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A 1958 graduate of Centralia High School,
Clay was a three sport standout playing
basketball, football and running track. He
helped his teams to South Seven Conference
titles in football and track. He was also a
conference high hurdle champion and was a
member of the 1956 undefeated football squad
(8-0-1). Clay caught a touchdown pass to
beat arch rival Mt. Vernon.
He
turned down a football scholarship to SIU-C
because he wanted to play basketball.
He went to Centralia Junior College (now
Kaskaskia) and played basketball for Coach
Chuck Mundell
and received All-Conference honors. He also
played baseball and even played tennis when
a player was needed.
From CJC, he went to McKendree College (now
McKendree University) and played one season
under Coach James “Barney” Oldfield, a
former Centralian. He left after that
first season to go to work for Ford Motor
Co. in Indianapolis, IN. A few years later,
Clay returned to McKendree and captained the
basketball team for first-year coach,
Harry Statham, and graduated in 1967.
Claly
returned to Indianapolis to work and in
June of 1970, while playing Industrial
League softball, he injured his neck sliding
head first into home plate. He was sliding
to avoid spiking the catcher who blocked the
plate. The injury left him paralyzed from
the neck down but with some movement of his
arms and hands.
After a year in the hospital and
rehabilitation, he moved back to Centralia
with his mother and stepfather. He was not
bitter about his condition and many times
stated that there were people worse off than
he was. Clay was quoted as saying, “I don’t
want people to feel sorry for me or having
pity for me because I don’t have pity for
myself.”
He
didn’t let the injury and confinement to a
wheelchair keep him from being involved in
the sports scene. In the 1970’s and early
80’s, he had a sports talk show and did
sports reports for the local radio station
WILY/WRXX. He coached girl’s
softball for four years and a co-ed team for
another four years never having a losing
season.
Clay attended as many local events as he
could. With a special device attached to one
hand, he was able to use a typewriter one
key at a time. He wrote his life story in a
book titled “THE NATE CLAY STORY”
published in 1977, and he wrote poetry
having his poem “THIS MOMENT” published
in the book “Today’s Greatest Poems”.
In
1994, Clay was inducted into the Kaskaskia
College Sports Hall of Fame. The Blue Devil
Basketball Team named their defensive award
for Clay. In 1979, McKendree College
established the “NATE CLAY AWARD” which
is presented annually to a basketball player
showing courage, determination and
inspiration. Clay was inducted into the
McKendree Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.
Due
to ever increasing medical difficulties,
Clay passed away on July 3, 2001.
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