Tim Clark, head varsity lacrosse coach at Park Tudor School and president of the Indiana Chapter of US Lacrosse, has been named the recipient of the 2011 Rev. Charles Williams Award.
The Rev. Charles Williams Award recognizes individuals who have distinguished themselves through direct service to youth in the Indianapolis community.
Formerly known as the Chairman’s Award, the award was renamed in July 2004 in honor of the late president of Indiana Black Expo. Past award recipients include Indiana Fever All-Star Tamika Catchings, former Indiana University’s men’s soccer coach Jerry Yeagley, and former Indiana state Sen. Glenn Howard.
“Indiana Sports Corp. is pleased to recognize Tim as this year’s Rev. Charles Williams Award recipient,” said Susan Williams, Indiana Sports Corp. president. “His work with Indianapolis youth provides an opportunity for them to compete and be active while developing life skills that will allow them to succeed both on and off the field.”
Clark, has served as the president of the Indiana Youth Lacrosse Association. He also has been instrumental in helping create lacrosse programs at Herron High School, Charles A. Tindley School and St. Richard’s School.
Clark was the first minority to be selected to serve on the US Lacrosse Executive Board. He chairs the US Lacrosse Board Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion. The Task Force proposes strategies to increase minority participation in lacrosse across the country at all levels and positions.
Over the past six years, Clark has conducted youth lacrosse clinics for organizations with a high population of minority youth, such as Martin Luther King Community Center, Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Jewish Community Center, Charles A. Tindley School and others. Beginning in 2011, Clark expanded his lacrosse clinics to include IPS students at the IPS Summer Champions Sports Camp.
Currently, Clark is the program manager of the Indiana Mentoring Partnership at the Indiana Youth Institute. He oversees a program that provides mentors to Indiana 21st Century Scholars’ students throughout their secondary and post-secondary school.
Previously, Clark managed the NCAA Youth Education Through Sports clinics for eight years in conjunction with select NCAA Championships such as the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours. One of the objectives of YES, and where Clark focused, was recruiting minority youth, college coaches and student-athletes to participate in the clinics.
He also served at the NCAA national office and the National Youth Sports Corp. office in an effort to support the National Youth Sports Program. NYSP was a federally-funded program that provided youth from low-income homes the opportunity to participate in a summer program conducted on a college campus that provided both educational and sports activities. NYSP operated on more than 300 campuses across the country, involving thousands of youth annually.
He obtained his bachelor’s degree in sociology and education from Hobart College in Geneva, N.Y., where he played football and lacrosse. He was a member of four NCAA National Championship Lacrosse teams.
Clark and his wife Sharon, the volleyball coach at Butler University, have a son, Myles.
In addition to recognizing Clark, Gov. Mitch Daniels will be honored as the 2011 Indiana Pathfinder Award recipient at the Indiana Sports Corp. annual meeting.
