Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 13, 1992 TAG: 9201130105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
CLARK HOPES BIGGER DAY JUST AHEAD
Why shouldn't Gary Clark enjoy hearing he's going to play in Super Bowl XXVI? It has a nice ring to it."I was there in 1987, but this one's going to be sweeter for me," said Clark, a Washington Redskins' receiver. "That other one was early in my career, and I was cocky and thought we'd do it every year.
"I thought it would be a piece of cake, so much so, I gave my Super Bowl ring to my parents. I figured I'd get another one right away, that it would be no big deal. Well, it is a big deal."
Clark's Super XXII ring made a rare appearance on his finger Sunday. Then, he went out and made an NFC championship-strangling touchdown catch at RFK Stadium as the Redskins ripped the Detroit Lions 41-10.
"I haven't asked for my ring back because my mom wouldn't give it to me, I'm sure," Clark said. "I get to wear it when I make appearances. Today, I showed to it the rookies and told them they could only look at it. If they wanted to touch one, they had to help us get another one."
Clark said he didn't want to consider the Redskins' Jan. 26 Metrodome date with Buffalo for a while. The Virginia native was too caught up in a historical perspective on a career that had him remembering his days in uniform at Pulaski County High School and James Madison University.
"It's great to be where we're going," Clark said. "I'm just trying to enjoy this, because Buffalo will be knocking the heck out of me soon enough.
"This is bigger than the last Super Bowl for me, and I think for all of us, because we hadn't been in a while. After you've tasted it, you're so hungry to get back there again.
"This is what we're about. This is what we do for a living. This feeling is the answer for why we go out every July and August in pads, when it's 110 degrees, and you wonder what the heck you're doing out there getting the crap knocked out of you.
"And whether we win the next one or not, we'll be out there again next year doing the same thing again, because football is what I love to do. This sounds silly, but I'm not even a big football fan. At times like this though, I am."
Clark's 11th scoring reception of a 16-2 season came with 2:23 remaining in the third quarter and shoved Washington to a 27-10 lead. The second-and-23 call by quarterback Mark Rypien from the Lions' 45 was a surprise to Clark's ears in the huddle.
"I'd like to say it was the biggest play of the game because I caught it," Clark said with a grin. "I don't know about that, but I do think it put a question mark in Detroit's mind about whether they could stay with us.
"I was just relieved I didn't drop it. That feeling of hearing our fans screaming, women blowing me kisses . . . the only thing that can top it, I guess, would be for us to come out and win against Buffalo, because that's The Show."
Clark said the Redskins practiced his touchdown play all week "and we didn't complete it once."
"When Ryp said we were going fix six, I thought he was calling our Play Six. Then, he looked at me and I knew what he meant," Clark said.
Clark's route was the deepest the Redskins threw in their fifth NFC title-game appearance in a decade. The seventh-year receiver then spent much of the rest of his day filling a water cooler for the purpose of dousing coach Joe Gibbs.
In that effort, Clark wasn't nearly as accurate as Rypien's day-long passing. Gibbs' hair barely was dampened by Clark's playful pour.
"You practice in July and August and play those exhibition games and then you play 16 long weeks and some years you come up short like we have in the last few," said Clark, 29. "This makes me feel like I'm 21 again."
As large as the little man's catch was, however, he reasoned it wasn't the biggest of his career. In '87, his 7-yard grab of a Doug Williams' pass with 5:15 left was the difference in the Redskins' 17-10 NFC championship victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
"That last one in the championship game, there was a lot more on the line at a more crucial moment," said Clark, who doesn't "care if it snows 12 feet" in Super site Minneapolis en route to his fourth Pro Bowl Hawaii vacation a week later.
"This one was big," he said. "Maybe there's a bigger one yet to come."
Keywords:
FOOTBALL