He played college football for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
He was selected in the eighth round (221st overall) of the 1992 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions.
Clay, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attended Linsly High School in Wheeling, West Virginia where he earned twelve varsity letters playing football, basketball, and baseball.
While in college at Georgia Tech, he made 16 career interceptions to break the school record (formerly 14)[2] and was part of the 1990 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team that won the NCAA national championship.
Dwight Clay was nicknamed "The Iceman" and is famous for hitting the game winning jump shot that ended UCLA's NCAA all-time record 88-game winning streak on January 19, 1974.