Dobson's Clark, Westwood's Cummins inducted in NHSACA HoF

June 23, 2014 by Les Willsey, AZPreps365


Former Dobson football coach Mike Clark and former Westwood boys swimming coach Craig Cummins were inducted last week to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The induction ceremonies took place in Jackson, Wyoming with Clark and Cummins Arizona's latest entries to the national organization's top honor.

Clark coached at Dobson from 1981 through 2000 guiding the Mustangs to their only state football title in 1987 and a final four finish in 1988. He began his coaching career at Prescott and Thunderbird high schools before his hire at Dobson as its first football coach. Clark also served as an assistant to Jim Beal at Higley High after his head-coaching stint at Dobson in the mid-2000s.

Dobson's 1987 team housed one of the best collection of athletes ever at at Mesa school running backs Josh Arnold, T.C. Wright and Greg Boland running behind a big, powerful line. The Mustangs playoff dominance that fall resulted in wins of 66-11 (over Santa Rita), 31-10 (Moon Valley), 37-12 (Brophy) and 35-14 (Mountain View). The victory over Mountain View was the first time two Mesa schools had ever met in the championship game. Clark's Mustangs amassed 4,000 yards rushing and had seven players chosen first-team all-state.

Cummins coached for nearly four decades at Westwood, piloting the Warriors to six boys state titles (1967-70) and (1975-76) and three runner-up finishes. He is still active supporting high school swimming in the state with a regular-season-ending meet named in his honor (Craig Cummins Open).