About Inductee

His given name is Robert Dudley Clark, Jr., but everybody around Hazel Green called him Rickeyand later in life, Rick. Clark believes the nickname originated from his mother, Evelyn Quick Clark. She always loved I Love Lucy, starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz as the fictional TV couple Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. They had a son named Little Ricky. Mrs. Clark thought her little boy favored the Ricardos son. Hence, the nickname Rickey, with an e. Rickey Clark grew up to be quite a basketball player. By his junior year in high school, he had grown to 5-foot-11 and was already jumping center for coach Jerry Dugans Trojans, even though he was the only underclassman in an otherwise all-senior starting lineup. Ever since Coach Dugan came by my house in the summer of 1965 to see if I had grown any taller, he has been one of the main people who had an impact on my basketball accomplishments, said Clark. Hazel Green made it to the state tournament in Tuscaloosa for the first time in school history when Clark was a junior, but lost in the first round. By the following season, Clark the lone senior starter by then had grown to 6-foot-3 and become a force in the lane as both a scorer and rebounder. Rickey was the best player I had at Hazel Green, Dugan said. He came ready to play every night. Clark averaged 20 points and 14 rebounds that senior season while leading the Trojans to the Class 2A state championship. He was named All-State, MVP of the county tournament, honorable mention All-America, and represented the area in the state postseason All-Star game. The highlight of the 1966-67 season was Hazel Greens 61-59 victory over Curry in the state championship game. Clark vividly remembers the frantic final seconds. The score was tied and we called timeout, he said. Coach was looking for the best options in the huddle. The consensus was, Id probably be covered up in the middle, so I was the second option. The first option was Stanley (Stafford) on a jump shot from the corner. I saw he was open and tried to get in position for a rebound. I was right under the goal when Stanleys shot stripped the net. Clarks second most exciting moment came earlier in the season when the Trojans found themselves two points down at Buckhorn in the closing seconds. It was an era before the 3-point line. They missed a free throw and I got the rebound, dribbled a few steps, shot the ball from halfcourt and somehow, it went in, Clark said. They called a foul on somebody from Buckhorn on the shot, and I made the free throw to put the game into overtime. We went on to win. Clark, who was named to The Huntsville Times All-Decade Team of the 1960s in a 2010 survey, attended college at David Lipscomb in Nashville, where he lettered four years in basketball, was named co-captain as a junior and senior, and was the teams MVP as a junior. He also lettered as a junior and senior on the Lipscomb tennis team. His most memorable basketball game as a collegian came against Athens College. They were favored but we won, Clark said. Somehow, I hit 19 out of 20 free throws and finished with, like, 28 points. It broke the schools free throw record. Clark earned a BS degree in political science at Lipscomb and a masters degree in 1972 at Middle Tennessee. He worked for years at Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Nashville and later worked in educational and computer sales for Rand McNally. He is now retired and lives in New Market.