Archie Clark (basketball)

Archie L. Clark (born July 15, 1941) is an American former professional basketball player. At 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), he played guard for five National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. He has been called the father of the crossover dribble.

Early life

Clark was born on July 15, 1941 in Conway, Arkansas, the fourth of 12 children. He grew up in Ecorse, a suburb of Detroit, where he went to high school. He did not start playing basketball until 10th grade, and excelled in both basketball and baseball.

On graduating high school, he was unable to find work during a recession, and joined the United States Army, where he served three years. Just 10 days after joining the Army, the Detroit Tigers baseball team belatedly invited him to spring training. Clark was assigned to a United States Air Force unit at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where he played intramural basketball, on a team coached by Buzz Bennett. Bennett had played basketball at the University of Minnesota, and impressed by Clark's play, contacted a Minnesota assistant coach about recruiting Clark.

College

Minnesota offered the 21-year old Clark a basketball scholarship and he played three seasons under head coach John Kundla at Minnesota (1963-66). Playing guard for the Gophers, he averaged 11.1 points per game as a sophomore, 14.3 points per game as a junior and 24.5 points per game as a senior (fourth best in the Big Ten that year). Clark played his three years in the backcourt at Minnesota with future NBA All-Star guard Lou Hudson. The team selected him as its captain in his senior year, the first black team captain in its history. Clark was selected first team Big Ten all-conference as a senior.

Clark also played on the Gophers' baseball team, and was a starter on the 1964 NCAA baseball championship team, and played center field the following season.

Professional basketball

Los Angeles Lakers

After a strong collegiate career, he was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the fourth round of the 1966 NBA draft (37th overall). In his 10-season (1966–1976) NBA career, Clark played for the Lakers, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Baltimore/Capital Bullets, the Seattle SuperSonics, and the Detroit Pistons.

As a 25-year old Lakers' rookie, Clark averaged 10.5 points, 2.7 assists and 2.9 rebounds in 23.2 minutes per game. In addition to Clark, the Lakers had future Hall of fame guards Jerry West and Gail Goodrich, as well as Walt Hazzard. He was third in rookie-of-the-year voting, behind winner Dave Bing and former Minnesota teammate Lou Hudson. In 1967-68, Clark became the Lakers' starting point guard, averaging 19.9 points per game, along with 4.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game. He was selected to the west All-Star team, and scored 17 points in 15 minutes of play in the All-Star game.

Philadelphia 76ers

In 1968, Clark was part of the trade (together with Darrall Imhoff and Jerry Chambers) that brought future Hall of fame center Wilt Chamberlain to the Lakers from the Philadelphia 76ers, who had been the NBA's most valuable player in the 1967-68 season. Chamberlain and the 76ers could not reach an agreement on salary and Chamberlain's request to receive an ownership interest in the team, and the Lakers and Chamberlain were able to reach an agreement on Chamberlain's tenure and salary. After the trade, Imhoff described Chamberlain as "the greatest offensive player who ever was invented for this game." Over the next five seasons in Los Angeles, Chamberlain's Lakers went to the NBA finals four times, winning once.

Clark started the next three seasons (1968-71) for the 76ers. In his first season, he played only 26.1 minutes per game, on a team with future Hall of fame shooting guard Hal Greer and point guard Wali Jones. However, he became the 76ers starting point guard for the 1969-70 season, and averaged 19.7 points and five assists in 37.8 minutes per game. His best season with the 76ers came in 1970-71, when he led the team in minutes played (39.6 per game) and assists (5.4 per game), while scoring 21.3 points per game, second on the team to future Hall of fame forward Billy Cunningham. After losing in the eastern division playoffs the previous two seasons, the 76ers reached the eastern conference semifinals, but lost to the Baltimore Bullets four games to three. Clark averaged 23.6 points per game in that series, and scored a game-high 37 points in the decisive 128–120 loss in Game 7.

