Like his illustrious father, the legendary Herman Clark, one of Hawaii’s all-time great football linesmen, young Herman is destined for equal distinction. Winning seven letters at Punahou, he participated in football, swimming, baseball and track. Football and swimming were his favorite sports with all-star honors as a guard in his senior year and winning performances in the 1948 Yale meet’s 50 yard and 400 yard relay freestyle events.This article appears as originally published in the Summer 1981 issue of the Punahou Bulletin.
A first stringer on Oregon State’s varsity football team for three years he was named to the Pacific Coast’s All-Star offensive and defensive squads in 1951 – 1952 and played in the 1951 East-West Shrine Game.
Following graduation from Stanford, Herman played professional football from 1952 to 1957 for the Chicago Bears and was named to the 1956 All-Pro Team. During this period he played in six Hula Bowl games; the first game, in 1952 as a member of the collegiate team and then in 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957 and 1958 as a member of the professional squad.
Returning to the islands in 1957, Herman joined the Oahu Railway and Land Co. which sent him to Hilo where he coached football at Hilo High from 1958 to 1964. Transferred back to Honolulu, the pressure of work kept him away from coaching until 1977 when he helped Doug Bennett coach that year’s championship Punahou team.
Now, director of Public Affairs for the Dillingham Corporation, Herman still finds time to swim and surf and attend Punahou’s athletic events.