Dallas personifies
every aspect of what the Selection Committee looks for in a Tight End. Outstanding
athletic prowess on the field, positive sportsmanship-like behavior and a drive
to embody the leadership abilities of John Mackey both on and off the field. Dallas
enrolled in Iowa as a part time student and did not play football in 1998 after
suffering a broken collarbone playing baseball in his senior year in HS. Looking
to be a linebacker like his brother, he was a walk-on at Iowa in 1999, but spent
his first season as a red-shirt freshman after recovering from an emergency appendectomy
two days before the season opened. Dallas finally got his chance to get on the
field and play again as a linebacker in 2000.
By playing as a walk on, Dallas
had to prove his athletic ability on special teams, and he took advantage of every
opportunity. Dallas: "It's the best way to help a team out, if you're a first
or second year guy." During the spring of the 2001 season Coach Ferentz noticed
something special about Clark's ability to manipulate the field and his athletic
ability and asked him to switch to tight end. That season Dallas went on to grab
38 receptions for 539 yards and 4 touchdowns.
There is more to being a tight
end than just catching the ball and Dallas knows that. Even though Dallas earned
Big Ten Player of the Week honors for his performance in the game against Purdue
(3 catches, 111 yds and 2 td's - a 95 yd td and the game winner with 1:07 to go
on 4th down), it is his game against Indiana that he recalls when you ask about
his best game. "I didn't have the best stats, I didn't have a 95 yard touchdown...but
my best overall performance as a tight end, and its been my best game as a tight
end at Iowa, was my Indiana game...my blocking, my effort, my finishing of blocks
and my routes definitely graded out the best."
Dallas's credits don't stop
once he steps off the playing field. He is a solid student majoring in Elementary
Education, is part of the Football Leadership Group and is one of the teams representatives
on the Iowa Student-Athlete Action Committee designed to help shape the UI Athletics
Department policies and initiate department wide out-reach efforts.
The John
Mackey Award was created by the NCSC under the guidance of board member Don McPherson,
a county native and former NFL and Syracuse University All-American quarterback.
Mackey, also a Nassau County native, is regarded as one of the best athletes to
have played the position of tight end. In addition to being an NFL Hall of Famer,
he is a Super Bowl winner (Baltimore, Super Bowl V) and was the first President
of the NFLPA.
The NCSC is a non-profit, 501 (c) (3) organization created in
1992 to enhance the quality of life for Nassau County residents through sport.
For additional information please contact Bryan Cain at 516-365-9625 or bryan@nassausports.org.
