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| No. 19, 12, 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Back | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born: | October 11, 1906 Fowler, Colorado, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Died: | August 5, 1978 (aged 71) Cañon City, Colorado, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||||
| High school: | Central (Pueblo, Colorado) | ||||||||||||||||||
| College: | Colorado College (1927–1929) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Head coaching record | |||||||||||||||||||
| Career: | NFL: 30–34–2 (.470) College: 14–22 (.389) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Record at Pro Football Reference | |||||||||||||||||||
Earl Harry "Dutch" Clark (October 11, 1906 – August 5, 1978), sometimes also known as "the Flying Dutchman" and "the Old Master", was an American football player and coach, basketball player and coach, and university athletic director. He gained his greatest acclaim as a football player and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame with its inaugural class in 1963. He was also named in 1969 to the NFL 1930s All-Decade Team and was the first player to have his jersey (No. 7) retired by the Detroit Lions.
Born in Colorado, Clark attended Colorado College where he played football, basketball, and baseball, and also competed in track and field. During the 1928 football season, he rushed for 1,349 yards, scored 103 points, and became the first player from Colorado to receive first-team All-American honors. After graduating in 1930, he remained at Colorado College as the head basketball coach and assistant football coach.
Clark played professionally in the National Football League (NFL) with the Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions for 7 seasons from 1931 to 1938. He was selected as the first-team All-Pro quarterback six times, was named by the United Press (UP) as the best player in the NFL in both 1935 and 1936, led the Lions to the 1935 NFL championship, and led the NFL in total offense in 1934 and scoring in 1932, 1935, and 1936. In his final two seasons with the Lions, he also served as the team's head coach. In 1940, he was selected by the Associated Press (AP) as the outstanding football player of the 1930s.
Clark was the head coach at the Colorado School of Mines (1933) and with the Cleveland Rams (NFL, 1939–1942) and Seattle Bombers (American Football League, 1944), an assistant coach with the Los Angeles Dons (All-America Football Conference, 1949) and University of Detroit Titans (1950), and head coach and athletic director for the University of Detroit (1951–1953).
- ^ "Detroit Lions Executives & Owners". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 19, 2021.
- ^ "Cleveland/LA/St. Louis Rams Executives & Owners". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Sports Reference. Retrieved September 19, 2021.