Don Clark of Siloam Springs remembered the feeling football gave him leading up to game day.
He described it like a buzz that would build. It would start to increase as game day progressed and up until the team hit the field. It was an intense emotion he brought to the field every game since he started playing football in the third grade.
"Everybody can't play football," Clark said. "It's not a contact sport. It's a collision sport. It takes full commitment. Football is a sport of passion and intensity."
While Clark hasn't stepped onto the field as a football player since college, he's refocused the emotion into coaching Boys & Girls Club youth football. And after football season ends, he coaches youth wrestling and baseball teams. He spends a lot of his free time as a volunteer coach.
"It's never been about me," Clark said. "It's always been about the kids."
While he likes baseball and wrestling, Clark said football is his passion.
Clark grew up in Mineral Springs, a small town in southwest Arkansas.
He played fullback and linebacker on the football field.
"I was a weight-room beast," he said. "I walked on at the University of Arkansas."
Clark, community services director for the city, moved to Siloam Springs in 2003.
"Siloam has become my home," he said.
Clark has four children, and he said his wife, Lanelle, "keeps me humble. She's always been good for me."
He said he loves working for the city, being near and going to eat lunch with his children.
Volunteer coaching has meant sacrificing family time. Weeknights have become practice nights and weekends, game days.
"We put a lot of time in this away from my family," he said. Sometimes, he's offered tickets to University of Arkansas football games, but he has to decline because he has a youth game to be at. He used to be a hunter, but he had to eliminate that. "My hobby has been youth sports."
He started coaching for the children, he said. It's given them something to be a part of, and they know "coach Don" because of it.
When he sees them out of the game they might say, "'Hi.' They feel important and feel like they've been a part of something."
He has enjoyed seeing young players who have grown up to excel in the game or in life. "When they become productive citizens, that's my trophy," Clark said.
He's sought players with a strong work ethic -- the ones who show up to practice consistently and work hard. "That's why I don't look for the stud. Hard work would beat that any day of the week." He expects effort, not perfection.
But if they make a mistake, he's made sure his players know what they did wrong. "Accountability is going to help them get better," he said. Players who can take constructive criticism will be a lot better in the workforce.
"I like baseball, but I love football," he said.
Clark's family has a long history of playing baseball. He started playing baseball when he was in the second grade. His grandfather played Negro League baseball, and his father played in an adult men's league.
"He went to an all black school and didn't have enough money for football," Clark said of his father.
Clark hopes to develop a football culture here by starting at the youth level. "You have to build camaraderie at a young age."
Nothing excites him much more than seeing a group of young players on a football field practicing without a coach there.
Starting team captains in junior high school and high school were once youth league football players. Teaching them the fundamentals in youth football gives them an edge.
Clark said he teaches high school rules and brings on high school players to help coach.
"I can't tell you my win-loss record because I haven't kept up with it," Clark said.
He has been a wrestling coach since his son was 6. He's been taking his son to Fayetteville to participate in the sport. After the second meet, he was asked if he could help out.
He learned the game along the way and by watching others.
"My son won state that season," he said.
Clark said he would like to see it played in schools here. Recently, he started practicing at a gym in Siloam Springs. The small gym has been packed with 25 children.
Clark has been a wrestling coach for three years, a football coach for 10 years and baseball coach seven years.
"This is my way of community involvement," he said.
General News on 06/24/2015