ARTIE CLARK

His playing weight hovered around 150 pounds but he hit like a heavyweight and
stickhandled in the fashion of the legendary Rabbi Fryer. Artie Clark was a
forward but his body checking ability had just as much effect on opposing
players as a hitting defenseman. Defensemen stopped them at the blue line-Artie
dropped them at centre ice.

His athletic capabilities were not confined to hockey. He was equally adept in the games of baseball, softball and lacrosse and he even played creditable game of cricket. He pitched, caught and played the infield in baseball. We can recall many ball games back in the twenties when Artie caught the first four innings and then finished the game on the mound. He just turned fifteen when he made the Collingwood junior team in 1920. In 1921, he was a member of the exceptionally good Collingwood junior club that almost beat Howie Morenz and the Stratford Midgets in a sudden death semi-final game in the old Toronto Mutual Street Arena. Stratford went on to win the Dominion title.

He was still with Collingwood when they lost out in the O.H.A. semi-finals to Aura Lee and University of Toronto in 1922 and 1923. He moved up into the intermediate ranks with Collingwood the following year and then helped
the Grimsby Peach Kings win the Ontario title in 1925. That was the year the Peach Kings stunned the amateur hockey circles by beating the Soo Greyhounds in the first round of Allan Cup play. He stayed with the Peach Kings another year
and turned professional with the old Chicago Cardinals in 1927. In 1928, he was up with the leading scorers with the Kitchener Millionaires in the International League and had another good year with Teddy Oakes’ Toronto Millionaires in 1929.

The following year he signed with the Cleveland Barons where he teamed up with three other Collingwood born players, Reg Noble, Bern Brophy and Mike Brophy. Artie had a season with Syracuse and finished an eighteen-year in Oklahoma City in 1935.

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