FRANK CLARKE

FRISCO — Frank Clarke, one of the original players on the 1960 Dallas Cowboys, died at the age of 84 on Thursday in McKinney, his son, Gregory, said.

Clarke was the first 1,000-yard receiver in club history, recording 1,043 yards in 1963.

Although he retired after the 1967 season, Clarke still ranks seventh in Cowboys history in receiving yards with 5,214 yards and he’s one of seven players in franchise history with 50 touchdown catches. He had 281 catches and 51 touchdowns during his eight-year Cowboys career. His team record for touchdowns in a season (14 in 1962) held up until Terrell Owens broke it in 2007.

Clarke’s final game of his career was the “Ice Bowl” in Green Bay for the NFL Championship in 1967.

According to a 2008 Dallas Morning News profile of Clarke, he was the first black football player at the University of Colorado. He was the first black star on a Cowboys team playing in racially divided Dallas. He then became the first black sports TV anchor in Dallas and the first black NFL analyst at CBS.

Clarke was picked in the fifth round of the 1957 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. Clarke caught only 10 passes in three seasons with the Browns, never more than four in a season, and he was made available in the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft which filled out Dallas’ initial roster.

By his second season under the watchful eye of Tom Landry, Clarke posted 41 catches (a number that was far more impressive in the run-heavy NFL of the 1960s). He went on to become an All-Pro in 1964 and lead the NFL in touchdown receptions in 1962. His 14 touchdown catches that season is more than even Michael Irvin ever posted in a single season. He was the first Cowboy to ever gain 1,000 yards through the air in a single season.

He is survived by his two sons and a daughter.