Ed Clark

The Bedford High School wrestling program is one of the most prestigious in all of the state and one of the key reasons for that was wrestling coach Ed Clark, who mentored the squad from the 1957-58 season to 1973-74. Along the way, Clark amassed a record of 149-24-1, was named Pennsylvania Class A Coach of the Year in 1974,and was elected to the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame.

Wrestling was important to Clark as an athlete at Bedford High School. He was a two-time District 5 wrestling champion under Whitey Koontz, the first wrestling coach in Bedford history. Clark was the captain of the 1944 unbeaten team and won district titles as a sophomore and senior, but missed out his junior year as bad weather kept Bedford from participating in the District 5 Tournament.

After graduation, he went to Penn State where he eamed his teaching degree and soon after began teaching and coaching at Bedford in 1950. He was an assistant under Koontz before taking the reigns of the program in 1957-58. Koontz had put Bedford on the map as one of the top schools in the area, and Clark helped push it to one of the top programs in the state.

The Bedford teams under Clark continued to have success on the local level that included 11 District 5 Team
Championships including a four-year run from 1969-1973 with a dual meet record of 40-6-1. Clark was not afraid to put his troops against any competition as his teams faced teams like Altoona, Johnstown, DuBois, Chambersburg, and long-time nemesis North Star/Boswell.

Clark coached 71 district champions, nine regional champions, five state runners-up, and a state champion.

But the strength of the Bedford program has been the dual meet success. Under Clark, Bedford had five undefeated teams (1961, 1962, 1967, 1968, and 1974) and never lost more than four dual meets in one season. The Bisons had an amazing five-year stretch from 1961-1966 where the team went 45-3 and another four-year stretch from 1971-1974 where the team was 42-4.

A few of those years stick out, including the 1962 team. The Bisons had a 9-0 dual meet record with the closest match coming from Johnstown, a 24-20 win for the Bisons. No other team came within 19 points of  Bedford. However, it was the postseason success of that team that lives in people s memories. Bedford won eight of the ten individual titles at the District 5 Tournament and crowned three regional champions (Roger Simons, Ron Hamilton, and Anson Wright) the next week. Two of the three were state rurmers-up: Hamilton and Wright.

Hamilton was only a sophomore that year and went on to win two more regional titles for Clark. Hamilton's senior year in 1964 was a special one as he won a state title, defeating John Halasovski of Allentown, 4-0, and finished his season with a 19-0-0 record.

While he is known for his wrestling coaching, he also coached the Bedford High School golf team from 1975 to 1992 and had nine undefeated teams with a career coaching record of 171-34-4.

Ed and his wife Margaret had four sons and a daughter.


Class of 2006
Class of 2006

Bedford County Sports
Hall of Fame

Bedford County Sports Hall of Fame
Bedford County, Pennsylvania