# 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.

## Family

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

## Early career

Prior to joining Carlton, he had played in two premiership teams at North Adelaide.
A talented sprinter, in 1899 he won the 130-yard (120 m) Stawell Gift in 11$^4$⁄$_5$ seconds off a handicap of 14 and a half yards. 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.

## VFL career

Upon his arrival at Carlton in 1905, his teammates noticed his exceptional physique and nicknamed him "Hackenschmidt" after the famous strongman and professional wrestler Georg Hackenschmidt.
He played in three consecutive premiership sides for Carlton (1906, 1907, and 1908) and continued until 1912. He then captain-coached Brighton in the VFA in 1913 before retiring.

## Coaching

He was playing coach of Carlton in 1912 before moving to Brighton in 1913. In 1914 he was back at Carlton and coaching Carlton to back-to-back premierships in 1914–15; he was with Charlie Hammond, the only two people 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 only season, he took the Tigers to the Grand Final. He attained the rare feat of coaching two separate clubs in VFL Grand Finals.
Clark returned to Carlton in 1920 and coached for two and a half years before resigning in mid-1922.
Clark was also the coach of VFL sides St Kilda in 1925–26.
He was captain-coach of Victorian Football Association (VFA) side Brighton in 1913. He coached junior and senior football for seventeen seasons in the VFA, the VFL and for Blackburn in the Ringwood Districts Football Association, with four more premierships to his credit by the time he retired after the 1931 season.
In 1931 he was appointed coach of North Melbourne; after ten winless games, he resigned.

## Death

Clark died on Boxing Day in 1943.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Births: Clark, The South Australian Register, (Saturday, 30 November 1878), p.7.
* ↑ World War Two Nominal Roll: Norman Adrian Clark (V43505).
* ↑ World War Two Nominal Roll: Bryan Childers Clark (V43505).
* ↑ Athletics, The (Launceston) Examiner, (Saturday, 15 April 1899), p.6.
* ↑ "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.
* ↑ Brighton Club, The Argus, (Saturday, 22 February 1913), p.17.
* ↑ Deaths: Clark, The Age, (Monday, 27 December 1943), p.3; Obituary: Mr Norman Clark, The Argus, (Monday, 27 December 1943), p.8.