View source for George Clark (American football coach)

{{Short description|American football coach (1894–1972)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = George Clark
| image = George "Potsy" Clark.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Clark from 1946 ''Cornhusker''
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1894|3|20}}
| birth_place = [[Carthage, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1972|11|8|1894|3|20}}
| death_place = [[La Jolla, California]], U.S.
| alma_mater =
| player_sport1 = Football
| player_years2 = 1914–1915
| player_team2 = [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]]
| player_sport3 = Baseball
| player_years4 = 1915–1916
| player_team4 = [[Illinois Fighting Illini baseball|Illinois]]
| player_positions = [[Quarterback]] (football)
| coach_sport1 = Football
| coach_years2 = 1916
| coach_team2 = [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas]] (assistant)
| coach_years3 = 1919
| coach_team3 = [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois]] (assistant)
| coach_years4 = 1920
| coach_team4 = [[Michigan State Spartans football|Michigan Agricultural]]
| coach_years5 = 1921–1925
| coach_team5 = [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas]]
| coach_years6 = 1926
| coach_team6 = [[Minnesota Golden Gophers football|Minnesota]] (associate HC)
| coach_years7 = 1927–1929
| coach_team7 = [[Butler Bulldogs football|Butler]]
| coach_years8 = 1931–1936
| coach_team8 = [[Detroit Lions|Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions]]
| coach_years9 = 1937–1938
| coach_team9 = [[Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)|Brooklyn Dodgers]]
| coach_years10 = 1940
| coach_team10 = [[Detroit Lions]]
| coach_years11 = 1945
| coach_team11 = [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska]]
| coach_years12 = 1948
| coach_team12 = [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska]]
| coach_sport13 = Baseball
| coach_years14 = 1920
| coach_team14 = [[Illinois Fighting Illini baseball|Illinois]]
| coach_years15 = 1921
| coach_team15 = [[Michigan State Spartans baseball|Michigan Agricultural]]
| coach_years16 = 1922–1925
| coach_team16 = [[Kansas Jayhawks baseball|Kansas]]
| coach_years17 = 1927
| coach_team17 = [[Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball|Minnesota]]
| coach_years18 = 1928
| coach_team18 = [[Butler Bulldogs baseball|Butler]]
| admin_years1 = 1927–1930
| admin_team1 = [[Butler Bulldogs|Butler]]
| admin_years2 = 1948–1953
| admin_team2 = [[Nebraska Cornhuskers|Nebraska]]
| overall_record = 40–45–7 (college football)<br>64–42–12 (NFL)<br>71–55–3 (college baseball)
| bowl_record =
| tournament_record =
| championships = Football<br>1 [[Missouri Valley Conference|NVC]] (1923)
| awards =
* Third-team [[College Football All-America Team|All-American]] ([[1914 College Football All-America Team|1914]])
| coaching_records =
}}
'''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 [[Detroit Lions|Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions]] (1931–1936, 1940) and [[Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL)|Brooklyn Dodgers]] (1937–1938), amassing a career NFL mark of 64–42–12.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ClarPo0.htm|title=Potsy Clark Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks – Pro-Football-Reference.com|website=Pro-Football-Reference|access-date=December 21, 2020}}</ref> Clark's [[1935 Detroit Lions season|1935 Detroit Lions team]] won the NFL Championship. From 1945 to 1953, Clark served as the [[athletic director]] at Nebraska.<ref>{{cite news |title=Potsy Clark Dead, Lions' First Coach |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=November 10, 1972 |url=https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10910F63A591A7493C2A8178AD95F468785F9 |access-date=July 7, 2010 }}</ref>
[[File:111-SC-153740 89th Division football team wins championship match from St. Nazaire team, final score 13-0. Parc des Princes, Auteuil, Paris, Seine, France (cropped).jpg|thumb|230px|left|89th Division team, Clark at top right]]
