Kooper Clark’s dad and uncle won state titles at Tumwater. He wants to join them
Kooper Clark was born to be a Tumwater Wing-T running back. His dad Keith and uncle Kevin both played running back at Tumwater, winning state championships in 1989 and 1990.
From the time he was a kid, Kooper has been coached by Keith and Kevin, learning how to play running back in the Wing-T — how to set up blocks, being patient, when to hit the hole, how to shed tackles. It should come as no surprise then that Kooper, now a senior, has been Tumwater’s top running back this season, leading the T-Birds to the 2A state championship game against Anacortes at Husky Stadium this Saturday.
“It was kind of intimidating when I first found out who they were in this program,” Kooper Clark said.
His uncle, Kevin, went on to play fullback for the USC Trojans. As a kid in the Thurston County Youth Football League, he wore his uncle’s No. 44. Now he wears his dad’s No. 35 on his high school jersey.
“The biggest thing is it’s been super helpful,” Kooper said. “I couldn’t have had a better mentor than the both of them.”
Tumwater’s youth programs run the same Wing-T offense the high school team does. It’s been that way for decades now, dating back to the days of Sid Otton, the state’s all-time winningest coach (394 wins). Kooper has been drilled on the nuances of running the Wing-T since he was in kindergarten.
“His vision,” first-year Tumwater coach Willie Garrow said. “He has the best vision of any of our running backs in terms of understanding where the blocks are supposed to come from and not having to wait for them to get there.”
Tumwater’s Wing-T features a lot of misdirection and linemen pulling and hitting blocks from different angles. Running backs can’t just hit the hole as quickly as possible. It takes time for things to develop.
“He’s not the fastest, he’s not the quickest, he’s not the strongest, but his vision sets him apart,” Garrow said. “He does such a good job setting up blocks and knowing where to cut.”
Kooper credits his dad and uncle for those traits.
“I think any coach could teach zone running,” he said. “I learned a lot from both of them. Especially in this offense, only people who have really been through it can teach it and get it solidified.”
Clark is listed at 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds on the roster. He’s not a physically intimidating player, but he runs with the same viciousness his dad ran with.
“He’s a much more intelligent runner than I ever was, but his anger and his physicalness, I think he gets that from me and his uncle,” Keith said. “Kooper only being 175 pounds, he’s a really violent runner. Guys try to tackle him like he’s soft and he’s not. That’s what I see.
“I was real similar. It took everything you had to tackle me. He’s definitely got that.”
What he doesn’t have, yet: a state championship. His dad and uncle won two in their sophomore and junior years. Kooper will have one last chance to claim some dinner table bragging rights on Saturday.
“It’d be super special to me,” he said. “My dad lost his senior year. I gotta kind of do it for him.”
FAMILY ATMOSPHERE AT TUMWATER
There are other players on Tumwater’s team with dads and relatives who played football at Tumwater. Something about the program has a magnetic pull on families over multiple generations.
“I think a lot of it has to do with what coach Otton and coach (Pat Alexander) fostered,” Garrow said. “Coach Otton was particularly good at helping people understand that they’re valuable as people and not just as athletes.”
Keith Clark remembers something Otton said to a reporter after a game once. The reporter asked him something along the lines of, “How did the boys do tonight?”
His reply: “I’ll tell you in 20 years.”
“He meant that, he preached that,” Keith said. “He was more interested in us being good men and good citizens. A lot of programs say that, but they actually do that here. … It truly is a family. You really feel that bond.
“Some of my very best friends are T-Birds, the guys I played with. We’ve helped each other get jobs, we’ve helped each other move, we’ve helped with each other’s kids. Coach Otton instilled that in us a long time ago.”
Kooper Clark leads Tumwater with 1,204 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns. He’s just one athlete on a team filled with good ones, players who poured in over an estimated 600 hours of football activity since Garrow was hired in February. Their collective work has Tumwater a win away from the program’s seventh state championship.
“It’s a tremendous commitment level,” Garrow said. “Most places won’t do that.”
