CGB HoF Sweet Sixteen: Jack Clark vs Deltha O'Neal
We keep on moving through our last round of Hall of Fame qualifying! From here on out, the winners of these polls automatically enter the CGB Hall of Fame! One of Cal's most successful head coaches goes up against an all-around football wizard on the field.
For each athlete, you can vote in the poll; it closes a week from today at midnight. After the jump, you can read the athlete profiles written up by our commenters, and discuss in the comments your memories of each athlete and which one deserves to move on. (Check out the full bracket here. To check out the original nomination thread, click here. For those who want to track the CGB Hall of Fame posts exclusively, click here or right next to the timestamp above where it says "Hall of Fame".)
Jack Clark
via 2.bp.blogspot.com
Carp has nothing but great things to say about his former coach. Here's his writeup.
Coach Clark, a Cal rugby alum himself, deserves to be up there on the list of integral people associated with Cal. He has guided Cal rugby to 19 national titles since he took over in 1981. He led Cal to an unprecedented 115 game winning streak.
Winning was not necessarily the aim. Rather, it was a by-product of excellent preparation, attention to detail, dedication, and perservearance. He teaches his players to be thoughtful, selfless, and responsible adults. Clark is quick to point out that Cal rugby is completely self-sufficient and is comprised of non-scholarship athletes who earn their keep on and off the pitch.
After all, Clark is accustomed to overcoming incredible odds:
The following month Clark attended a party at the house of an acquaintance in San Francisco and went outside to help break up an altercation. He ended up squared off against a man with a 9-mm Magnum. The assailant, who was under the influence of PCP, fired at Clark, hitting him four times. One bullet shattered his left femur, another the left fibula. At San Francisco General Hospital, heavily sedated and suffering significant nerve damage in the leg, Clark was confronted with the possibility of amputation. One night, while drifting in and out of consciousness, he awoke to a lecture on prosthetic limbs from a hospital counselor. "I called up one of my mates," Clark recalls, "and said, ‘I need you to get down here, and whatever you do, don’t let them take my leg.’"
Clark hung on, enduring a 45-day stay at the hospital and then more than a year of physical therapy. Eighteen months after the shooting he ran a 10K. "When something like that happens," he says, "you’re either going to be a victim or you’re not.""We do a lot of pullups because they’re great for grip strength" said Coach Clark. Picture this: if you’re lifting your opponents up into the air by gripping onto their shorts – be it in a scrum, a ruck, or a maul – you have to rely on your gripping, pulling and hoisting muscles.
For example, rather than his team do bench press excercises, he has them do pullups:
On top of this, Clark volunteered to coach the USMC rugby team in the offseason.To honor his efforts, the marines presented Clark with this American flag (above) that was flown over Camp Ripper in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. It is one of his proudest possessions.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Clark on Stanfurd refusing to play Cal in rugby:
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
Deltha O'Neal
O'Neal's NFL career is well known, but it might surprise some of you young ones how much of an impact he had with the Bears.
Tony Macaroni: What some may not know is that Deltha entered the program as a reserve tailback and got pushed into duty as a freshman when the other backs went down with injuries. He had a serious fumbling problem (I heard that Bobby Shaw encouraged him to carry a football around with him as he went to class). He fumbled the opening kickoff in the ‘96 Big Game, setting up the first of what seemed like 20 Stanfurd TD’s. But Holmoe eventually moved him to CB, and he was instantly a force to be reckoned with. He had eight (!) interceptions his senior year, four of which he returned for touchdowns. He was also a rediculous return man, his two return TDs accounting for Cal’s only points in the 1999 Big Game.
dballisloose: And in that 1999 Big Game, it should be noted that Stanford was trying to kick AWAY from Deltha, absurdely so to the point where they would kick all but 2 out of bounds….the 2 that he fielded (and maybe the years are making me exagerate that he only fielded the 2) he took all the way, and those of us in the stands would prepare for the kicks with our thumbs and index fingers together in a triangle, cheering "Deltha, Deltha, Deltha".I think Deltha may be the most impactful Cal player ever. Ever.
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I voted for Jack Clark
How could I not? Not only are his teams awesome year after year, the guy is dripping with “World’s Most Interesting Man” mojo.
Praise be to Tedford!