As a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, Clark was a member of the U.S. Army's [[89th Infantry Division (United States)|89th Division]]'s football team that won the AEF championship in March 1919.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Withington Story|last=Withington |first=Henry Restarick |year=1989 |publisher=Self-published |location=Phoenix, AZ |accessdate=December 19, 2023 |url=https://archive.org/details/withingtonstoryh00with}}</ref> In a team with many college football stars, [[Charles H. Gerhardt|Charles Gerhardt]] played quarterback and Clark played left halfback under the direction of right guard, team captain and coach [[Paul Withington]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theworldwar.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/wwi-kansas-history-football.pdf |title=Kansas Football "Over There" |first=Doran L. |last=Cart |date=Autumn 2006 |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=194–199 |magazine=Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains |access-date=August 7, 2024}}</ref>
==Head coaching record==
===College football===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name      = [[Michigan State Spartans football|Michigan Agricultural Aggies]]
| conf      = Independent
| startyear = 1920
| endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1920 college football season|1920]]
| name         = [[1920 Michigan Agricultural Aggies football team|Michigan Agricultural]]
| overall      = 4–6
| conference   =
| confstanding =
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name       = Michigan Agricultural
| overall    = 4–6
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name      = [[Kansas Jayhawks football|Kansas Jayhawks]]
| conf      = [[Missouri Valley Conference]]
| startyear = 1921
| endyear   = 1925
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1921 college football season|1921]]
| name         = [[1921 Kansas Jayhawks football team|Kansas]]
| overall      = 4–3
| conference   = 3–3
| confstanding = 5th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1922 college football season|1922]]
| name         = [[1922 Kansas Jayhawks football team|Kansas]]
| overall      = 3–4–1
| conference   = 1–3–1
| confstanding = 6th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship = conference
| year         = [[1923 college football season|1923]]
| name         = [[1923 Kansas Jayhawks football team|Kansas]]
| overall      = 5–0–3
| conference   = 3–0–3
| confstanding = T–1st
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1924 college football season|1924]]
| name         = [[1924 Kansas Jayhawks football team|Kansas]]
| overall      = 2–5–1
| conference   = 2–4–1
| confstanding = 7th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1925 college football season|1925]]
| name         = [[1925 Kansas Jayhawks football team|Kansas]]
| overall      = 2–5–1
| conference   = 2–5–1
| confstanding = 8th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name       = Kansas
| overall    = 16–17–6
| confrecord = 11–15–6
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name      = [[Butler Bulldogs football|Butler Bulldogs]]
| conf      = Independent
| startyear = 1927
| endyear   = 1929
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1927 college football season|1927]]
| name         = Butler
| overall      = 4–3–1
| conference   =
| confstanding =
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1928 college football season|1928]]
| name         = Butler
| overall      = 6–2
| conference   =
| confstanding =
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1929 college football season|1929]]
| name         = Butler
| overall      = 4–4
| conference   =
| confstanding =
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name       = Butler
| overall    = 14–9–1
| confrecord =
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name      = [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska Cornhuskers]]
| conf      = [[Big Eight Conference|Big Six Conference]]
| startyear = 1945
| endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1945 college football season|1945]]
| name         = [[1945 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team|Nebraska]]
| overall      = 4–5
| conference   = 2–3
| confstanding = 4th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
| name      = [[Nebraska Cornhuskers football|Nebraska Cornhuskers]]
| conf      = [[Big Eight Conference|Big Seven Conference]]
| startyear = 1948
| endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
| championship =
| year         = [[1948 college football season|1948]]
| name         = [[1948 Nebraska Cornhuskers football team|Nebraska]]
| overall      = 2–8
| conference   = 2–4
| confstanding = T–5th
| bowlname     =
| bowloutcome  =
| bcsbowl      =
| ranking      = no
| ranking2     = no
