By Pat Turner-clickitsa.com
Contributing Writer

During their high school football careers in the 1980s, Clark players often said they hailed from Clark, Texas.

The school was located slightly out of the San Antonio city limits. In addition, there weren’t many businesses around that area, especially off De Zavala Road where the school was located.

Mostly, it was the overall atmosphere that gave Clark that feeling of living in a small community.

Things have changed drastically since that period. The city limit sign has expanded past De Zavala and businesses have cropped up like wildfire. Even though the area has a different look, former players Jeff Shore, Tim Brown and Dr. Mitch Finnie still refer to the area as Clark, Texas.

The trio, along with several other Clark exes, has made sure the homey feeling stays intact by forming the Clark, Texas Football Club.

The nonprofit organization promotes camaraderie and keeps in touch with former players, coaches and fans of the program. During the season, they give out Big Hit awards and even show up at practice to announce the winners.

They sponsor the Cougars’ lift-a-thon each year and have a golf tournament as a fundraiser. Overall, their main objective is presenting a college scholarship to a Clark player in financial need.

This past spring, the group presented its sixth scholarship and will be looking to deliver another this school year as well.

The majority of the club members were on playoff teams regularly, but the overall motivation came from what they learned form their coaches about life in general.

“We felt so fortunate to have coaches who were great role models and did so much for us,” Shore said.

“There was a certain code of conduct you were supposed to follow. The coaching staff expected a lot from us as players and citizens. From the first day you walked into the field house, the expectations were set. We had Mike Robbins, Lloyd Alexander (current Clark head coach), Danny Padron (O’Connor coach) and Mark Reeve (Cuero coach). We felt fortunate to have role models like that.”

Former players credit Robbins for naming the area Clark, Texas. “We had planned a get-together when Coach Robbins retired in 2002,” Shore said.

“We were expecting maybe a few players and coaches just to say thanks and get caught up on things. By the time it was over, we had 250 former players, parents and coaches coming. We also had coaches from other teams and even a football official show up. It was a neat sendoff.

“We had so much fun, we didn’t want it to die. We came up with this club.”

Now, the group is going strong. Although the scholarship is the top priority, giving the Big Hit Award enables club members to stay involved in the program on a weekly basis.

Each game, different former players keep tabs on who will come up with the highlights. It could be a big hit or even a big play that turns the game around

This year, there have been plenty of big hits and key plays as the 13-1 Cougars won their first Region IV championship this past weekend with a 24-21 win over Austin Westlake.

Now, the Cougars are heading to the Class 5A Division I semifinals against Fort Bend Hightower at 4 p.m. Saturday at DKR Memorial Stadium in Austin.

“We have different players judging the big play, because we want the kids to see we all have an interest in what is going here and we are members of the community,” said Shore, who went to West Point after Clark and was a captain in the Army.

“We come from all walks of life. We have doctors, coaches, lawyers in the group.

“I think it is important for them to see members of the community. One of these days they are going to become a member of the community and we want them to become a good one.”