SSgt. Michael Clark: Born to rebound

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Ted Daigle
  • 307th Bomb Wing

As part of an on-going series of features and interviews on resiliency, we highlight a Reserve Citizen Airman of the 307th Bomb Wing who has overcome obstacles to improve themselves and the Air Force.  This month, we feature Staff Sgt. Michael Clark, 307th Security Forces Squadron journeyman.  He has spent a lifetime building a resiliency skillset built on family, faith and friendship.  They have provided Clark a view of the world where obstacles become opportunities and setbacks become exercises in determination.

Taking a quick look at Staff Sgt. Michael Clark’s life, it’s difficult to deny the deck was stacked against him. 

Born in Tchula, a small, Mississippi Delta town so poverty stricken, one major publication labeled it the poorest community in the United States.  According to the 2000 Census, the median income for a Tchula family was a mere $14,773.  

The oldest of four siblings raised by a single mother, Clark spent his formative years trying to navigate through life in a place with few long-term prospects.

From that perspective, Clark never stood a chance at achieving any type of success.

He never saw it that way. 

Clark looked at the world through the lens of love and faith in a higher power, that his mother, Leisa Mae, had planted in his heart as an infant.

Surrounded by a loving extended family, Clark, saw opportunity everywhere, even among the small houses and ramshackle storefronts of Tchula’s main street—even in the underfunded public schools he attended.

He was determined to seize every one of those chances.

“I never wanted to let my mother or anyone else in my family down,” said Clark with a Southern drawl that belied his intense nature. “They had given me my morals and my faith in God, so my job was to use those things and stay out of trouble.”

He pushed hard to improve himself from the moment he first darkened the doors of his local elementary school and he quickly gained a strong academic reputation.

Clark began to hone another gift while in middle school, an innate ability to play basketball. 

Small and skinny, Clark could have backed away from the skill, convinced he didn’t have the physical ability or the resources to develop it. 

All Clark saw was the opportunity to challenge himself.

He began trying to get into pick-up games with the local high school athletes, convinced it was the only way to get better.

“I guess they liked the way I played, because they started picking me for their team before they would pick their own friends,” he said

They weren’t the only ones.  The local high school basketball coach caught wind of his talent and offered him a spot on the team. 

Clark continued to flourish both on and off the court, capturing the attention of Mississippi Valley State University’s head basketball coach, Lafayette Stribling.  He offered Clark a scholarship to the school, and an opportunity to better himself.

“Coach Strib always said if you want to have something you’ve never had, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done,” Clark said with a smile.

That advice turned out to be appropriate, because life at MVSU was anything but easy.

Used to being the star athlete in a small school where all his teachers and coaches knew him, Clark found himself surrounded by athletes of his caliber on the court and demanding, excellence-oriented professors in the classroom.

He was having to prove himself all over again.

Clark knew he needed a family at MVSU like the one he had back in Tchula. It was necessary to stay resilient.  He joined Omega Psi Phi, an international fraternal organization with a chapter at MVSU, building bonds that have endured.

“Friendship is essential to the soul,” said Clark, echoing the fraternity’s motto. 

He also continued to build relationships with his teammates and coaches, even though staff changes were happening on a regular basis. 

It turned out to be an important element, because Clark’s world was turned upside down by Leisa Mae’s cancer diagnosis.

“It was really tough, I was up and down, but my coach at the time had gone through the same thing, so he was really able to feel my pain and help me out,” Clark said.

In spite of all the change and the trauma of his mother’s illness, Clark seemed to flourish under the pressure, earning a bachelor’s degree while leading his team to back-to-back conference championships and berths to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Clark said the strength to go on came down to a simple philosophy.

“If you acknowledge God in all his ways, he’ll direct your path,” said Clark. “If you put that first, everything else will just be added to you,” he said. 

Armed with his faith and surrounded by his MVSU family, Clark was mentally and spiritually ready when Leisa Mae succumbed to her illness. 

As difficult as his mother passing was, Clark rebounded from the blow, earning his master’s degree.  He wasn’t done yet.  He decided to join the Air Force Reserve, simply for the experience.

“I love a good challenge,” said Clark.  “It keeps me going.”

 He was assigned to the 307th Security Forces Squadron, effectively adding another family to his growing list.

“The 307th Security Forces Squadron is absolutely amazing,” Clark said. “They welcomed me with open arms and were able to recognize and use the leadership skills I had gained in the civilian world.”

Clark repaid the unit’s faith in him by earning the 307th Bomb Wing’s Airman of the Year Award in 2018, enhancing the unit’s esprit de corps.   

“It was great, because it seemed to get a lot of other Airmen in the 307th SFS excited about going up before the board and working on their leadership skills,” explained Clark.

He was honored for service to Omega Phi Psi, as well, winning the Col. Charles D. Young Military Leadership Award at the local and state level. 

Armed with faith and both military and civilian families, Clark has built a strong resiliency skillset, one he enjoys passing on to others as he advances in his career.

“Stay focused and don’t let anyone discourage you from achieving your goals,” he insisted.

It is advice that has turned every setback in Clark’s life into an opportunity and has kept him resilient through them all.