Remembering Colorado Buffaloes Football Legend Frank Clarke

By: Melo Williams 

Ever since Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders has arrived in Boulder, Colorado, Colorado University has become the spot to be at on Saturday’s in college football. Boulder has hosted Lil Wayne, Offset, Kawhi Leonard, Stephen A. Smith, Shannon “Unk” Sharpe, The Rock, Terrell Owens, Michael “The Playmaker”Irvin and many more of Who’s who in pop culture.

Since Coach Prime has the world watching him prove he can recruit and win on any level of coaching college football and that he’s the ultimate brand builder in Boulder, Colorado, I figured it was a great time to share some Colorado Buffaloes football history and about a former Buffaloes player by the name of Frank Clarke, a legend from my hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin.

Frank Clarke is a former NFL player (Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys) who is known as a pioneering trailblazer because of being the first African American to break many racial culture barriers opening up doors and creating hope and opportunities for African Americans on and off the field.

Born and raised in Beloit, WI, Clarke starred in three sports at Beloit Memorial HS football, basketball, and track.

In track, in 1952 Frank Clarke was the Big Eight’s Conference 440-yard Champion and the WIAA State Champion. He also was a member of two State Champion 880 relay teams in 1951 (1:32.90), and 1952 (1:32.10).

Clarke briefly attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to Trinidad Junior College in Colorado for two seasons, then after sitting out a transfer year, in 1954 Frank Clarke transferred to Colorado University, home of the Buffaloes.

Frank Clarke was the first African-American varsity football player and the first to earn a letter at Colorado University.

As a junior Clarke, led the Buffs in receiving in 1955 and ’56, earning Honorable Mention All-Big 7 Honors.

Clarke’s senior season Colorado was Big 7 Conference Champs and defeated Clemson 27-21 in the 1957 Orange Bowl. He finished the Orange Bowl with one catch 18 yards and finished his CU career with 20 receptions, 26.6 yards, and 7 TDs.

The Orange Bowl in 1957 was a major monumental moment in not only CU and sports history but also in life and cultural history in terms of breaking racial barriers that were still firmly in place in the Deep South at the time.

When the Buffaloes were invited to play Clemson in the Orange Bowl, Clemson officials said the school would not play a team with black athletes. Clarke was one of two black athletes on the team along with John Wooten, who had joined Colorado soon after Clarke.

Colorado stood upon their beliefs and said the Buffaloes would show up and if Clemson wanted to play, Colorado would be waiting, and Clemson officials finally agreed to play the game.

Frank Clarke left Colorado as the Buffalo’s fifth all-time leading receiver, playing just two seasons, and was inducted into the Colorado University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2008.

In the 1957 NFL Draft, Frank Clarke was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the 5th round with the 61st pick and played in Cleveland from 1957-1959, then was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft and played for the Cowboys from 1960-1967 where he was widely recognized as the first African American star player on the Dallas Cowboys, during a time when the team played in a racially-divided Dallas.

In Dallas, Clarke’s career blossomed playing for Tom Landry. He set numerous NFL and franchise records that has stood for decades.

In the 1961 season Clarke had 41 receptions, 919 yards, 22.4 yard average (led league), 9 touchdowns and scored a team high 54 points.

In 1962, Frank Clarke opening day performance against the Washington Commanders he had 10 receptions for 241 yards which remains the best opening day performance in terms of most yards receiving by any wide receiver in the history of the NFL.

That year would be his best, becoming the first player in team history to gain more than 1,000 yards in a season (ground or air) and recording 47 passes for career high numbers in yards (1043) and touchdowns (14).

Clarke led the Cowboys in receiving yards and touchdown catches from 1961 to 1964. He was the first Cowboys player to go seven consecutive games with a TD reception, a record he shares with Bob Hayes, Terrell Owens, and Dez Bryant. His 14 touchdown catches in 1962 set a franchise record that stood until 2007 when it was broken by Owens, and he also held the Cowboys record for career receiving multi-touchdown games (nine) until it was broken by Bryant in 2014.

Frank Clarke turned out to be the Cowboys’ first bona fide long-ball threat—before “Bullet” Bob Hayes joined him. Hayes even credits Clarke for teaching him the proper way to catch “the bomb”—the long pass.”

His final NFL game came in the famed 1967 “Ice Bowl” NFL championship game, when the Green Bay Packers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21-17.

Clarke finished his NFL career with 140 games played, 291 receptions for 5,426 yards, and 50 touchdowns, First-Team All-Pro Honors (1964), and the NFL TD receiving leader (1962).

After his playing career, Clarke pursued a career in sports broadcasting, where he became the first African-American sports anchor at a Dallas television station, and also the first black NFL analyst at CBS.

Frank Clarke passed away July 25 2018 in McKinney, TX.

#RIP #BeloitProud

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