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The late Monte Clark was born 85 years ago on January 24th. Clark poses for a photo with his family during the early 1970s. Don Shula didn’t become the NFL’s all time leader in victories by accident. Shula’s staffs included some of the best and brightest coaches in the business that included coordinators Howard Schnellenberger and Bill Arnsparger. One of the key assistant coaches of the early 1970s was Monte Clark. He was a master at getting the most out of his players. Clark developed the NFL’s best offensive line out of a group of players who were primarily rejects from other teams. Doug Crusan was the only member of the 1972 offensive line who was drafted by Miami. Larry Little, Jim Langer, Bob Kuechenberg, Wayne Moore and Norm Evans were all either cut or let go by other teams. Little, Langer and Moore were undrafted out of college.
Clark’s ability to get best out of his players didn’t go unrecognized by the league. He became a head coach with the San Francisco 49ers in 1976. But he was fired after just one season by new owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. despite a respectable 8-6 record. Clark also coached the Detroit Lions from 1978 to 1983. Clark passed away on September 16, 2009. He was 72 years old.
