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Inside Hokie Sports
T
he players on Virginia Tech’s football team take competitiveness
to its highest level. They compete in everything from bowling to
video games to rapping, and more. Such a trait enables them to
enjoy success both on and off the football field.
But competitiveness isn’t limited to football players, or even
athletes, as Chuck Clark witnessed this past spring. As an intern for
Blacksburg Parks and Recreation, he set up a room for a group to use
to play bridge, a popular card game, particularly among older adults.
At times, the game became a touch heated.
Yes, bridge.
“It was pretty intense,” Clark said. “People take it seriously.”
The same could
be said of Clark, a
young man who takes
everything seriously and
who is quietly wrapping
up an outstanding career
this season as the starting
free safety for the Hokies.
That the Suffolk, Virginia
native concludes his career
quietly comes as no surprise
to those who know him.
Clark is not much for idle
chitchat, nor is he one to get
crazy on weekends. Good
luck to those hoping to find
this 21-year-old perusing
the
establishments
in
downtown Blacksburg.
Clark instead prefers to
stay at his place. Actually,
one would be more apt to
find him in Tech’s indoor
practice facility putting
in some extra work. He
enjoys his “happy hour”
there.
“I’ll go in there and work out and do drills, stuff like that,”
he said. “It’s that important to me. We work all year for this period of
the year. My life pretty much revolves around this.”
He takes that same businesslike approach to the playing field, where
he has started the past 27 games (entering the North Carolina game).
He delivers timely hits—he racked up 107 tackles last season—and
big plays, yet provides little in the way of celebratory antics. Witness
the interception against Virginia last season that sealed a victory for
outgoing head coach Frank Beamer in his final regular-season game.
Clark’s celebration consisted of calmly walking over to the sideline and
handing Beamer the football. No chest thumping or trash talking, but
rather a simple and humble gesture that only added to the occasion.
“I don’t celebrate much after big plays,” Clark said. “That’s not me.
I get more hyped for my teammates when they make plays. They’re
always joking with me about when I make a play and how I’ll get up
and just clap or walk away, but that’s [celebrating] just never been me.
“I’ve put in the work to be in position to make plays, and when they
come, they come. It’s not surprising. I’ve never been like that [someone
who celebrates].”
Clark not only works hard on the practice fields and weight room, but
also in the classroom. He is one of the rare players who nearly graduated
in three years. In fact, he walked across the stage at graduation this
past May because he had nearly met all the requirements for his degree
in human development and minor in sociology.
Chuck Clark is one of the quiet guys on
Tech’s football team, but the free safety’s
actions on the football field and in the
classroom speak rather loudly
By Jimmy Robertson
He took advantage of a heavy course load as a freshman and multiple
classes during the summers to put himself in that situation. He only
needs to finish a criminology course this semester to wrap up degree
requirements. He performs well in his classes, too, as his two-time
appearance on the All-ACC Academic Football Team attests.
“It was always important tome,” Clark said of academics. “ I wouldn’t
say I love school, but I always pushed myself to a higher standard.
In high school, I held myself to a standard of getting A’s and B’s and
pushed myself to that point. It became a habit. You might see a ‘C’ here
and there, but I’d always tell myself, ‘OK, I’ve got to get this right.’ I’ve
always pushed myself to a higher standard.”
Some of that philosophy comes from his parents. His father, Charles,
Sr., just retired from the Navy after 20 years of service and his mother,
Lashonda, works for the government at Fort Lee near Petersburg.
They made sure he stayed out of trouble and made good grades. They
even took his cell phone once because of an academic shortfall in high
LETTING
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