| No. 45 | |||||||||||||
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| Position | Safety | ||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||
| Born | (1942-06-14)June 14, 1942 (age 83) Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 217 lb (98 kg) | ||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||
| High school | Chattanooga (TN) Baylor | ||||||||||||
| College | Florida | ||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1964: 7th round, 85th overall pick | ||||||||||||
| AFL draft | 1964: 18th round, 141st overall pick | ||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||
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| Career AFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Hagood Clarke, III (born June 14, 1942) is an American former professionalfootball player who was adefensive back for five seasons in theAmerican Football League (AFL) during the 1960s. Clarke playedcollege football for theFlorida Gators, and thereafter, he played professionally for theBuffalo Bills of the AFL.
Clarke was born inAtlanta, Georgia, in 1942.[1] For his high school education, he attendedBaylor School inChattanooga, Tennessee,[2] where he played high school football for the Baylor School Tigers.
Clarke attended theUniversity of Florida inGainesville, Florida, where he was awalk-on player for coachRay Graves'Gators teams from1961 to1963.[3] Clarke played both ways for the Gators, playinghalfback on offense andsafety on defense. Memorably, he caught a nineteen-yard touchdown pass to clinch the Gators' 17–7 upset win over the ninth-rankedPenn State Nittany Lions in the1962Gator Bowl,[4] intercepted a third-quarterJoe Namath pass to help preserve a 10–6 upset of the third-rankedAlabama Crimson Tide inTuscaloosa in 1963,[5] and ran for a seventy-yard touchdown to provide the margin of victory in the Gators' 27–21 win over theMiami Hurricanes later that same season.[6] He was also the Gators' principal punter in 1962, with forty-six punts for 1,884 yards (and average of 41.0 yards per kick).[3] Clarke led the Gators in punt return yardage in 1961 and 1962, and was the recipient of the Gators'Fergie Ferguson Award, recognizing the "senior football player who displays outstanding leadership, courage and character," in 1963.[3]
Clarke graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1965, and was later inducted into theUniversity of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."[7]
Clarke was selected by theSan Francisco 49ers of theNational Football League (NFL) in the seventh round (85th pick overall) of the1964 NFL draft,[8] but signed with coachLou Saban's Buffalo Bills of the alternative AFL, and played his entire five-year career as a safety and punt returner for the Bills from1964 to1968.[9] In his first three seasons with the Bills, the team won the AFL Championship Game in1964[10] and1965,[11] and lost it in1966.[12] Statistically, Clarke's best season was1965, when he had seveninterceptions and played in theAFL All-Star Game.[13] He also was anAll-AFL 2nd team selection in1966, when he had five interceptions,[9] including an interception of aGeorge Blanda pass followed by a 66-yard return for a touchdown in the final twenty-seven seconds to beat theHouston Oilers, 27–20.[14] In1968, his final season with the Bills, Clarke had an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown against theNew York Jets.[15]
Clark appeared in sixty-seven games in his five-season AFL career, and compiled twelve interceptions for 178 interception return yards and a touchdown.[1] He also tallied sixty-five career punt returns for 583 yards and two touchdowns.[1]
Clarke is a financial consultant inFort Lauderdale, Florida.
