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It's long overdue, but the best coach in California Golden Bears history has received his place in the Cal Athletics Hall of Fame. Congrats to Cal rugby coach Jack Clark for being bestowed with the honor just days after capturing another national title!
Jack Clark, a football and rugby player for the Golden Bears from 1976-78 who has won 26 combined national collegiate championships since becoming head rugby coach for the Golden Bears in 1984, will be inducted into the University of California Athletic Hall of Fame this autumn.
Induction ceremonies take place November 4 at the annual Hall of Fame banquet and will be followed by halftime recognition for the new Hall of Fame class during halftime of Cal's Nov. 5 football game vs. Washington.
"I am so appreciative," said coach Clark, whose unparalleled and still very active career precipitated a change in bylaws by the Hall of Fame to ease what had been a significant required gap between the end of a coaching career and eligibility for induction. "It is such a great honor to be inducted into this old, proud university's Hall of Fame."
In his 33rd year as head coach, Clark has led the Cal rugby program to 23 national collegiate titles in the 15-a-side game, most recently beating previously undefeated BYU to win the 2016 Penn Mutual Varsity Cup national championship, in addition to three consecutive national collegiate 7s titles since 2013 at the Collegiate Rugby Championship.
Clark's Cal teams have produced this country's most accomplished student-athletes, players who have gone on to significant careers on and off the pitch, including 131 All-Americans, 36 players who have played for the U.S National Team, five who have earned Varsity Blues competing for Oxford against Cambridge as graduate students, three who have received residency contracts from the U.S. Olympic Committee and countless other graduates of the University whose "Ph.D. in team," as Clark has called it, equips them to make them important contributors to their communities and families.