OCR Text |
Show Big Bomitifcl Brarw Booster v; By BRYAN GRAY BOUNTIFUL -- Every Friday during the fc football season, a case of fresh fruit is delivered to the Bountiful High varsity team. EVERY MAY a student athlete at the school is honored with the prestigious A&Z Football Award, and top athletes in other sports are presented with the outstanding player trophy. And most Friday evenings Cliff Clark and his wife Margaret will be among the Brave faithful cheering on the fortunes of the Bountiful football foot-ball or basketball teams. "HE'S ONE OF our biggest boosters," says Bountiful High principal Don Perkins. "Cliff Clark is always asking what he can do to help the school. And he helps in so many ways. I remember one State playoff game when we took the field in blustery, cold weather. And here came Cliff with a rented gas heater to keep the players warm on the sidelines. He's modest about his support and doesn't even credit himself him-self for it." "Why should I pat myself on the back?" agrees Cliff. "Shouldn't everybody in a community com-munity support their school? It's no big deal." BUT IT IS a "big deal" to the many students .who have been honored by Cliff and the A&Z Awards. The football award based on scholastic scholas-tic standards and citizenship as well as athletic ability was first given in 1959. Three years later the Clark family began funding awards for other athletes from tennis to wrestling, from swimming to cross country. And once there was an additional award, one that Cliff recalls more fondly than all the others. "I was watching the track relay team practice prac-tice one afternoon," he muses, "and I noticed a young man who was the first alternate on the team. The boy was new to Bountiful High and he only had one arm! Considering the handicap he had, that young man was the best athlete on the track that day. "SO AT THE Awards Assembly we pre,-sented pre,-sented our Profile in Courage Award to that young man. The boy received a five-minute standing ovation from the other students and I received a lump in my throat. We haven't presented pre-sented that award since, but if the right student comes along..." An avid sports fan, Cliff Clark attended Davis High School (Class of '36), but he never suited up for a football team. "I WAS TOO darn small," he laughs. "It's hard to be competitive when you only weigh 1 10 pounds." But he continued to follow sports, and when he oldest son, JayDee, took the field as a Bountiful Boun-tiful guard, Cliff began looking for ways to help the school. He had previously sent the box of fruit from A&Z Produce, a Salt Lake fruit and vegetable firm he then co-owned, but he and partner Lloyd Zesiger then took out a separate bank account to fund the annual football award. His support continued-and so did the family tradition as sons Stephen and Scott donned don-ned Brave jerseys. Within 12 years the three boys and his one daughter, Marji, graduated from the high school, but he didn't halt his support. "WHY SHOULD I stop helping the school?" he retorts. "It's still my school and I still live in '-; the community." The A&Z Produce Company has changed in that Cliff, who began as a delivery boy for the firm in 1937, now owns the company with his partner sons. And Bountiful has changed over the years with a tremendous population growth. BUT SOME things don't change. It's 1984 and the fresh fruit still arrives for the team. And . Cliff is still in the stands cheering the Brave varsity. And there are some 200 former Bountiful athletes who can still remember the applause as they grasped Cliff Clark's trophies. 'NOT EVERYONE knows Cliff is behind all of this," says Mr. Perkins. THEY DO now! |