Dan Clark returns to the field 26 days after highway rollover

Dan Clark was on the field at Griffiths Stadium in Saskatoon with the rest of his teammates as the Saskatchewan Roughriders opened the third week of training camp.

On most days, this would be the most ordinary sight, but Sunday’s practice was an extraordinary accomplishment for the 31-year-old veteran centre after he was ejected from his vehicle following a highway rollover last month.

“It’s been a process,” Clark said about joining his teammates for the first time this season. “It’s where I strive to be.

“At one point, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to do it and a lot of doubt crept through my mind.”

Clark refused to go into detail about the accident that required a STARS Air Ambulance and put his career on pause, but he did reveal that most of his injuries were cuts and bruises, and that a hip impingement was the lone injury keeping him off the field as pain shot up one of his legs with every other step.

“Laying in a hospital bed wasn’t the easiest, but less than 24 hours, being able to go home and walk away from a major car accident is something I owe a lot of thank yous to,” Clark said. “I believe it’s 26 days after a major car accident (and I was) able to practise with the team. That’s something a lot of people don’t know if you can make it through.”

While he knew he wouldn’t be able to practise at the start of camp, Clark showed up for Day 1 as if he was any other member of the team fighting for a spot on the roster.

He said his teammates were behind him every step of the way.

“I don’t have brothers and sisters, but this locker room is full of brothers that really stood behind me and made sure that I felt like I was part of the team no matter what,” he said.

Guard Dariusz Bladek was ecstatic to see his fellow offensive lineman back on the field.

“It feels really good to just have him. But even when he wasn’t on the field, he was positive in the meeting rooms,” said Bladek, who recently recovered from an MCL injury that ended his 2018 season early.

“This aches me, but then I got a guy that just got flung through a window … and he is out here pushing, and pushing.”

The third-year player couldn’t understate Clark’s importance of being around the team in meetings. Players drew inspiration from having Clark around.

“If there’s a minute detail that I’m like 50-50 on, Dan knows it,” Bladek said. “He’s a phenomenal note-taker. In the meeting room, he’s always there.

“If you ever have a question, I’m sure Dan will know (the answer).”

Clark’s rollover happened after he left a community speaking event in Cudworth. Being a locally grown popular player from the Roughriders requires an extra amount of community service and highway driving, and nothing has shaken his confidence to do it again.

“I think I’ve clocked in my head about 15,000 kilometres that I’ve done for the team or with the Red Cross,” Clark said. “There’s never once been a moment in my life where I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m done doing community service out of town. It’s just one of those things — wrong place, wrong time.”

More than anything, the crash took a toll on his emotions. Clark said he will eventually give his side of the story after he is able to meet with teammates, but he’s not ready to confront that story just yet.

“There’s so much anxiety riding through my mind talking to you guys,” he said to the group of reporters at Sunday’s practice.

“It’s different when you walk into that locker room, because everybody has an understanding that what has happened and be able to hear your story out without having speculation of what could have happened.”

Clark was visited in hospital by many current and former teammates before he was sent home to recover. It’s just another way that Clark is grateful to be back playing the sport he loves.

He’s even doing his best to play in Thursday’s pre-season game against the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

“I was begging our medical staff to get me one padded practice,” he said. “There’s so much rust that I’ve got to try and knock off in a matter of days.”

Head coach Craig Dickenson was happy to see Clark back, and didn’t rule out getting him some playing time on Thursday.

“It’s a thrill. He’s just a real team guy. It was really a joy to see him. I think the team really enjoyed having him out there,” Dickenson said.

“If he’s healthy, we’ll try to play him, but I’ll have to talk to our offensive guys about that. He’s 100-per-cent healthy, so he wouldn’t be not playing because he isn’t healthy.”

Recovering from a major car crash in less than a month may be nothing short of incredible, but to Clark, it’s just another way he tackles each day.

“As long as I can kiss my wife, pick up my kids and just to be able to be here and talk to the guys,” he said. “Football kind of just jumped away from my mind, and it was just about being the best I could be.”