Bob Lutz: Southwestern’s Cameron Clark overcomes adversity in a big way

There was an obvious low point in Cameron Clark’s basketball career, one so low as to make him consider giving up the sport.

It came in 2011 when his coach at Brookhaven College, a Division III junior college in Farmers Branch, Texas, essentially told Clark he was the last guy on the roster and that if he played at all, it would be in mop-up duty. Of the team’s 16 players, he was 17th.

That’s not what the coach had told Clark earlier, he said. He was already bummed about having to settle for a Division III junior-college scholarship out of Lewisville (Texas) High, so this news was more than discouraging.

Clark called his mother, Rochelle, in tears.

“I thought about transferring to Oklahoma State just to go to school,” Clark said.

And this is where Clark’s story takes an upturn. It skyrockets, in fact.

Clarks’s mom told him things would work out. She told him God would take care of this and open doors that were unimaginable. She told him to rely on his faith.

And that’s what Clark did.

He remembered an encounter the previous summer during an MAYB tournament in Wichita with Matt O’Brien, the basketball coach at Southwestern College in Winfield. O’Brien was interested, but understood Clark’s commitment to Brookhaven.

Now, though, things were different. Clark wanted a fresh beginning, so he called O’Brien. And the wheels were set in motion for a transfer.

Now for the best part.

Clark is an NAIA star, the first Moundbuilder to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds. His current totals are 2,223 points and 1,025 rebounds and rising. He is averaging 24.2 points this season and 19.7 for his career. He has played in 113 games.

Brookhaven, are you getting this?

“He has almost every record at our school,” O’Brien said. “He’s an elite rebounder and you can almost mark him down for 20 points. And over the last two years, he’s made himself into one of the best two-point jump shooters I’ve ever seen. His mid-range jump shot is unbelievable and not a lot of players even take those shots anymore. And he’s also shooting the ball well from the three-point line. He’s just an incredible offensive talent.”

Clark is 6-foot-3 but hadn’t played on the perimeter much until he arrived at Southwestern (19-4, 10-3 KCAC). He’s strong and physical and has turned 304 career offensive rebounds into a bunch of points, for sure. But he had to work on his outside game.

Thankfully, work isn’t a problem for this guy.

He trains during the summers with former Creighton guard Booker Woodfox, another Lewisville product. Clark trimmed down and rose up.

“Southwestern was a clean slate for me,” Clark said. “I was definitely nervous when I got here, though. I think they were ranked something like No. 14 in the country and I was watching a guy in practice one day named Spencer Murphy. He’s about 6-6 and he was killing everybody in the post, shooting threes, fading away. I said to one of the guys, ‘Man, he’s really good, how many minutes does he play?’ And the guy told me he doesn’t even play. I knew it was going to be tough, but I liked it.”

Woodfox not only made Clark stronger physically, but mentally. He made it clear to his protege that the only way to become a better offensive player was to shoot, shoot and shoot some more.

“Some days, it was 200 makes, others 500 in the morning and 500 more at night,” Clark said. “I did it to the point that my body got used to it. My life became running and shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. I practiced shooting off the dribble, I practiced shooting threes — all of it.”

O’Brien has been amazed by Clark’s transformation.

When he saw him at that MAYB tournament, O’Brien thought Clark was a specimen and that he could potentially help Southwestern on the boards and as a defender. He didn’t see a guy who has a chance to inch close to 2,500 career points.

“Certain kids have the mindset to not be denied and Cam is one of them,” O’Brien said. “If the first person tells him no, it’s not going to discourage him one bit. He developed these jump-shooting abilities on his own and that’s not something I anticipated. I’ve told him I think he could be an All-American without his mid-range jump shot and offensive repertoire, just focusing on his offensive rebounding. But every summer he gets better and better and adds something to his offensive game that I don’t have anything to do with.”

It’s amazing what some negativity can inspire in folks who find a way to use it in the right way.

“When I went into the coaches office at Brookhaven to tell them I was going to transfer to Southwestern, one of the assistant coaches looked at me and said, ‘Oh, you’re transferring to play football?’ I told him I was going there to play basketball, which is what I came to Brookhaven to play. It was an insult.”

Insults, though, can become fuel. Disrespect can be motivation.

“I knew God had a final say,” Clark said. “Never put your trust in man but in God alone. I really focused on that. When people doubted me, it wasn’t going to bring me down. It motivated me and kept me going.”

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Southwestern’s Cameron Clark overcomes adversity in a big way."