June 13, 2007
Orlando, Fla. (www.UCFAthletics.com) - Bo Clark wasted little time in alerting the college basketball world that he was back. After missing the previous campaign due to foot and knee injuries, UCF's junior guard quickly made a statement in the Knights' 1978-79 season opener at Flagler.
Playing all 40 minutes, Clark scored 44 points on 19-of-38 shooting from the field in UCF's 102-91 victory on Nov. 28. The season opener was an indicator of the staggering scoring numbers that would follow for Clark.
Starring at UCF from 1975-80, Clark played under his father, Torchy, the program's first head coach. One of the most prolific scorers in NCAA Division II history, Clark totaled a school-record 2,886 points during his career.
He owns every scoring record in program history. Many of the records that Clark broke belonged to his brother Mike, who played for the Knights from 1969-73, scoring 2,085 points.
Bo Clark scored early and often during his career at UCF. He averaged 24.1 points as a freshman in 1975-76 on a team that also featured 25-point scorer Bennie Shaw. Clark scored as many as 35 points as a rookie and paced the Knights in the category eight times.
His sophomore year featured more of the same. Clark attempted 677 field goals and ranked third nationally in scoring (28.8). He established a school record with 70 points versus Florida Memorial on Jan. 31, 1977.
Clark made 33 of his 47 field-goal attempts versus the Lions, good for 70.2 percent. He scored 36 points in the opening half as Florida Memorial could not stop him from scoring.
Following the game, Lions' head coach A.C. Robinson acknowledged that his team had no way of defending Clark, telling reporters that "the only way we could have stopped him was to grab both arms and break them."
In an exhibition game before the 1977-78 season, Clark broke a bone in his foot and was forced to miss the entire year. Despite missing their top scorer, the Knights recorded the most successful season in program history, going 26-4 and advancing to the Division II semifinals.
Clark had his best year in 1978-79. The junior led the nation in scoring from the start of the season to the end of the year. In 23 games, he averaged 31.6 points. Clark made 315 of his 632 field-goal attempts, shooting 49.8 percent from the floor.
The Knights played five Division I teams that season and the games against the well-known programs gave Clark the opportunity to play against the best. He totaled 27 points at UTEP and dropped 31 points against both Columbia and New Mexico.
Opponents used several defensive techniques against the 6-foot-1 guard, including the box-and-one. Teams tried to physically wear him down, but nothing worked.
"Every place I go, since I'm the leader in the nation (in scoring), I'm quite an attraction," Clark told the Associated Press late in the season. "Teams try to shake me up, push me around. I don't worry about it."
Clark was not shy about his scoring ability as he often admitted that it was his goal to lead the nation in scoring and be a member of a winning team.
Like Larry Bird at Indiana State, Clark wanted his scoring to help his team, not hurt his squad. He did not want to be known as a player who took 27 shots a game, but was on a losing team.
Clark did not want to follow the path of Pete Maravich, another college standout who played for his father. Maravich scored an NCAA-record 3,667 points during his three-year career (1967-70) at Louisiana State, but his Tiger squads averaged just 16 victories per year.
Despite their difficult schedule and Clark's scoring statistics, the Knights went 19-7 in 1978-79. Following the season, he garnered National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II All-America First Team honors. Clark also gained All-America recognition as a sophomore and senior.
As national attention poured in because of his scoring ability, Clark even received special praise from his head coach.
"In my mind, Bo is probably the best pure shooter in the country," Torchy told the UCF sports information staff. "He's a Division I ballplayer playing at a Division II school."