By DAVE ROGERS
Port Arthur News Sports Writer
PORT NECHES – If Cody Clark seems to have his head in the clouds, who can blame him?
He’s headed off to basic training in less than 90 days with his sights set on piloting a jet fighter six years from now.
“It’s great,” the Port Neches-Groves athletic standout said Friday as he joined his parents, coaches, teammates and U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson in a noontime reception to celebrate his Congressional nomination to and acceptance at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
“It’s the greatest opportunity,” the 5-foot-9, 195-pound Clark went on, “a chance to surround myself with the best people, the best academic opportunity there is.”
Football teammate Jeff Bergeron and his family joined Clark in front of the television cameras Friday. Bergeron, a speedy 5-foot-8, 170-pound running back, has accepted grants to continue his sports career at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin.
A high score on the PSAT exam first brought Clark to the Air Force Academy’s attention and vice versa. Learning he was an outstanding athlete for the Indian football and baseball team only piqued the recruiters’ interest more.
“I’ve always kind of wanted to fly. It’s a boyhood dream, I guess,” said Clark, an Eagle Scout who will easily finish in the top 10 percent of his graduating class.
“But once they contacted me, it’s been an ongoing process that lasted about a year, sending paperwork back and forth.”
The Air Force Academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., accepts only 1,200 freshmen per year, all on full scholarship. That four-year education has been valued as high as $250,000.
In return, cadets must agree to a four-year service commitment after graduation. Pilot training adds another two years to the Academy enrollment and another couple of years to the service commitment.
“Sports are just an added perk,” Clark says, noting that the school doesn’t award athletic scholarships, and “unlike some schools, athletes don’t get extra favors.”
A three-year starter for PN-G’s football team, Clark was named second-team all-district both by the Port Arthur News and the District 20-4A coaches as a junior, when he led the Indians in tackles from his linebacking spot. The News named Clark a first-team all-district pick last fall, when he was second on the team in stops.
Clark also earned first-team all-district honors in baseball as a junior and is one of District 20-4A’s most feared hitters. He hopes to participate in both sports at the Academy.
“They have a junior varsity team,” he said. “Where I play will depend on my performance once I get there. The whole team is not a big bunch of guys. They’re well conditioned and mentally tough. That’s how they compete.”
Bergeron is the son of Jeff “The Jet” Bergeron, one of PN-G’s most decorated and highly recruited athletes of all-time. The younger Bergeron competed in football and track for PN-G and hopes to try both sports for TLU, a NCAA Division III program near San Antonio.
A running back, he was PN-G’s second-leading rusher in 1998 and 1999 and leading rusher last season. For his career, he had 312 carries for 1,930 yards and 18 touchdowns. Coaches picked him to the 20-4A second-team last fall.
“There were only two colleges in the USA that didn’t send my dad a letter (when he was being recruited in the 70’s), so he definitely was able to make the recruiting process easier for me,” Bergeron said.
A former NAIA school, Texas Lutheran dropped football a couple of decades ago and brought it back as a non-scholarship, Division III, sport in 1998. The Bulldogs, who compete in the American Southwest Conference, were 4-6 last year under coach Bryan Marmion.
“I like the direction they’re headed,” Bergeron said. “They’re going to a two-back offense, and they’re just starting a track program. I like the chance to get in on the ground floor, and I’ll just be 3-1/2 hours from home.”
