Dallas Clark on mowing Kinnick, holes in socks, Tight End U, Taylor/Kelce, the ’walk-on mentality’

2024-02-08

To this day, Dallas Clark struggles to understand how he made it. Out of all tight ends profiled in “Blood and Guts,” his rise is most mystifying from a football sense. The kid from tiny Livermore, Iowa walked onto the Hawkeyes football team fresh off losing Mom in his arms. A traumatic ordeal. He was lost on the depth chart. His appendix nearly burst. He had collarbone surgery. He was a modern “Rudy,” mowing the field at Kinnick Stadium. But that’s the funny thing about the tight end position. In nearly all cases, Tight...

To this day, Dallas Clark struggles to understand how he made it. Out of all tight ends profiled in “Blood and Guts,” his rise is most mystifying from a football sense.

The kid from tiny Livermore, Iowa walked onto the Hawkeyes football team fresh off losing Mom in his arms. A traumatic ordeal. He was lost on the depth chart. His appendix nearly burst. He had collarbone surgery. He was a modern “Rudy,” mowing the field at Kinnick Stadium. But that’s the funny thing about the tight end position. In nearly all cases, Tight End chooses you. Not the other way around.

The drive inside Clark always made him a natural fit. We published part of his chapter here at Go Long.

How Clark rose to two Super Bowls, winning one in ‘06, speaks to the human condition more than anything. We can all take a little something from this rise.

This week, we caught up again for a podcast conversation. I have a good feeling he’ll be back, too.

Discussed…

* Walk-on life at Iowa, from tearing up the siding at Kinnick Stadium on the mower to surviving on Grands! biscuits to equipment guys giving him a strange look for wanting socks with no holes.

* Why he was able to hit it off with Peyton Manning.

* What made him different than George Kittle (and many tight ends) off the field.

* His (very) strong opinion on Taylor Swift.

* Tight End U and the evolution of the position.

* The similarity between these 2023 Chiefs and his 2006 Colts. Both were smacked in the jaw late in the season, and responded the right way.

* Beauty of football. Clark articulates exactly what makes this sport different than anything else — and the secret sauce that builds a winner.

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