Most people’s image of former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark is from that well-known photo of “The Catch,” in which his outstretched arms are shown reaching high to clutch a pass from quarterback Joe Montana for the winning touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship Game,
That’s understandable, for it launched the 49ers’ greatness over the next almost two decades.
But as good as that is, it’s not my image of Clark. Instead, it is one from his three seasons (1999-2002) as director of football operations for the expansion-era Browns.
It was late in the evening on Aug. 12, 2000 as the final seconds were ticking down in the Browns’ 19-6 preseason loss to the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. Back in the days before the 9/11 attacks, media members were still allowed along the sideline at the two-minute warning to grant them easier and quicker access into the locker room for post-game interviews.
We stood there that night next to Clark watching as quarterback Ty Detmer went down for the season with a torn Achilles tendon. Clark was as white as a sheet. Call it “The Look.”
The Browns were already woefully thin at quarterback, and Clark was painfully aware that losing Detmer had just pushed them over the edge in that regard. Detmer was the only viable quarterback behind starter Tim Couch. Couch had been beaten to a pulp as a rookie in 1999 and suffered a season-ending injury late in the year. With the same porous offensive line returning, Clark knew that the chances were good that Couch would get knocked around again and eventually be lost for the year.
And with no Detmer around to rescue them this time, the Browns would be sunk.
Clark was right. Couch was lost at the end of a Thursday practice with a broken thumb on his passing hand, and the Browns were forced to finish the year with the likes of journeyman Doug Pederson, now heading into his second year as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, and rookie Spergon Wynn, who threw the ball very hard but not very accurately. They combined for only two touchdown passes and nine interceptions as the Browns won just one of their last nine games following the injury en route to a 3-13 finish.
That image – this little story – is what I immediately thought of when I read Sunday night that Clark, now 60, has the dreaded and incurable ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Clark wasn’t a good judge of talent, but don’t blame him. Blame the man who hired him, then Browns President and Youngstown native Carmen Policy, his friend from their days together with the 49ers.
But more importantly in the big picture, Clark is a good guy, a kind man with a good sense of humor. The heartfelt thoughts and prayers of everyone in Cleveland and San Francisco – and all points in between – go out to him and his family.
