Paper Tiger Tent

BATON ROUGE – One of the stars of the 1953 LSU NCAA Final Four team, Ned Clark, passed away on Monday at the age of 92.

Clark, a native of Baton Rouge, was a familiar center court attendee for many years at LSU men’s basketball games before his health began to decline.

One of his last major appearances at the PMAC came in 2023 celebrating the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Final Four team when he was joined on court by longtime friend Bob Pettit.

Ned attended Baton Rouge High School, Darlington Preparatory School, LSU, and Banking School of the South. Ned graduated from Louisiana State University in 1955 and is a former U.S. Air Force captain. While at LSU, Ned also played for the LSU Baseball team. He was honored as the school’s SEC Basketball Legend in 2010 at the SEC Tournament.

In looking back at his career in the Baton Rouge State Times, Clark said, “I guess one of the significant things about our team was that we had three starters who were from the Baton Rouge area, which was pretty unique.”

They were Pettit and Clark, who played at Baton Rouge High and Norman Magee, who was from Port Allen.

The 1953 Tigers had a 22-3 record and was ranked sixth in the polls. In the NCAA Tournament, they beat Lebanon Valley and Holy Cross in the Regionals at Raleigh, North Carolina, but lost to Indiana, 80-67, in the national semifinals in Kansas City, Kansas.

The Tigers had to play without Pettit for a time in the 1952-53 season, who had pneumonia for several games and LSU won all six games.

“Every person sort of reached down and played a little bit better,” Clark once said. “That, I believe, strengthened our team. It gave us individual confidence in our own abilities.”

Clark averaged 9.3 points a game during the Final Four campaign as a sophomore in 1952-53 and a best of 9.8 points in 1954-55.

Rebounding was Clark’s strength, averaging the second-best single season total still in school history at 15.83 in 1954-55. He is fifth all-time to this day in rebounds with 988 and eighth in career rebound average of 10.08 per game.

Clark was on the search committee which selected Dale Brown to coach basketball at LSU.

“(Brown) deserves enormous credit for his long hours and hard work in promoting interest in LSU Basketball,” Clark said. “It was not easy. There was a lot of pain and suffering to finally get talented people to come to LSU.”

Ned’s career in banking spanned over 55 years and included the launching of two banks. Ned played an active role in numerous civic, professional and charitable organizations, serving in various capacities on the boards of United Givers, Junior Achievement of Greater Baton Rouge, the YMCA, LSU National L Club, The Rotary Club, United Way, Baton Rouge General, St. James Place, St. James Church, Baton Rouge Food Bank, Boy Scouts and The Cancer Services, among others. His accolades include the Baton Rouge Volunteer Activist Award and The Baton Rouge Brotherhood and Sisterhood Award of the NCCJ, among others.

Ned is survived by his wife of 69 years, Laura O’Lenic Clark; daughters, Bryan Clark Fox (Ray) and Chrissie Clark Olsson (Don); son, EM Ned Clark, Jr. (Stacey); grandchildren, Harrison Fox (Megan), Hayden Fox, Bryan Olsson, Clark Olsson, Collyn Clark Stramwasser (Cristian), Matthew Clark (Caroline) and Camille Clark Theriot (Henri); and great-grandchildren, Tessa Clark, Sophie Stramwasser, Preston Stramwasser, Duke Clark, Millie Fox and Frankie Fox.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Willard Curtis Clark and Sally Swain Clark, and his sister, Nancy Clark Wait.

Pallbearers will be Harrison Fox, Matthew Clark, Hayden Fox, Bryan Olsson, Clark Olsson and John O’ Hearin. Honorary pallbearers are Dick Hearin and Robert Pettit, Jr.

A visitation will be held on March 27 at Rabenhorst Funeral Home on Government St. from 5-8 p.m. Visitation will resume on March 28 at St. James Episcopal Church from Noon until the Funeral Service at 1:30 p.m. Burial will follow at Greenoaks Memorial Park.

In memory of Ned, please consider giving to some of his favorite Organizations including Hospice of Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge Food Bank, St. James Episcopal Church or Cancer Services of Baton Rouge. The family is deeply grateful for his caregivers Donnie Batiste, Beverly Helm, Shaneika Finley, Shondell Gaines and Carolyn Clark. Special thanks to Latriecia Anderson and Debbie Sparacello from Hospice of Baton Rouge.

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That’s what you get for driving a Chevy.

He’s left LSU like 4 times for other schools. There is no reason to make any effort to keep him.

Third time. I was in love with Tom Herman in 2016 and was pissed when O was hired. I was wrong, he was the right hire at the time because he actually had a plan to build a championship program (the binder).

I was also in love with Aranda and Riley last time. Not sure what would’ve come of any of those, but I don’t think anyone was right about that one.

My mentor Jimmy Buffett used to love St. Barts. May he rest in peace.

5th year senior who plays his arse off with a ton of enthusiasm. Had some great plays tonight. He’s suffered through injury and being on some bad teams but is an awesome player. Great tiger and we will miss him next year. I hope he has a long NFL career. Thanks #90!!

No one who actually has sources is going to anonymously burn them for internet clout from HailHailToMichigan! on the Tiger Rant.

Jimbo was head coach in waiting for Bowden. That’s the only time I can recall it working well. Muschamp was HCIW at Texas but jumped to Florida first. I believe WVU had a situation recently that did not work out well.

Does anyone have any recorded stories of Jimmy visiting GI?

He seems like he would have loved it, and I know he had a great affinity for New Orleans. I also used to believe this line was written about Grand Isle:

“I want to go back to the islands
Where the shrimp boats are tied up to the piling
Give me oysters and beer
For dinner every day of the year
And I'll feel fine, I'll feel fine”

Any insights?

In the 12 team playoff era, this game just doesn't mean as much as it used to. With transfers all over the field and Clemson having home-field advantage, keeping it close would be a nice showing.

This team's mettle will really be tested in the weeks after... can they bounce back and win 10 of the last 11? I think so! And then, can they beat Clemson in a rematch? Time will tell.

I will gladly own it if it results in a W. Geaux tigers