Former teammate Barry Davis, idolised Clarke as a youngster. “I watched him play more than anyone else as a kid. I would ride my bike to the ground and just watch him,” Davis said. Davis played four seasons with Clarke and remembers him to be a stand-out as a person and as an example of how to play the game. “He was just 101% dedicated to be as good as he could be. He was courageous – he went where angels feared to tread and he was also a super-clever player,” Davis remembers.
Davis also remembers Clarke to be fitness fanatic and a player with brilliantly fast hands. “We were playing South Melbourne and an opposition player was running into goal about 30m out and didn’t kick it. He turned to me and asked what happened? I said – Jack Clarke stole it. As the player was dropping the ball onto his boot, Jack intercepted the ball – he could do things that other people couldn’t do. He was so focussed and clever,” Davis reflected.
Davis was also coached by Clarke. As a coach he was both insightful and innovative, according to Davis. ""I remember one day, Jack wanted me to play ruck-rover. I didn’t think I could do it but I went along with it. He wanted me to go through the game and not look at the scoreboard. As hard as it was I did it. I came off the ground and Jack asked me if I thought we had won. I thought we had won by three goals but we actually won by seven. Jack wanted me to play the game by feel – if you are three goals up you have a tendency to take it easy. He taught me a valuable lesson about how to play football – it was total football for 120 minutes.
Current Essendon Football Club director and former teammate Alec Epis, remembers Clarke as a dedicated athlete. “He was one of the first people that trained nearly everyday – he was a fitness fanatic. He was a natural athlete and everything he ever did he did well,” Epis said. Epis also remembers Clarke to be a very shy person off the field – “He didn’t say much and that was quite unusual for a coach to be so reserved.”
In 1950 Geoff Leek and Jack Clarke began playing together as young boys in the Essendon thirds. They went on to captain and vice-captain the 1962 Essendon Premiership side. Leek believes Clarke is one of the best players of all time. “He was a great leader and there would be few better than Jack Clarke. He was an all-round great person and player. He wasn’t overly vocal, he just led by example,” Leek said. As a coach, he was ahead of his time. “He was one of the first coaches who used a clipboard and would use diagrams. It is common practice these days but back then it wasn’t,” Leek remembered.
Clarke was one of fourteen original inductees in the Essendon Football Club Hall of Fame – a tribute to his enormous football talent. Hall of Fame Curator Barbara Cullen fondly remembers Jack as a quiet and refined gentleman. “Jack was fairly reserved but highly intelligent. He was always a gentleman and willing to contribute to the Essendon Football Club in anyway he could. It is a sad loss,” Cullen said today.
The family of Jack Clarke will have a private service tomorrow. A memorial service will be held on Monday, December 10th at the Religious Centre, Monash University at Clayton, starting at 10am.
