Cotton Clark has fond memories of playing for ‘the Bear’ and Crimson Tide
Cotton Clark shakes hands with legendary Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Clark was one of Bryant's first star players at the University of Alabama in the early 1960s. (Contributed by UA Athletics)
Terry “Cotton” Clark, one of Paul “Bear” Bryant’s early star players at Alabama, was inducted into the Walker County Sports Hall of Fame on Aug. 13.
Clark was an all-around player at Carbon Hill High School, where he led the Bulldogs to a 10-0 season in 1958. He was all-state and All-Southern before signing with Alabama.
Now 75 years old, Clark looked back on his years in football and shared some memories.
“Coach Bryant, I was scared to death of him, but of course, we all idolized him,” Clark said. “We just didn’t want to disappoint him.”
The college game was different in those days. Freshmen were not allowed to play, and when they became sophomores, they didn’t often come out of the game.
Clark, who wore number 45, played halfback, receiver, safety and also punted for the Crimson Tide.
“It was one yard and a cloud of dust in those days,” Clark remembered. “We were always better on defense than on offense.”
When it was time to punt, Clark had a knack for kicking the ball out of bounds at the 1- or 2-yard line.
“I was in Coach Bryant’s good favor when I did that,” he said.
Clark played in a backfield with Mike Fracchia, Billy Richardson and Pat Trammell. And on defense were All-Americans Lee Roy Jordan and Billy Neighbors.
Clark has fond memories of those players and Joe Namath, his teammate on the 1962 team.
In the ’62 opener with Georgia, Namath hit Clark on touchdown passes of 10 and 12 yards, and Clark ran for another score in a 35-0 victory. The game was at Legion Field in Birmingham, where a then-record crowd of 54,000 attended.
“Getting to play with Namath was important to me,” Clark said, “and later I got to know Kenny Stabler, and we became close.”
Clark took many lessons learned from Bryant into his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Charley Pell at Jacksonville State, and later as head coach at Jacksonville High School.
Of his induction into the Walker County Sports Hall of Fame, Clark said, “It’s an honor for them to put me in that thing. It’s something I’ll remember the rest of my days.”
Clark and his wife, Louise, who has a doctorate in business and is an associate dean at Jacksonville State University, live in Jacksonville.
