Dixon and Clarke.

George Dixon and Don Clarke were great as offensive half backs in the early sixties. Dixon went on to have a long tenure with the Als as one of their greatest runers. Does anyone know what happened to Don Clarke? He was a sensational back but dissappeared!.

Hi, Hassall,
You must be an old guy, like me! Don Clark was my favourite running back - I thought that he even had a slight edge on George Dixon, but when they're both on your team, who cares? Greatest one-two punch I've ever seen (running backs). I will never forget the play that ended Don's career - a fat, no-talent Ottawa lineman who had, of course been burned by Don's speed, took the opportunity, after someone else had tackled Don, to make a VERY late hit. Don was on the ground, and this clown jumped in the air and came down in the small of his back, causing damage in the area of his kidneys, as I recall. That was pretty much it. Reminded me of the goons they used to put on the ice in hockey to take out the talented players on the opposing teams.
I'm afraid I don't know what happened to Don after that. If you do come across anything, I'd be very interested. Thanks.

Hey Blackspot : thanks for the info. I believe it was the season when Montreal had these two great backs that they met Ottawa in the semi final. Etcheverry did not pass at all in the first half. He had these backs but, for the first rime in Sam's days with the Als, his percentage of passes was very low. The next year Etcheverry was traded to Hamilton for Faloney. A couple of years later we learned from Cahill's book that Moss and Cahill believed Sam's arm was gone [which was the main reason they made the trade }.Their thesis must have been correct as Etcheverry showed he really had lost his arm with his sub-par performance with the St louis Cards. The Als , as you most likely remember went on a ten years of funk, and did not have a good replacement umtil Sommy Wade emerged around 1970. It was ironic that was the first time [this time as coach] that Sam won the Grey Cup- this time as coach.

Site says Clark played from 60-63, (thought it was longer)and, of course, it was in 63 that he was injured. I miss the days of the "quick opener" that Dixon and Clark used to run. For younger fans, it got these speedy backs into the secondary before the "D" even knew what kind of play was being run. Imagine - Als down 19-0 to BC in 4th quarter. Dixon ran the "quick opener" from three different points on the field for 3 TD'S. Final - Als 21-19! (All into the end zone where I was sitting!)