Five Years Later: Remembering Colin Clark

EDITORIAL – Five years ago, Colin Clark died of a heart attack. He was 35-years-old. Clark played in Major League Soccer from 2006-2013. Four and a half of those eight years were spent with the Colorado Rapids. On the fifth anniversary of his death, Burgundy Wave looks back on the player and the person Colin was, with a little help from those close to him.

The Fort Collins native joined the Rapids organization with the PDL reserve team in 2005. This was after two seasons of college soccer at Southern Methodist University. Clark played for Colorado Rush growing up in the front range. He broke into the first team in 2006 and got regular minutes from 2007 onward. He became known for work rate, being a good teammate, and his distribution as a left midfielder. He was well liked by those who played with him.

Clark was traded on the final day of the 2010 secondary transfer window to Houston Dynamo. Colorado received veteran midfielder Brian Mullan and a draft pick (which later became Stéfano Pinho, who never played for the club). Then head coach Gary Smith was looking to acquire players who were slightly better tactical fits. He also valued experience. Clark was 26 at the time. Mullan was 32 and had been in MLS almost a decade.

Colorado went on to win MLS Cup that year without Clark. He spent two years and change with El Naranja. Notably, he scored a winning penalty against RSL in September 2012. Houston would make the MLS Cup Final in 2011 and 2012. Clark was a 78th minute in 2011 and was not in the match day squad the following year. Houston would lose both games to LA Galaxy.

He played his final season in 2013 with LA Galaxy after being selected in the Re-entry draft. It was unclear at the time publicly whether heart issues were known or a factor in his decision to retire. He was 29 at the time. He went on to play amateur soccer back home in Colorado and got into coaching locally.

The peak of his career might have been the first half of 2009 when he recorded three goals and five assists in 16 starts. He played so well, he made the roster for the Gold Cup. His only USMNT senior cap came in the final group stage game, a 2-2 draw with Haiti. Clark tore his ACL in August that year. He missed the rest of the season. The injury possibly lowered the ceiling of his career.

Clark was imperfect. He was caught using a homophobic slur towards a ballboy during a game at Seattle Sounders in March 2012. It was one of the biggest MLS controversies of the year. He was suspended three games, fined, and given mandatory diversity and sensitivity training. In the aftermath, Clark was remorseful:

Story time with his teammates:

Burgundy Wave spoke to several former Rapids teammates and staff about Colin. There’s several stories that show the type of player and human he was.

Jamie Smith joined the club midseason in 2009 and was direct competition on the wing.

“Colin I remember fondly because although we were vying for the same spot in the team, he was one of the first guys to reach out to me and be so welcoming to me as a person. That was a hard pill to swallow, because Colin was a healthy guy who is a great person and obviously a really, really talented soccer player. I remember having a sleepover at his apartment one night when we went out. It was an off weekend. We had some dinner and a couple of drinks and came back to his apartment. And I slept over.”

Marvell Wynne played with Colin and later had his career cut short due to an aortic aneurysm.

“I think the first week I was there, all the guys wanted me to go out with them to Larimer Square and met his girlfriend, who became his wife. He had a locker next to me and it was a cool guy.

“When it comes to heart health, you look and feel a certain way, but you never really know what’s going on internally. Try to get checked up. Go to the doctor and see what’s going on. It doesn’t matter how you might feel one day to another. For me, there was nothing. I was playing at the highest level. It can just kind of spring up on you. Do everything you can to remain healthy. Take care of yourself.”

Jeff Plush was the Managing Director at the club for Colin’s entire time as a Rapids player. He remembers trading him for Brian Mullan being a tough decision.

“Just a great young man. Shifty and could run. Tried to get aggressive in the final third. I’ll never forget, (Paul) Bravo sent me a text: ‘Have you heard about Colin?’ I hadn’t heard anything. It was devastating. And it was great to go to the event at the stadium. He was obviously very loved. It was very, very hard to trade Colin. He’s the type of person you want in your organization you want to build through. But we needed that balance. Mullan brought us balance. He brought us a championship pedigree. And so you had to give talent to get talent. And so it was a deal that was hard to make on a personal level.”

Omar Cummings was an MLS SuperDraft pick in 2007. He would break into the first team after Clark and go on to be one of the best strikers in club history. He and Conor Casey were central to the team’s success in 2010.

“I don’t think there is enough to say. I definitely miss him. Colin led the way for myself and other guys that came in my rookie year. He was one of the first guys to break through the Cobras (the internal nickname for the Rapids Reserves) into the first team. He led the way for us (me and Kosuke Kimura). He was the standard.”

Goalkeeper Matt Pickens and captain Pablo Mastroeni remembered him for his work ethic on the field and family values off.

“I just feel for his family and his kid. Just a good player. Really good left foot. And he actually worked at it. (Assistant Coach) Steve (Guppy) used to work with Colin. He would do two day sessions with them, which is a rarity to see. A starting player isn’t going to go out in the afternoon, do a second session with a coach,” Pickens told Burgundy Wave

“It rewarded Colin because he got called on the national team and then got his cap. That’s a testament to Colin actually putting in the work and being a little bit more serious about his work, to help him propel his career. That’s something that I admire about Colin. He didn’t shy away from the actual work.”

Mastroeni saw things come full circle for Colin, on the field through Steve Guppy and off the field through becoming a father:

“He was a player that was enamored with Ryan Giggs. He would spend countless hours alone working on his moved, his crossing. When Steven Guppy came along with Gary smith, they would spend a half hour every day just working on his ability to cross. Guppy was a huge mentor to Colin Clark. Guppy had played in the Premier Leauge and played against Ryan Giggs. That made Colin the player he was.

“Off the field, one of the things that stands out for me with Coln is the amount of love that he had for his family. When I had the opportunity to go to LA in the later part of 2013, Colin had been in LA. I remember countless times we’d want to get together. He’d say, ‘Why don’t you come over? Let’s go golfing. I got my son. Let’s see if we can bring him along.’ I met Colin when he was just a kid out of college and then seeing him grow into a man who realized the more important things in life. He’d not only talk about it, but lived it.”

Rest in peace, Colin. For more information on heart health, check out these resources at the CDPHE and American Heart Association.

Photo Credit: Garrett Ellwood/Major League Soccer via Getty Images

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