Saturday, September 22, 2007
The five inductees in this year´s class are all former Skowhegan greats, and all related. There was Clayton Clark, and his son, Mike.
There was Matt Clark, the son of former Skowhegan coach Reggie Clark -- for whom the field is named -- and nephew of Clayton. Ben and Josh, Mike´s sons, rounded out the class.
That this was going to be an all-Clark family ceremony was supposed to be a secret, but there were whispers about the impending halftime show a half-hour before kickoff.
"Everyone knew that someone was getting inducted," Ben said. "No one knew that they were, I think is what happened."
You carry the name Clark onto the field for the Indians, and you carry Skowhegan football history.
Skowhegan´s home field is Reggie Clark Memorial Field, in honor of the coach whose career and life was cut much too short by illness in 1975.
"It´s been great being part of it. It started with Uncle Reggie and then these guys," said Mike, pointing to Ben and Josh, "watching them come up through, watching them play. You can´t beat it."
Even the Indians´ current Clark knows he´s part of something special.
"I´m just really proud of them, to follow in their footsteps," said Billy Clark, a junior running back.
Billy is a second cousin to Ben and Josh and fittingly, he scored on a 20-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter, shortly after the induction ceremony was complete.
There are three criteria for induction.
You must be out of school for five years, you must have made some contribution to the development of the Skowhegan football program, and you had to have had some playing ability.
All of the Clarks have the contribution part to spare, but this wasn´t just some sugar-coated, let ´em in the Hall of Fame because they´re related to Reggie. These guys could all play ball, and for Clayton, Matt and Mike, this induction probably was overdue.
Clayton, a 1957 graduate, was a captain of the football team. Mike was a member of the 1977 state championship team and was an All-Pine Tree Conference selection.
Before graduating in 1994, Matt was a team captain and an all-conference tackle. Matt closed his career with a trip to the Lobster Bowl.
Ben, all he did was throw for 1,128 yards as a senior in 1998 before going on to start at quarterback for four years at Norwich University. Josh played quarterback as a junior before finding his true calling was catching passes, not slinging them. In 2000, Josh caught 44 passes for 670 yards and five touchdowns.
Both Ben and Josh were named all-conference. Josh went on to Norwich, too, where he and Ben became one of the Cadets most successful offensive duos.
When the ceremony was over, the Skowhegan team surrounded all five Clarks. It had been awhile for each of them, but the Clarks led the team breakdown. It´s in their genes.
"There´s just something special about this. I always felt something special every time I stepped on this field and played," Ben said.
"Now to get inducted with everybody, it certainly wasn´t expected and it´s a good feeling."
Travis Lazarczyk --
861-9242
tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com