GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) – Joe Louis Clark, the baseball bat and chisel head, whose unwavering dedication to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” died Tuesday at his home in Florida. battle with an unspecified disease, his family said in a statement. He was 82.
Clark’s family was born on May 8, 1938 in Rochelle, Georgia and moved north to Newark, New Jersey when he was 6 years old. After graduating from Newark Central High School, Clark received his bachelor’s degree from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University), a master’s degree from Seton Hall University and an honorary doctorate from the US Sports Academy. Clark also served as a U.S. Army sergeant and drilling instructor.
Clark began teaching at a Paterson graduate school in Essex County, NJ, before becoming principal of PS 6 Grammar School.
He was later appointed principal of crime and drug-addicted Eastside High School. In one day, he expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, teacher abuse and drug possession, and raised the expectations of those who remained and constantly challenged them to perform better. Clark’s unorthodox methods floated through the hallway with a bull horn and a baseball bat, both admirers and critics. President Ronald Reagan offered Clark a job as a policy adviser in the White House after his success in high school.
Morgan Freeman starred Clark in the 1989 film “Lean on Me”, which was loosely based on Clark’s tenure at Eastside.
After retiring from Eastside in 1989, Clark worked for six years as director of Essex County Detention House, a youth center in Newark. He also writes ‘Laying Down the Law: Joe Clark’s Strategy for Saving Our Schools’, in which he describes his methods of turning Eastside High.
He retired to Gainesville, Florida.
Clark is survived by his children, Joetta, Hazel and JJ, and grandchildren, Talitha, Jorell and Hazel. His wife, Gloria, preceded him.