He won the Sandover Medal in his first two seasons in the competition, making him the first player to win the award in consecutive years.

Clarke won a premiership with Claremont in 1939, and also represented Western Australia in eight interstate games.

He missed the 1938 premiership win while undergoing training in England with the Royal Air Force (RAF), having worked his way overseas and back on a freighter.

[6] Clarke enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in July 1942, and was posted to the No.

[11] In January 1945, Clarke was the pilot of a Bristol Beaufort (serial number A9-630), with three other crew on board, which was presumed missing after failing to return from an anti-submarine sweep, his first active mission, near Tadji in the Territory of New Guinea.