom Clarke.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Tom 1906 births 1981 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Essendon Football Club players Crichton Medal winners Brunswick Football Club players