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
| name       = Nebraska
| overall    = 6–13
| confrecord = 4–7
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
| overall  = 40–45–7
| bowls    = no
| poll     = no
| polltype =
}}
===NFL===
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"
|-
! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="5"|Regular season !! colspan="4"|Postseason
|-
!Won!!Lost!!Ties!!Win %!!Finish!! Won !! Lost !! Win % !! Result
|-
![[1931 Portsmouth Spartans season|PRT]]||[[1931 NFL season|1931]]
||11||3||0|| .786 ||2nd in NFL|| - || - || - || -
|- style="background:#fdd;"
![[1932 Portsmouth Spartans season|PRT]]||[[1932 NFL season|1932]]
||6||2||2|| .750 ||'''3rd in NFL'''|| 0 || 1 || .000 || <small>'''Lost [[1932 NFL Playoff Game|Playoff Game]] to [[1932 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]]'''</small>
|-
![[1933 Portsmouth Spartans season|PRT]]||[[1933 NFL season|1933]]
||6||5||0|| .545 ||2nd in NFL Western|| - || - || - || -
|-
![[1934 Detroit Lions season|DET]]||[[1934 NFL season|1934]]
||10||3||0|| .769 ||2nd in NFL Western|| - || - || - || -
|- ! style="background:#FDE910;"
![[1935 Detroit Lions season|DET]]||[[1935 NFL season|1935]]
||7||3||2|| .769 ||'''1st in NFL Western'''|| 1 || 0 || 1.000 || <small>'''Won [[1935 NFL Championship Game|NFL Championship]] over [[1935 New York Giants season|New York Giants]]'''</small>
|-
![[1936 Detroit Lions season|DET]]||[[1936 NFL season|1936]]
||8||4||0|| .667 ||3rd in NFL Western|| - || - || - || -
|-
![[1937 Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) season|BKK]]||[[1937 NFL season|1937]]
||3||7||1|| .300 ||4th in NFL Eastern|| - || - || - || -
|-
![[1938 Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) season|BKK]]||[[1938 NFL season|1937]]
||4||4||3|| .500 ||3rd in NFL Eastern|| - || - || - || -
|-
![[1939 Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) season|BKK]]||[[1939 NFL season|1939]]
||4||6||1|| .400 ||3rd in NFL Eastern|| - || - || - || -
|-
! colspan="2"|BKK Total||11||17||5||.393||||-||-||-||
|-
![[1940 Detroit Lions season|DET]]||[[1940 NFL season|1940]]
||5||5||1|| .500 ||3rd in NFL Western|| - || - || - || -
|-
! colspan="2"|PRT/DET Total||53||25||7||.679||||1||0||1.000||
|-
! colspan="2"|Total||64||42||12||.604||||1||0||1.000||
|-
|}
==See also==
* [[List of college football head coaches with non-consecutive tenure]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Illinois Fighting Illini quarterback navbox}}
{{Illinois Fighting Illini baseball coach navbox}}
{{Michigan State Spartans football coach navbox}}
{{Michigan State Spartans baseball coach navbox}}
{{Kansas Jayhawks football coach navbox}}
{{Kansas Jayhawks baseball coach navbox}}
{{Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball coach navbox}}
{{Butler Bulldogs athletic director navbox}}
{{Butler Bulldogs football coach navbox}}
{{Butler Bulldogs baseball coach navbox}}
{{Detroit Lions coach navbox}}
{{Brooklyn Dodgers coach navbox (NFL)}}
{{Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach navbox}}
{{Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic director navbox}}
{{1914 Illinois Fighting Illini football navbox}}
{{1935 Detroit Lions}}
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, George}}
[[Category:1894 births]]
[[Category:1972 deaths]]
[[Category:American football quarterbacks]]
[[Category:Brooklyn Dodgers (NFL) coaches]]
[[Category:Butler Bulldogs athletic directors]]
[[Category:Butler Bulldogs baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Butler Bulldogs football coaches]]
[[Category:Detroit Lions head coaches]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini baseball players]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches]]
[[Category:Illinois Fighting Illini football players]]
[[Category:Kansas Jayhawks baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Kansas Jayhawks football coaches]]
[[Category:Michigan State Spartans baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Michigan State Spartans football coaches]]
[[Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball coaches]]
[[Category:Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches]]
[[Category:Nebraska Cornhuskers athletic directors]]
[[Category:Nebraska Cornhuskers football coaches]]
[[Category:Pensacola Naval Air Station Goslings football coaches]]
[[Category:Saint Mary's Pre-Flight Air Devils football coaches]]
[[Category:People from Carthage, Illinois]]