Is Rugby even a real sport? Not in the sense that rugby isn’t a sport, but in the sense that is it a varsity, scholarship sport? If so, how many other schools have varsity, scholarship rugby? I know it was just a club sport at my school…
I’m just going to throw out that Delta O’Neal is the best college football player I’ve ever seen put on a Cal uniform (and I started going to games in the early ’90’s)…
That is what makes these decisions so tough. Deltha is one of the greatest, but so is Jack Clark.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah TwistNHook!
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Easy for me since I don’t regard what’s essentially a club sport (even if it’s varsity at Cal) on the same level as Pac-10 football…
by Missing Barry on Aug 6, 2009 8:29 AM PDT up reply actions
Not even when they consistently compete against, if not beat, their professional league equivalent? When they’ve won 24 of the last 30 national championships? When they send their players to the highest levels of rugby after they graduate? Football and rugby are different animals, but rugby at Cal isn’t just a varsity club sport.
by Yes We Cannon on Aug 6, 2009 10:39 AM PDT up reply actions
“When they send their players to the highest levels of rugby after they graduate?”
How true is this? Do a lot of players go to Australia or wherever else it’s really big?
“When they’ve won 24 of the last 30 national championships?”
Well…is winning a collegiate rugby national championship really that hard or am I missing something?
I mean, let’s be honest. Rugby just isn’t an American sport. It’d be like being the best American football player in Italy (not a great analogy, but the overall point still stands). If Cal is producing some high level rugby talent compared to the rest of the world, I’ll have a higher level of respect for it (I have no idea whether they do or do not)…but otherwise, color me unimpressed relative to Pac-10 football.
by Missing Barry on Aug 6, 2009 11:11 AM PDT up reply actions
Well…is winning a collegiate rugby national championship really that hard or am I missing something?
That question is prima facie ridiculous. Winning 24 out of 30 times, in a competition that involves 30+ teams, would be impressive in pretty much any sport or activity.
I can’t say I agree that it’s a ridiculous question. I think it’s a valid question – there’s one collegiate powerhouse that recruits for rugby that anyone in the country actually interested in rugby will probably want to play for. Then there’s only a handful of other schools in the country that even have varsity rugby, for 95+% of schools it’s a club sport. If you want to throw out your opinion (and reasons why) you think it’s still very impressive, go ahead, that’s why I’m asking the question, I just think it’s worthy of more than being shot down on the spot.
by Missing Barry on Aug 6, 2009 12:05 PM PDT up reply actions
It is a valid point that Cal’s biggest rugby title competition doesn’t even come from inside the country (it’s usually UBC bringing the heat).
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How true is this? Do a lot of players go to Australia or wherever else it’s really big?
I don’t know about Australia, but a ton of them play for the US National Team. Granted, the US isn’t as good as South Africa or England but we’re not chopped liver either. The US can typically hold its own.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
…you sure about that? I spent a semester in Australia, and as far as I figured out, they aren’t even aware we have a rugby team…
by Missing Barry on Aug 6, 2009 6:50 PM PDT up reply actions
The Eagles are currently ranked 18th in the world out of the 95 test playing rugby nations. Although the USA went winless in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, its strong performances against the World’s powerhouses – England and South Africa – has really expanded its fan base and built some much needed momentum. CEO Nigel Melville recently hired Eddie O’Sullivan as the new head coach to bring the Eagles through the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS
You make a very impassioned plea for Deltha (or more specifically against Jack Clark), but you appear to be in the minority.
But I think we are going to do 1 final Wild Card post after this is all over wherein we will put some of the most popular playres who couldn’t make it in and you can vote 2 in. So, maybe Deltha will make it in then.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah TwistNHook!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com
I dunno, I think he might have to wait a year. KJ’s gotta be one of them, and I’m sure there are more tough votes coming up.
by Missing Barry on Aug 6, 2009 8:45 PM PDT up reply actions
There will definitely be some tough votes. I think we are going to try to get Joe Roth in there, so he’s a definite. And I get the feeling that the loser of Natalie Coughlin v. Zack Follett could get in. KJ might not even get in! It’s gonna be intense!
Supreme Leader Ayatollah TwistNHook!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com






















