Kenneth L. Clark (born May 14, 1978) is a former professional

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 wit ...

wide receiver. He played college football at UCF. Clark played for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansio ...

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 ma ...

for three seasons but had limited game action due to injuries.

Early life and college career

Born in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, which had a population of 339,247 in ...

, Clark grew up in

Ocala, Florida Ocala ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marion County within the northern region of Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city's population was 63,591, making it the 54th most populated city in Florida. Home t ...

and graduated from Vanguard High School in 1996. At Vanguard, Clark played football with his cousin, quarterback

Daunte Culpepper Daunte Rachard Culpepper (born January 28, 1977) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football at UCF and was selected ...

, who would go on to play professional football. Clark's older brother

Steve Rhem ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

also played professional football. At the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

, Clark played at wide receiver for the UCF Knights from 1997 to 2000, graduating with the seventh most receptions (130) and tenth most receiving yards (1,655) in program history.

Professional career

After the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

, Clark signed as an undrafted free agent with the Minnesota Vikings on April 23, 2001, again becoming a teammate of his cousin Culpepper. Clark was on the practice squad for most of the 2001 season and missed 2002 with a back injury. In February

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

, Clark was allocated to the

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

, spending the season on the practice squad. Later that year, he would play the only game in his professional career, in which he returned two kickoffs for 33 yards in a 23–13 win over 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 For ...

on September 21. Due to a back injury, Clark was released from the Vikings with an injury settlement on August 5, 2004. With his settlement, Clark reportedly receives a lifetime annual $250,000 paycheck from the NFL. Since retiring from football, Clark flipped houses in the

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

area and donated to Vanguard High School's football program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Kenny 1978 births Living people American football wide receivers Minnesota Vikings players UCF Knights football players Players of American football from Gainesville, Florida Players of American football from Ocala, Florida