Former Saskatchewan Roughriders punter Ken Clark remembered as ‘a great teammate’
Ken Clark, who unleashed towering punts for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1980 to 1983, died on Sunday at age 73.
By Rob Vanstone
Aug 09, 2021
Ken Clark is remembered for towering punts, a love of life and laughter, and the only field goal he ever attempted as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Clark, who died Sunday at age 73, was the unlikely central figure in the emotional conclusion to the Roughriders’ 1983 Labour Day weekend game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Due to a concussion sustained by Dave Ridgway earlier in the game, Clark was pressed into duty as an emergency placekicker. He drilled an improbable 41-yard field goal — into the wind — with 43 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give Saskatchewan a 32-30 victory.
That was only part of the drama. Clark had just returned to Regina from the bedside of his mother, Veronica, who was in her final hours.
“I knew that kick was going through,” Clark told Nick Miliokas of the Regina Leader-Post on Sept. 4, 1983. “I didn’t have any doubt. During the game, I felt that my mother was there for that amount of time — and gone as soon as the ball went through the uprights.”
Earlier in that game, Clark had unloaded a 101-yard punt — then the longest in franchise history.
The field-goal attempt was his first since 1976, and the last in a pro football career that ran from 1974 to 1987.
After playing for the Portland Storm of the fledgling World Football League in 1974, Clark spent 12 of the next 13 seasons in the CFL — with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1975 to 1978), Toronto Argonauts (1978), Saskatchewan (1980 to 1983) and the Ottawa Rough Riders (1983 to 1987).
His one season in the NFL — 1979 — was also noteworthy. He punted for the Los Angeles Rams, averaging 40.1 yards per boot for a team that advanced to Super Bowl XIV before losing 31-19 to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Clark was the second Canadian to play in a Super Bowl. Steelers kicker Roy Gerela, who was born in Sarrail, Alta., played for Pittsburgh in the 1975, 1976 and 1979 Super Bowls.
Clark joined the Roughriders shortly after being cut by Los Angeles in the summer of 1980.
In 1982, he was named a CFL all-star after averaging 47.3 yards per punt — then a Roughriders single-season record. He topped that standard with a 47.4 average in 1983. The 47.4 figure endured as a franchise record until Jon Ryan — who punted in two Super Bowls with the Seattle Seahawks — registered an average of 48.8 in 2019.
Clark is also remembered for his excellence as a person.
“I was terribly sad when I heard from (Clark’s wife) Terri that Kenny had passed,” Ridgway said. “I looked at him about the same as you would look at a big brother. He was such a great person, teammate and pal. And I can’t imagine him not being a great husband, too.”
A fine all-around athlete, Clark also moonlighted as a receiver on occasion. In 1976, he caught two passes — for gains of 27 and six yards — for Hamilton. Both receptions went for touchdowns.
He had a 71-yard reception for the Tiger-Cats in 1977. The following year, with the Argonauts, he caught only one pass — for 80 yards.
But it was as a punter that Clark made his mark in the CFL, boasting a career average of 45.6 yards and five seasons in which he was above 47.0. He was named a CFL all-star in 1977, 1982 and 1984.
“Ken was a true pro who would do anything to help his team win,” former Roughriders equipment manager Norm Fong said. “He was a great teammate and everyone’s friend.”
Clark, who was born in Southampton, England and grew up in Toronto, starred for the Halifax-based Saint Mary’s Huskies from 1970 to 1973. He is a member of the Saint Mary’s University Sport Hall of Fame.
In 1973, Clark was the MVP and co-captain of a Huskies team that won the Vanier Cup. He was a finalist for the Hec Crighton Trophy, which is awarded to the best player in Canadian university football, in 1973 after scoring a touchdown on six of his 18 receptions in addition to excelling on special teams.
Clark caught the game-winning touchdown pass, which he set up with a 45-yard reception, in the 1973 Atlantic Bowl against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks before helping Saint Mary’s defeat McGill 14-6 in the Canadian university football final.
After registering two field goals, two singles and an 80-yard punt, he was named the national championship game’s outstanding player.
Post-football, Clark moved back to Ontario and began a business career.
A resident of Elmvale, Ont., he had recently suffered two strokes, which led to the diagnosis of other medical issues.
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