George Clark (American football coach)

(Redirected from Potsy Clark) American football coach (1894–1972)

George Clark
Biographical details
Clark from 1946 Cornhusker
Born	(1894-03-20)March 20, 1894 Carthage, Illinois, U.S.
Died	November 8, 1972(1972-11-08) (aged 78) La Jolla, California, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1914–1915	Illinois
Baseball
1915–1916	Illinois

Position(s)	Quarterback (football)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1916	Kansas (assistant)
1919	Illinois (assistant)
1920	Michigan Agricultural
1921–1925	Kansas
1926	Minnesota (associate HC)
1927–1929	Butler
1931–1936	Portsmouth Spartans / Detroit Lions
1937–1938	Brooklyn Dodgers
1940	Detroit Lions
1945	Nebraska
1948	Nebraska
Baseball
1920	Illinois
1921	Michigan Agricultural
1922–1925	Kansas
1927	Minnesota
1928	Butler

Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1927–1930	Butler
1948–1953	Nebraska

Head coaching record
Overall	40–45–7 (college football) 64–42–12 (NFL) 71–55–3 (college baseball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 1 NVC (1923)
Awards
Third-team All-American (1914)

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 Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions (1931–1936, 1940) and Brooklyn Dodgers (1937–1938), amassing a career NFL mark of 64–42–12. Clark's 1935 Detroit Lions team won the NFL Championship. From 1945 to 1953, Clark served as the athletic director at Nebraska.

As a member of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) during World War I, Clark was a member of the U.S. Army's 89th Division's football team that won the AEF championship in March 1919. In a team with many college football stars, Charles Gerhardt played quarterback and Clark played left halfback under the direction of right guard, team captain and coach Paul Withington.

Head coaching record

College football


Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing
Michigan Agricultural Aggies (Independent) (1920)
1920	Michigan Agricultural	4–6
Michigan Agricultural:		4–6
Kansas Jayhawks (Missouri Valley Conference) (1921–1925)
1921	Kansas	4–3	3–3	5th
1922	Kansas	3–4–1	1–3–1	6th
1923	Kansas	5–0–3	3–0–3	T–1st
1924	Kansas	2–5–1	2–4–1	7th
1925	Kansas	2–5–1	2–5–1	8th
Kansas:		16–17–6	11–15–6
Butler Bulldogs (Independent) (1927–1929)
1927	Butler	4–3–1
1928	Butler	6–2
1929	Butler	4–4
Butler:		14–9–1
Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Six Conference) (1945)
1945	Nebraska	4–5	2–3	4th
Nebraska Cornhuskers (Big Seven Conference) (1948)
1948	Nebraska	2–8	2–4	T–5th
Nebraska:		6–13	4–7
Total:		40–45–7
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

NFL

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
Team	Year	Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
PRT	1931	11	3	0	.786	2nd in NFL	-	-	-	-
PRT	1932	6	2	2	.750	3rd in NFL	0	1	.000	Lost Playoff Game to Chicago Bears
PRT	1933	6	5	0	.545	2nd in NFL Western	-	-	-	-
DET	1934	10	3	0	.769	2nd in NFL Western	-	-	-	-
DET	1935	7	3	2	.769	1st in NFL Western	1	0	1.000	Won NFL Championship over New York Giants
DET	1936	8	4	0	.667	3rd in NFL Western	-	-	-	-
BKK	1937	3	7	1	.300	4th in NFL Eastern	-	-	-	-
BKK	1937	4	4	3	.500	3rd in NFL Eastern	-	-	-	-
BKK	1939	4	6	1	.400	3rd in NFL Eastern	-	-	-	-
BKK Total		11	17	5	.393		-	-	-
DET	1940	5	5	1	.500	3rd in NFL Western	-	-	-	-
PRT/DET Total		53	25	7	.679		1	0	1.000
Total		64	42	12	.604		1	0	1.000

References

"Potsy Clark Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks – Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
"Potsy Clark Dead, Lions' First Coach". The New York Times. Associated Press. November 10, 1972. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
Withington, Henry Restarick (1989). The Withington Story. Phoenix, AZ: Self-published. Retrieved December 19, 2023.
Cart, Doran L. (Autumn 2006). "Kansas Football "Over There"" (PDF). Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains. Vol. 29, no. 3. pp. 194–199. Retrieved August 7, 2024.

Links to related articles

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Fred Muhl (1903)
Clark (1914–15)
Macomber (1916)
Sid Nichols (1917)
Fletcher (1918–20)
Sternaman (1921)
Beynon (1932–34)
Moss (1946–47)
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George (1988–89)
Verduzco (1990–92)
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Beutjer (2002–04)
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I. Williams (2020)
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v t e Illinois Fighting Illini head baseball coaches
No coach (1879–1881) No team (1882) No coach (1883–1891) Edward K. Hall (1892–1894) No coach (1895) George Huff (1896–1919) George Clark (1920) Carl Lundgren (1921–1934) Wally Roettger (1935–1951) Lee Eilbracht (1952–1978) Tom Dedin (1979–1987) Augie Garrido (1988–1990) Itch Jones (1991–2005) Dan Hartleb (2006– )

Michigan State Spartans head football coaches

Henry Keep (1897–1898)
Charles Bemies (1899–1900)
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Chester Brewer (1917)
George Gauthier (1918)
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Muddy Waters (1980–1982)
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Nick Saban (1995–1999)
Bobby Williams (1999–2002)
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# denotes interim head coach

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George Denman (1902–1903)
Chester Brewer (1904–1910)
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Unknown (1898)
No team (1899–1900)
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Detroit Lions head coaches

Formerly the Portsmouth Spartans (1930–1933)

Hal Griffen (1930)
George Clark (1931–1936)
Dutch Clark (1937–1938)
Gus Henderson (1939)
George Clark (1940)
Bill Edwards (1941–1942)
John Karcis (1942)
Gus Dorais (1943–1947)
Bo McMillin (1948–1950)
Buddy Parker (1951–1956)
George Wilson (1957–1964)
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Dick Jauron # (2005)
Rod Marinelli (2006–2008)
Jim Schwartz (2009–2013)
Jim Caldwell (2014–2017)
Matt Patricia (2018–2020)
Darrell Bevell # (2020)
Robert Prince # (2020)
Dan Campbell (2021–present)

# denotes interim head coach

v t e Brooklyn Dodgers / Tigers head coaches
Jack Depler (1930–1931) Benny Friedman (1932) John McEwan (1933–1934) Paul J. Schissler (1935–1936) George Clark (1937–1939) Jock Sutherland (1940–1941) Mike Getto (1942) Pete Cawthon (1943) Frank Bridges, Pete Cawthon & Ed Kubale (1944)