Ford Clark, a native of Melbeta, Nebraska, was only 16 years old when he first discovered his passion for sports broadcasting.
A good friend of his told him that his brother worked at the KOLT radio station in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. His buddy’s brother was getting ready to graduate, and convinced Clark to apply for a job.
He started off by working overnights as a sophomore in high school. By the time his senior year rolled around, he was DJing, reporting news and many other things, but nothing matched his love for broadcasting sports.
“I graduated and spent some time in limbo,” Clark said. “I remembered how much I loved broadcasting. So, I decided to become a broadcaster and knew this is how I could stay involved in sports.”
He then graduated with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Nebraska and spent about 15 years in the business as a sports journalist. While he enjoyed it, he always knew that he wanted to teach.
After moving with his wife to her home state of Indiana, he earned his teaching degree from Ball State University and spent some time teaching high school journalism and broadcasting. He then returned to his home state and received a master's degree from the University of Nebraska.
He got back into the business in a management role but severely missed the classroom. After teaching some high school English, he had the opportunity to teach broadcast journalism for the Cornhuskers’ sports program. Years later, he started a sports communication program at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
He spent about 10 years there cultivating and developing a program from scratch before making the jump to Briar Cliff University.
“Through some connections, I heard about the opportunity at Briar Cliff,” Clark said. “I was very aware of Briar Cliff; I have family that lives in the area, and it was a unique chance to get the program going here again.”
So far, he has the program going once again. In just his 2nd semester in Siouxland, he has developed a sports communication class that is over capacity. One of his main goals is to get all the classes that the major offers to be at or over capacity.
Another goal he has is to show students, specifically high school students, that they can make a living off their love for sports – like he had.
When he goes to local high schools to recruit, he’s found that many students don’t realize this. He tells them they can broadcast games, become a sports information director at a college or go work for a sports team.
“This is something we can teach you to do at Briar Cliff,” Clark said. “You can do all these different things to stay involved in sports after high school. Even if you’re not involved, it may be something you enjoy watching, and you can partake through writing or photography.”
Some ways he gets his students involved are giving them opportunities to stream games, provide play-by-play commentary, produce a podcast or write and take photos. Even though these are all things students learn in his class, he doesn’t push them towards one specific direction. He understands that not everybody can or will want to do play-by-play.
He also understands that not everyone will want to write or take photos. He just wants to give everybody an opportunity to do each thing in his class to find what they’re passionate about.
“I try to get my students experience doing as many things as possible,” Clark said. “Each discipline takes a gift. Some people are born writers, photographers or commentators.”
Another thing that is big for him is giving his students the chance to hear from and network with seasoned professionals that he has met throughout his years of working in sports media.
Clark understands the importance of getting experience in the field at a young age through internships or part-time work when in college or directly after. By allowing his students to learn and connect with professionals in the field, he hopes it helps his students be successful while in school but also find employment after.
“The sports communication business is built upon who you know, and who those people know,” Clark said. “It’s very important to me to expose my students to as many of those people as possible.”
While he’s focused on his current students’ success and excited that so many students want to take his class, he still has his eyes on the future of the sports communication program at BCU.
“I would like to have a beginning class and an advanced class,” Clark said. “I don’t want my students to have just one semester of this class and wishing they could do it more.”