How is it possible that a man nicknamed “Sensation” during his lifetime rests in an unmarked grave? How can it be that someone so well-known in his day doesn’t have a plaque bearing his name today?
There is no doubt, Charles Douglass Clark earned his nickname. He was a sensational athlete. Not just in one sport but in three. Born in Americus, Georgia, Clark moved to Pittsburgh sometime before WWI with his parents, Lawrence and Clemmie, and his siblings. He returned to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College (Class of ’27). And it was there that this Kappa Alpha Psi man showed that he was a force to be reckoned with. Sensation (or Southern Sensation) was the first athlete to letter in four sports at the college. He wowed crowds on the gridiron and the court, but it was on the diamond where he really shined. He went from being the No-Hit King at Morehouse to playing for on the Negro Leagues: The Keystones, the Indy ABC’s, the Memphis Red Sox, Cleveland Browns and even his hometown, Homestead Grays.
Sensation played under some of the legendary coaches: B.T. Harvey @morehouse and Chick Meehan, who said he was among the best they had ever seen. After his playing days ended, Sensation coached a bit in Augusta, where he “worked miracles” turning out two championship teams in as many years, and he was a pioneer referee in football and basketball. But then Sensation left sports to open a chain of restaurants in Georgia, earning him the less sensational nickname “Chicken Charley.”
But Pittsburgh called him back in 1939. And he stayed here until his death in 1964. And though it had been nearly 40 years since his heyday, Sensation was still remembered as “the most popular Morehouse athletic celebrity for decades.”
Sensation was laid to rest in Section 36 of Allegheny Cemetery. No marker bears his name.
