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Giants LB Clark stays busy off the field

BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com

September 7, 2008

What do you want to be when you grow up, Danny?

It's a simple enough question to pose to a grade-schooler. When pointed at a certain NFL player, however, the answer becomes more complicated.

In his ninth year as a professional linebacker, new Giant Danny Clark is starting to plot what will soon become the rest of his life. Within five or so years, he'll be forced to hang up his jersey and move on. But in which direction? There are so many for him.

Real estate, politics, broadcasting, music production, even ownership in an NFL franchise. These are all things that would interest Clark, and they are all areas he is dabbling in while holding down a starting job on the defense of the Super Bowl champions.

"I'm staying busy," Clark, 31, said recently. "Each year I seem to pick up more steam and grab more stuff. The more irons I have in the fire, the higher the probability of one of them being great."

Right now, Clark carries more irons than Tiger Woods. It all started the summer after his rookie season in Jacksonville when he bought his first house. He quickly refinanced it and used that money to buy into two 12-unit commercial properties in Chicago (he grew up in Country Club Hills, a suburb about 30 miles south of Chicago). He and his wife, Chasity, started their own company called Clark Fidelity Financial, which helps others find their way into the real estate market.

He's recently developed nearly 100 affordable housing units in Chicago, and is working on developing a 456-acre spread in his hometown. It's the same spot where, on his 10th birthday, Clark said he lost $30 in cash.

"I went to the owners two years ago, I told them I lost money on this land and would now like to invest in it," he said. Nestled between Interstates 80 and 57 - a virtual nexus of the nation - the project will include a water park, movie theater and strip mall.

In 2003, Clark started Family Biz Entertainment, a music production company that is home to hip-hop producers Black Vegah and Severe Garcia. He hopes to produce film scores and soundtracks through the company.

Clark also has his eyes set on becoming the next mayor of Country Club Hills and has been working with current office-holder Dwight Welch, mayor since 1987, to become his eventual successor.

"To be able to guide a community of people and lead them to a better way, great, that's my objective," he said. "I want to make things better than they are now."

Though Clark said he's passionate right now only about helping his hometown, he understands that there's a guy with a background similar to his who has higher aspirations. On presidential candidate Barack Obama, Clark quickly said: "He's a Chicago guy, too!"

So, is President Clark one of his goals, as well?

"I would never limit myself at all," he said. "Once I get a taste of it, once I understand the whole gist of it all and what it takes, the sacrifices that must be made, then you start to say, well, maybe I can make the next step to senator or governor and then ultimately a presidential hopeful. I'll never limit myself on that."

He said when he does run for office, his platform will be all about helping children rise above the barriers that are set in front of them.

"In the last 10 or 20 years, a lot of kids have fallen by the wayside, and I want to make sure I grab as many kids as I can and raise them to be positive and influential adults," Clark said. "I want them to forget what quit is."

Though that last slogan would look good on an election banner, Clark isn't focusing solely on stump speeches. He's spreading his passions.

Clark also has hopes of one day owning an NFL franchise - he's currently an adviser on the board of the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League - and as he minored in theater at the University of Illinois, he wouldn't mind finding his way onto the big screen. He's already appeared in an episode of "The Game," a sitcom on the CW.

But all of that will wait. Right now, Clark is a football player first. But while he is focused on playing for the Giants, he can't help but notice the two words that come at the front of that team's name: New York. After starting his career in one of the NFL's smallest markets in Jacksonville, he's now in its largest.

"This is the greatest opportunity I've had in my nine-year career on and off the football field," he said. "I want to go do some great things as far as making my first Pro Bowl and winning a championship with this football team, and secondly I want to exercise every option I have in the media here, from television, to radio, to the Internet."

Clark said he understands that eventually, he'll have to focus, refine himself, and, like a good linebacker, concentrate on a single pursuit. But that's in the future.

For now, what does Danny want to be when he grows up?

Everything.