Name: Sgt. Charles Clark
Age: 25
Current Position: Air traffic controller
Current Unit: HHC 1-214th Aviation Regiment
Component: Active-duty Army
Current Location: U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim, Germany
Hometown: Fayetteville, N.C.
Years of Service: Four
College: Two and half years at Fayetteville State University
Highest personal achievements: Being honored as Soldier of the Quarter for his unit; playing for a high-school basketball team that won three state titles
Hobbies: Basketball; watching movies; shopping
HEIDELBERG, Germany - U.S. Army Garrison Mannheim basketball point guard Sgt. Charles Clark led his team to the 2008 and 2009 Installation Management Command-Europe men's basketball championships.
The noncommissioned officer is no stranger to being on winning hoops teams; he played for a Minneapolis, Minn., Patrick Henry High School team that won three state 3A championships.
Now he is a Soldier - but still playing quality ball.
Noting a relationship between military sports and the NCO of the Year elements of fitness, training and education, Clark said he believes they all bond together for a single purpose - winning. Taking a break during the Europe tournament, he said: "You must be physically fit to run up and down the court. And you have to think and remember things in you do in practice that improve your game. We are playing our fourth game in two days; we still have at least two more match ups."
A self-described student of basketball, Clark said he has learned from past and present great point guards, such as Chris Paul and Isaiah Thomas. What he learns he puts into practice, helping the USAG Mannheim Mustangs become the top U.S. military team in Europe.
Thaddeus Green, the USAG Mannheim sports director, confirmed Clark's floor-leader claim of, "I am the engine."
"When the team needs to speed it up or slow it down", Green said, "Clark is the one directing the team tempo."
Away from the court, as an air traffic controller, Clark maintains a place in his unit's gold standard fitness category, which is for Soldiers that score 270 or higher on physical fitness tests.
And in March, the warrior-athlete was the Soldier of the Quarter for the 1-214th Aviation Regiment.
Clark leaves Germany in July for Fort Rucker, Ala. "The community of Mannheim will miss him," Green said. "It will be tough to say goodbye to him. He loves the military sports program."
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