Longtime writer Charles Clark was honored last week for his 10 years of service to The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
His current role is communications specialist writing press releases and taking photos for the tribe.
“It was amazing being recognized for 10 years with the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma,” Clark said. “That’s a drop in the bucket. There are folks with 25, 40 years on the job. That says a lot about the place. But best of all are the friends made and the feeling every day that we are doing good things. They make me feel part of an outstanding team.”
Clark was a styles editor of the Lawton Constitution newspaper from 1985-2013 and he then began writing grants for tribes in the Lawton area.
He started newspapers for the Caddo and Comanche tribes. Clark said that after Choctaw Chief Gary Batton was elected to his first term, the chief began making the rounds for community nights. Batton visited Lawton and Clark talked to him.
Clark said Batton asked him why he was working with the tribes in the western part of the state and why didn’t he come to work for his own tribe.
“I was kind of caught off guard and put on the spot,” Clark said. “So, I just said, ‘Well, Chief Batton, I have a house here in Lawton,’ and he said, ‘Well, we have houses in Durant.’ Six months later, I was over here and that was exactly 10 years ago and I found it to be an amazing journey. I really enjoyed it over here working with the Nation and it’s just in this time I’ve been here, my gosh, the growth is just tremendous and it’s been exciting to be a part of seeing that happen.”
Clark started with the Choctaw newspaper Biskinik.
“My very first day on the job over here was when President Obama visited and we had the press from all over, we had the Secret Service, all kinds of things happening and I thought, ‘My gosh, this is my first day on the job, is it always like this?” Clark said.
After that, Leo Varadkar, the prime minister of Ireland, visited the U.S. and the first place he stopped was the Choctaw Nation. In 1847, when the Choctaws, who had only recently arrived over the ruinous “trail of tears and death” to what is now Oklahoma, took up a donation and collected more than $5,000 (in today’s money) to support the Irish during the Potato Famine.
“Of course, many people know about the long connection between the Choctaw and the Irish and so that was a real joy to meet him and to interview here,” Clark said.
“I got to cover so much growth in the way of the headquarters that we’re in now. The facilities, the housing for the elderly and it’s just so many of the programs that help not only the Choctaws, but the whole community and it’s just something different every day. It never gets boring.”
Clarkhasalsobeenanextrain several movies, including “The Last of the Mohicans” and “The North and South”miniseries.
He was an extra in the 1983 film “The Outsiders,” which was the movie adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel that has been popular with teenagers since it was first published in 1967.
“The Outsiders that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and had a bunch of (then) total unknowns in it: Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, Diane Lane, just them,” Clark said. “People nobody had ever really heard of. You couldn’t pull a cast together like that now and that is just amazing.
“I was an orderly in the hospital scene and called it the disorderly orderly because I’m in the background. This is after the fire and they’re all in the hospital and we hear a commotion out in the hall and another orderly and I are sent out to break it up, and then we’re not sure whether to get involved or not and Coppola said, ‘Well, just act confused,’ and I said, ‘No problem.’
“So, I was sort of in the background acting confused and then I was standby for the rumble scene but they didn’t need me for that.
“But the thing that I really remember about that, I guess my biggest contribution to the film was just kind of hanging around waiting for lights to be reset and the cameras and all like that and another gentleman who was an extra and we’re standing there talking with Matt Dillon who plays Dallas, bad boy in the film and he’s in the hospital and he was wearing a pair of white tighties.”
Dillon requested boxers and said that was what was cool.
“The other extra and I were about the same age, we’re a little bit older,” Clark said. “I said, ‘Wait a minute, Matt. This is set in the 1960s, the early 60s,’ and I said, ‘Only your dad and your uncle wore boxers. This is what we wore as teenagers in the 60s, I promise you.’ He said, ‘Really? And I said, “Take our word for it, if you want authenticity, stay in your tight whities.’ So, he did and so you may thank me.”
Clark had very long hair when he signed on to do the film and he was told he must have his hair cut in a 1960s-style collegiate look. He was told that he would be paid an additional $15 for having his hair cut.
“I go, ‘Okay, well this is getting better,’ and so they cut my hair, did the scene and paycheck came, no 15 bucks,” Clark said. “So, I went to them and said, ‘Hey, I was supposed to have 15 more dollars,’ and they said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it for you.’ Well, the set and all, they packed up and left town. I never got my 15 bucks, so if anybody out there runs into Francis Ford Coppola, tell him that he still owes me $15.”
