Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, Clark graduated from high school in 1948 and played college football at the University of Oklahoma under coach Bud Wilkinson.

[3] On the Palouse, he was near another former 1949 Sooner teammate, Dee Andros, who was in his third (and final) season as head coach of the Idaho Vandals, eight miles (13 km) to the east.

Clark's first WSU team lost both rivalry games, expectedly to Washington in the Apple Cup, but unexpectedly to Idaho 28–13 in the Battle of the Palouse, the Vandals' first win the over the Cougars in a decade.

[4] His 1965 team was nicknamed "The Cardiac Kids" for their dramatic late-game comebacks against Iowa, Minnesota, Villanova, Indiana, and Oregon State.

[15] Clark died in Katy, Texas in December 2004 at the age of 74[1] and was buried at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Wichita Falls.