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Former senator,
football player
Clark dies at 71

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Star-Bulletin staff

Former state senator and standout football athlete James K. Clark died Sunday on the Big Island where he had retired. He was 71.

Friends may call from 9 to 11 a.m. Monday at Oahu Cemetery Chapel. Funeral services will begin at 11 a.m. Burial will follow at Oahu Cemetery.

Clark joined the Republican Party in 1953 when his father-in-law, the late Honolulu Mayor Neal Blaisdell, first ran for office. He was elected to the state House in 1962 and served there until 1966, when he won his first term in the Senate. In 1969, Clark switched to the Democratic Party.

In private life, Clark worked for the Hawaiian Government Employees Association. Later, he was a member of the Hawaii Labor Relations Board and a Big Island delegate to the Native Hawaiian Convention.

Clark graduated from Punahou School in 1948 and received his undergraduate degree from Oregon State University.

Clark was all-conference guard for two of his three years playing at Oregon State and was picked by the Washington Redskins.

He was a Redskins tackle for two years. He also was head football coach at St. Louis High School while working for the HGEA.

Clark is survived by one son, Timothy; three daughters, Lucy of Kohala, Jamie Ann Rapacz of Wailuku, and Cora, also of Wailuku; one sister, Florence Miyamoto; and two grandchildren, James of Kohala and Shana of Wailuku.

The family requests that flowers be omitted.