Baltimore Bullets

He was acquired along with a 1973 second-round selection (19th overall– Louie Nelson) and cash by the Baltimore Bullets from the 76ers for Kevin Loughery and Fred Carter on October 17, 1971, after playing only one game for the 76ers. He originally refused to play for the Bullets under the same contract he had in Philadelphia. He rejoined the team nine days after the trade on October 26 while his contract was being renegotiated. Clark had a stellar year for the Bullets, leading them with a 25.1 point per game average, and eight assists per game, on a team that included future Hall of fame shooting guard Earl Monroe. He was selected as an All-Star, was 12th in NBA most valuable player voting and was named second-team All-NBA at guard.

Contract dispute and reserve clause

Negotiations between Clark and the Bullets went unresolved for the entire 1971-72 season, Clark believing he had an agreement while still with the 76ers to renegotiate his contract, and that he was underpaid. The Bullets only offered $135,000 per the contract, and Clark wanted considerably more ($375,000). He held out early in the 1972-73 season, and the Bullets gave Clark's attorney authority to negotiate potential trades with other NBA teams. However, the Bullets filed a lawsuit against Clark not long after to restrain him from negotiating with teams in the American Basketball Association, and to enforce the pre-free agency era option clause/reserve clause in Clark's contract to prevent him from signing with other teams, even though his contract had expired. A federal judge ruled against Clark in December 1972, enforcing the reserve clause and preventing him from negotiating to join other teams without the Bullets' agreement. Clark continued to hold out, and the NBA and players' association agreed on an arbitrator (Peter Seitz) to decide the monetary dispute, but Clark and the Bullets reached a deal before that was necessary.

Clark played in only 39 games that year, averaging 18.3 points per game as the starting point guard. The team left Baltimore at the end of the season for Landover, Maryland, becoming the Capital Bullets. Before the 1973-74 NBA season started, in August of 1973 Clark suffered a separated shoulder while he was playing basketball in Ecorse. This required surgery, and Clark only played in 56 games for the Bullets in the 1973-74 season. Clark averaged only 13.1 points per game, to go along with 5.1 assists per game. He lost the starting point guard job to Kevin Porter, who averaged 14 points and 5.8 assists per game.

Seattle SuperSonics and Detroit Pistons

He was dealt from the Washington Bullets to the SuperSonics for Dick Gibbs and a 1975 third-round pick (48th overall– Tom Kropp) on August 19, 1974. He played one season in Seattle, as the starting point guard, averaging 13.9 points and 5.6 assists per game. In September of 1975, the Detroit Pistons traded their 1978 first round draft pick to Seattle for Clark. Clark finished his NBA career with the 1975-76 Pistons as a backup guard.

Career

Clark averaged 16.3 career points and 4.8 career assists and appeared in two National Basketball Association All-Star Games; he also received All-NBA Second Team honors in 1972.

Father of the crossover dribble

As early as playing at the University of Minnesota, Clark was one of the first effective practitioners of the crossover dribble, which inspired his nickname "Shake and Bake"; and has been called the father of the crossover move in the NBA. Former NBA player and college basketball head coach Butch Beard said the crossover move in the NBA began with Clark. One report said he acquired the nickname because of his unusual shooting motion.

NBA retired players association

In 1992, he co-founded the National Basketball Retired Players Association with Dave DeBusschere, Dave Bing, Dave Cowens and Oscar Robertson.

Personal life

After his playing career, Clark moved back to Ecorse, and was a member of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. Clark also worked as an executive assistant to Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara. In 1977, Clark unsuccessfully ran the mayoral campaign of Harry White to become mayor of Ecorse; but in 1979, Clark was successful as White's campaign chair for mayor. In 1987, Clark unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Ecorse, after defeating White in a primary election; losing by less than 1,200 votes in the general election.

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

Playoffs

References

External links

Career statisticsNBRPA biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Archie
1941 births
Living people
20th-century African-American sportsmen
20th-century American sportsmen
21st-century African-American sportsmen
21st-century American sportsmen
American men's basketball players
Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973) players
Basketball players from Arkansas
Capital Bullets players
Detroit Pistons players
Los Angeles Lakers draft picks
Los Angeles Lakers players
Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players
NBA All-Stars
People from Conway, Arkansas
Philadelphia 76ers players
Point guards
Seattle SuperSonics players
Shooting guards