The University of Mississippi Athletics
Carlos Clark To Be Honored As SEC Living Legend
2/17/2003 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Carlos Clark, a former standout on Ole Miss Rebel basketball squads from 1980-83, will be honored as one of the Chick-fil-A'/Southeastern Conference's Living Legends at the 2003 league tournament, to be held at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans Mar. 13-16.
"We are again excited about this program and Chick-fil-A's continuing support of SEC basketball," said league commissioner Mike Slive. "Honoring these former standouts gives the conference the opportunity to thank those who helped establish the rich basketball tradition in our conference."
A four-year letterwinner for the Rebels from 1980-83, Clark earned Associated Press All-America honorable mention distinction following the 1981-82 campaign. He also received All-SEC first team accolades from Associated Press, United Press International (UPI) and the league's coaches in 1982 and 1983 and was named to the 1982 SEC All-Tournament Team.
Clark, a member of the first four-year senior class in Rebel history to play in four-consecutive postseasons (NCAA, 1981; NIT, 1980, 1982, 1983), helped lead Ole Miss to the program's first SEC Tournament title in 1981. That 1981 Rebel squad was also the first in the program's history to earn an NCAA Tournament berth. Ole Miss posted a 70-51 record during his career, and the 70 victories are the fifth most by a four-year senior class in Ole Miss history.
He played in 118 career games for the Rebels, and his 1,822 points stand third on the Rebel career scoring leaders list, behind only John Stroud (who was honored as an SEC Living Legend in 2000) and Joe Harvell. Clark shot 54.7 percent from the field for his career, which is third-best in Ole Miss history, and netted double figures in 37-straight games during one stretch in his career, the fourth-longest of its kind in Rebel history.
Following his Ole Miss career, Clark was selected by the Boston Celtics in the fourth round of the 1983 NBA Draft. He played two seasons (1983-84, 1984-85) with the Celtics and was a member of the Celtic squad that won the 1984 NBA Championship in a dramatic seven-game series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Clark was inducted into the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 2001.
Joining Clark as 2003 SEC Living Legends are Alabama's Buck Johnson, Arkansas' Lee Mayberry, Auburn's Bill Alexander, Florida's Gary Keller, Georgia's James Banks, Kentucky's Jack Givens, LSU's Pete Maravich, Mississippi State's Joe Dan Gold, South Carolina's Mike Dunleavy, Tennessee's Tom Boerwinkle, and Vanderbilt's Will Purdue.
Each legend will be recognized at halftime of his institution's first tournament game. The legends will be honored as a group at halftime of the tournament's first semifinal game Mar. 15.
