JUSTIN CLARK

Justin Clark lived and died by the phrase, “Cooking is noise and noise is cooking,” as he was the proud ringleader of the late night mystery chefs whose culinary skills peaked in the wee hours of the post-bar night. “We would take anything we could find – tuna, bacon, chicken nuggets, Mase’s supplements, Ramen Noodles, Creatine, green beans – you name it, we cooked it up and it was glorious!” said Clark.

It was during one of these midnight cooking sessions in the Rugby House kitchen at 14 th & E where Justin and his pal, Jim Fitzpatrick were introduced to rugby by way of then coach, Phil Murphy. Murph highly encouraged (threatened) the duo to come out to practice the following Tuesday, and they did just that.

After only two weeks of practice, Justin found himself starting in the Omaha tournament at second row and the rest is history. Little did he know, this sport would later allow him to compete against some of the best players not only in the US, but in the world!

After excelling at the collegiate game, Clark was hooked, and then coach, Tommy Smith, former Denver Barbarian captain, helped secure Justin an internship at the University of Denver in the sports marketing Department. This allowed for not only a great professional learning opportunity, but also the opportunity to play for the Barbarian’s 7’s team who, in his first year of playing was competing for the Men’s 7’s National Championship as his squad ended up placing second. He played 7’s with the Barbos

for eight seasons and finished no lower than seventh, and more times than not, ended up in the national top four. He would also play for their 15’s squad and competed in the Super League. He captained this club between 2006 – ’08, and always competed toe-to-toe against the perennial powerhouse of the era, The Gentlemen of Aspen. It was during this time that he fell in love with Aspen Ruggerfest as he, over his career, won this prestigious tournament three times with the Barbos, three times with the Misfits, two

times with Time Rugby, and just this past year, once with his former adversary, Aspen.  He competed in the Can-Am games in 2010 in Calgary, as well as with the Classic Eagles in Bermuda between 2010-’14. He toured with many of his Classic Eagles’ teammates to Fiji and England in the Vintage World Cup Classic. 

One of his career highlights took place in Bermuda. After his US team was knocked out of the competition, Clark, along with a few of his teammates, were asked to sub with the Classic Australian team which had been decimated by injury. Clark figured he would sub only when and if needed, but he quickly found himself playing not only most of the semi-finals, but also starting in the finals against the Classic South African team who had a plethora of capped players including Percy Montgomery, who at one time, held the all-time records for both caps and points for the Springboks. Clark’s adopted Ausie squad won the championship!

He still straps up the boots with a touring side he helped start called “TIME Rugby” who believes that “Each tour is momentary TIME for that group of players.” Team members not only pay dues, but also contribute extra dollars that get invested back into youth rugby around the US in cities such as Kansas City – Rockhurst, New Orleans, Denver and Colorado Springs, so that these young players can have their own “TIME” in the future.

Justin and his wife Joanna have been married for 20 years and have three boys ages 17, 15 and 12. They live in Alma, NE and own/manage a resort-like set up on the Harlan County Reservoir called the Patterson Harbor Marina that contains among other activities, camping, boating, RV park, marina and bar. He welcomes any former UNL rugby player to reach out and visit the lake anytime!