John Edward "Jack" Clarke (14 July 1933 – 3 December 2001) was an Australian rules footballer and coach in the VFL.

Clarke was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and was named as the centreman of the Essendon Team of the Century in 1997.

Clarke was a talented centreman who debuted on his eighteenth birthday in 1951 and played 263 games for the Essendon Football Club from 1951 to 1967, kicking 180 goals.

Clarke played in strong Essendon teams that featured legends such as Hutchison, John Coleman, John Birt, Barry Davis, Hugh Mitchell and Ken Fraser, but Clarke was never overlooked by opposition coaches and regularly polled well in the Essendon Best and Fairest award, winning the award in 1958 and 1962.

[3] He took over from John Coleman as Essendon coach in 1968, taking the team to the Grand Final, which they narrowly lost to Carlton.