George M. "Potsy" Clark (March 20, 1894 – November 8, 1972) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University, (1920), the University of Kansas (1921–1925), Butler University (1927–1929), and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1945, 1948), compiling a career college football record of 40–45–7. Clark was also the head coach of the National Football League's Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions (1931–1936, 1940) and Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1938), amassing a career NFL mark of 64–42–12.[1] Clark's 1935 Detroit Lions team won the NFL Championship. From 1945 to 1953, Clark served as the athletic director at Nebraska.[2]
 Clark from 1946 Cornhusker | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 20, 1894 Carthage, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | November 8, 1972 (aged 78) La Jolla, California, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1914–1915 | Illinois |
| Baseball | |
| 1915–1916 | Illinois |
| Position(s) | Quarterback (football) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1916 | Kansas (assistant) |
| 1919 | Illinois (assistant) |
| 1920 | Michigan Agricultural |
| 1921–1925 | Kansas |
| 1926 | Minnesota (associate HC) |
| 1927–1929 | Butler |
| 1931–1936 | Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions |
| 1937–1938 | Brooklyn Dodgers |
| 1940 | Detroit Lions |
| 1945 | Nebraska |
| 1948 | Nebraska |
| Baseball | |
| 1920 | Illinois |
| 1921 | Michigan Agricultural |
| 1922–1925 | Kansas |
| 1927 | Minnesota |
| 1928 | Butler |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1927–1930 | Butler |
| 1948–1953 | Nebraska |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 40–45–7 (college football) 64–42–12 (NFL) 71–55–3 (college baseball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| Football 1 NVC (1923) | |
| Awards | |
| |
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As a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, Clark was a member of the U.S. Army's 89th Division's football team that won the AEF championship in March 1919.[3] In a team with many college football stars, Charles Gerhardt played quarterback and Clark played left halfback under the direction of right guard, team captain and coach Paul Withington.[4]
Head coaching record
editCollege football
edit| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan Agricultural Aggies (Independent) (1920) | |||||||||
| 1920 | Michigan Agricultural | 4–6 | |||||||
| Michigan Agricultural: | 4–6 | ||||||||
| Kansas Jayhawks (Missouri Valley Conference) (1921–1925) | |||||||||
| 1921 | Kansas | 4–3 | 3–3 | 5th | |||||
| 1922 | Kansas | 3–4–1 | 1–3–1 | 6th | |||||
| 1923 | Kansas | 5–0–3 | 3–0–3 | T–1st | |||||
| 1924 | Kansas | 2–5–1 | 2–4–1 | 7th | |||||
| 1925 | Kansas | 2–5–1 | 2–5–1 | 8th | |||||
| Kansas: | 16–17–6 | 11–15–6 | |||||||
| Butler Bulldogs (Independent) (1927–1929) | |||||||||
| 1927 | Butler | 4–3–1 | |||||||
| 1928 | Butler | 6–2 | |||||||
| 1929 | Butler | 4–4 | |||||||
| Butler: | 14–9–1 | ||||||||
| Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Six Conference) (1945) | |||||||||
| 1945 | Nebraska | 4–5 | 2–3 | 4th | |||||
| Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Seven Conference) (1948) | |||||||||
| 1948 | Nebraska | 2–8 | 2–4 | T–5th | |||||
| Nebraska: | 6–13 | 4–7 | |||||||
| Total: | 40–45–7 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
NFL
edit| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| PRT | 1931 | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 2nd in NFL | - | - | - | - |
| PRT | 1932 | 6 | 2 | 2 | .750 | 3rd in NFL | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost Playoff Game to Chicago Bears |
| PRT | 1933 | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 2nd in NFL Western | - | - | - | - |
| DET | 1934 | 10 | 3 | 0 | .769 | 2nd in NFL Western | - | - | - | - |
| DET | 1935 | 7 | 3 | 2 | .769 | 1st in NFL Western | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | Won NFL Championship over New York Giants |
| DET | 1936 | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 3rd in NFL Western | - | - | - | - |
| BKK | 1937 | 3 | 7 | 1 | .300 | 4th in NFL Eastern | - | - | - | - |
| BKK | 1937 | 4 | 4 | 3 | .500 | 3rd in NFL Eastern | - | - | - | - |
| BKK | 1939 | 4 | 6 | 1 | .400 | 3rd in NFL Eastern | - | - | - | - |
| BKK Total | 11 | 17 | 5 | .393 | - | - | - | |||
| DET | 1940 | 5 | 5 | 1 | .500 | 3rd in NFL Western | - | - | - | - |
| PRT/DET Total | 53 | 25 | 7 | .679 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
| Total | 64 | 42 | 12 | .604 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | |||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Potsy Clark Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ "Potsy Clark Dead, Lions' First Coach". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 10, 1972. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
- ^ Withington, Henry Restarick (1989). The Withington Story. Phoenix, AZ: Self-published. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
- ^ Cart, Doran L. (Autumn 2006). "Kansas Football "Over There"" (PDF). Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Vol. 29, no. 3. pp. 194–199. Retrieved August 7, 2024.