Norm Clark

Norman Childers "Hackenschmidt" Clark (12 November 1878 – 26 December 1943) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Carlton Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) between 1905 and 1912.

Not to be confused with Norm Clarke.
Norman Clark
Clark in 1907
Personal information
Full name Norman Childers Clark
Nickname(s) Hackenschmidt
Date of birth (1878-11-12)12 November 1878
Place of birth North Adelaide, South Australia
Date of death 26 December 1943(1943-12-26) (aged 65)
Place of death Fitzroy, Victoria
Original team(s) Stawell
Height 170 cm (5 ft 7 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Position(s) Half back flank
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1897–1903 North Adelaide 77 (5)
1905–1912 Carlton 126 (3)
Coaching career3
Years Club Games (W–L–D)
1912 Carlton 20 0(15–5–0)
1913 Brighton 18 0(5–13–0)
1914–1918 Carlton 86 (59–23–4)
1919 Richmond 19 0(12–7–0)
1920–1922 Carlton 44 (28–14–2)
1924 North Melbourne 18 0(10–8–0)
1925–1926 St Kilda 35 (14–21–0)
1929 Prahran 22 0(5–16–1)
1931 North Melbourne 10 0(0–10–0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1912.
3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1931.
Career highlights

Player

Coach

Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Family

The son of Edward John Clark, and Margaret Clark, née Cooper, Norman Childers Clark was born on 12 November 1878.[1] He married Eileen Florence Fleming (1888-1983) on 11 June 1918. They had two children: Norman Adrian Clark (1919-1998),[2] and Bryan Childers Clark (1923-2003).[3]

Football

Prior to joining Carlton, he had played in two premiership teams at North Adelaide.

A talented sprinter, in 1899 he won the 130-yard Stawell Gift in eleven and four-fifths seconds, off a handicap of 14 and a half yards.[4] His prize of 50 gold sovereigns was used to buy a handmade gold pocket watch, in which he had his initials 'N.C.C' inscribed. He moved to Stawell, hoping to win another Gift, and he played two seasons with Stawell Football Club.

Upon his arrival at Carlton in 1905, his team-mates noticed his exceptional physique and nicknamed him "Hackenschmidt" after the famous strongman and professional wrestler, Georg Hackenschmidt.[5]

He played in three consecutive premiership sides for Carlton from 1906–1908 as well as coaching Carlton to back-to-back premierships in 1914–15. He was the only person involved in Carlton's first five VFL flags.

After leaving Carlton at the end of the 1918 season he took up the head coaching role at Richmond. In his first season, he took the Tigers to the Grand Final. This attained him the rare feat of coaching two separate clubs in VFL Grand Finals.

Clark was also the coach of VFL sides St Kilda in 1925–26 and North Melbourne in 1931. He was captain-coach of Victorian Football Association (VFA) side Brighton in 1913.[6] He coached junior and senior football for seventeen seasons in the VFA, the VFL and the Ringwood Districts Football Association, with four more premierships to his credit by the time he retired after the 1931 season.

Clark died on Boxing Day in 1943.[7]

Footnotes
  1. Births: Clark, The South Australian Register, (Saturday, 30 November 1878), p.7.
  2. World War Two Nominal Roll: Norman Adrian Clark (V43505).
  3. World War Two Nominal Roll: Bryan Childers Clark (V43505).
  4. Athletics, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Saturday, 15 April 1899), p.6.
  5. "Norman Clarke, coach and captain of Brighton, and a little time ago a doughty Carlton back, is looked up to by the football world as "Hackenschmidt", as he is as strong as the village blacksmith of Longfellow's time.": Nicknames, The (Melbourne) Herald, (Saturday, 5 July 1913), p.1.
  6. Brighton Club, The Argus, (Saturday, 22 February 1913), p.17.
  7. Deaths: Clark, The Age, (Monday, 27 December 1943), p.3; Obituary: Mr Norman Clark, The Argus, (Monday, 27 December 1943), p.8.
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References
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