STARKE, Fla. – On any given Friday night at Bradford home football games, you will hear one player’s name at least once from the announcer. Given how well that he’s played, there’s a good chance you’ll hear it over and over again.
“Chason Clark.”
The senior captain is a starting linebacker and tight end for the undefeated Tornadoes (9-0), who have been ranked No. 2 in the News4JAX Super 10 most of the season. Bradford holds the No. 1 seed in Region 2-2S and looks to wrap up an unbeaten regular season on Friday against Suwannee.
At the end of the year, Clark will continue his football career at Marshall University.
“A few years ago it was like ‘oh I have a few years’ and now it’s like ‘this is my last one,’” Clark said. “I have a few more weeks and then I’m gone. All the dreams of a little kid coming and playing on the field and now being the one that everyone is looking at this year is definitely something.”
All eyes are on Clark, and not just because he leads the team with 69 tackles and is third on the team with 13 tackles for loss. More importantly, it’s what Clark accomplishes off the field that sets him apart from others. He’s a visible leader in the Starke community and finds ways to give back through his organization that he launched last year. Clark said he plans to push his group into nonprofit status when he turns 18.
“It’s called TEN, which stands for today is everything or nothing,” Clark said. “Its always been my number, but I figured it was just a little bit more to me.”
Clark’s charity work seeks to raise awareness and combat substance abuse, as well youth outreach through sports. Clark said that mission is personal to him.
“I grew up with a grandfather that was one of the best men I ever met,” Clark said. “The whole community loved him. He struggled with alcohol abuse. Specifically, men struggle with things and men are known for just keeping it silent. Nobody knew but my grandfather. So, that’s where the substance abuse [in the foundation] comes from, is that I’m just trying to help people that honestly don’t know they need to be helped.”
The other part of that mission is to cast a positive light to young students in the community and be seen as a positive role model. Clark said it was when he was younger that a positive role model left an impact on him, and that he wants current players to do that same thing with their platform now.
“I had an amazing youth coach when I was a kid and that really inspired me to become who I am today,” Clark said. “The beginning years of your life is where you learn the most. You learn everything. So that’s where I go into youth is that if I help youth, hopefully the next few years they can grow into men and try to follow the footsteps I’m trying to leave behind.”
Clark held a free youth football camp in the summer and said it remains one of the most memorable experiences of his life.
“We gave them the football experience,” Clark said. “They got to run out of the tunnel and everything. Then they got some drills from all of our players. It was honestly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made happen.”
Clark says he wants to show his teammates how to give back to the community in hopes they continue volunteering after their time at Bradford is complete.
“Being a leader on the team it really helps me like when we threw the camp I had all the boys and they were just going to do it for me,” Clark said. “They’re willing to just do stuff in the community and now all the players like even the younger players, they all want to do it.”
Clark says the community has responded positively to TEN Corp and will continue the organization in college at Marshall.
“I think everything is bigger than football itself and I think if I can create a footstep now and really create the foundation for me to go in the future,” he said.