1978:
Before Jack Clark became the coach and legend that redefined the Cal rugby program, he was an athlete once focused on cracking into the professional football ranks.
Transferring from Orange Coast Community College to Cal as a football player, Clark played two years on the football team. In 1978, he tried out for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL before devoting himself completely to rugby, a late love in his life. In the next coming years, Clark showed he had potential to become a star rugby player on a global scale.
But on a fateful November day in 1980 at San Francisco, Clark was shot and hospitalized for months. His aspirations as a professional athlete effectively came to a screeching halt.
1985:
Since its inception in 1882, the Cal rugby team had only six head coaches through its entire 131-year old history. Before 1985, the Bears won only four national championships. With a 28-year old Jack Clark coming into replace Ned Anderson in 1984, the program reached unmatched success for the next 30 years. Under Clark, the program won 22 national titles.
For every stretch of success, there is a beginning, and for Clark and Cal, it began on May 5, 1985. The Bears defeated Maryland, 31-6, in Pebble Beach, Calif. to win its first title under Clark. The second-year coach, on the top right of the photo, maintained its stern look even as the team celebrated. Perhaps Clark knew celebration was premature: there were still a lot of work to done.
1989:
In this photo, Clark, center, poses with former Cal rugby players and Oxford Varsity Blues Don James, right, and Gary Hein, left in London.
Under Clark’s leadership as the Cal rugby head coach, many of his star pupils continued their rugby success abroad. The long list included James, who starred in the 1985 Cal rugby team that won the national title against Maryland at Pebble Beach, Calif.
1997:
The entire 1990s were Bear Territory.
From 1991 to 2002, the Cal rugby team enjoyed an unmatched run of success, winning 12 consecutive national titles. The success elevated Cal as the preeminent collegiate rugby program in the nation and Clark as the most successful rugby coach in America.
In this photo, Clark, left, is posed with a former Cal player and Oxford Varsity Blue Ray Lehner, right, in London. Much like Hein and James, Lehner followed their rugby alumni’s footsteps to success.
In 1997, the Bears routed Penn State in the national title game, 41-15, in Witter Rugby Field at Berkeley.
2008:
With a new rivalry forging in the 2000s with BYU, Clark and the Cal rugby team faced perennial challenges from the Cougars in the national title game. Starting in the narrow 29-26 victory over BYU in the 2006 national title game, the Bears faced the title game in 2007, 2008, 2010 and 2011 against the Cougars.
In 2008, the Bears faced little challenge against BYU to win its fifth consecutive national title. At Stanford, Calif., the Bears cruised to a 59-7 victory over the Cougars. It was Clark’s 20th national title as well, giving all the more reason for Clark, right, to break out of its hard exterior to celebrate another national title.
2010:
On Sep. 29, 2010, after rumors of downsizing the Cal rugby program was on the chopping block, Clark received the bad news: the University of California announced that the Cal rugby team would be one of the five sports cut from the university’s athletic programs.
Unlike the other four sports, the rugby team will be classified as a “varsity club”, relegated from its varsity program status.
With the Witter Rugby Field in construction at the time of the demotion, it was yet another gut check to the program.
But Clark bounced back quickly, getting enough financial and alumni support to get the program off the chopping block.
By the way, the Bears won another national title against BYU, 19-7.
Seung Y. Lee is the sports editor. Contact him at [email protected].