CMDA Remembers Longtime Client Ernie Clark

Ernie Clark, shown as a rookie with Detroit in 1963

Former Detroit Lions’ Ernie Clark, a longtime CMDA client, passed away on March 10, 2024 at 86 years old. Mr. Clark was drafted by the Detroit Lions in 1963 and was the team’s first Black linebacker. He played five seasons with the Lions and was defensive co-captain with another late CMDA client, Mike Lucci, in 1967. Mr. Clark went on to a successful teaching and coaching career and later was a spokesman for Health Alliance Plan. “My father (Ron Acho) and I were honored to represent Ernie for more than two decades,” says Jim Acho, who fondly remembered Ernie Clark in this Free Press piece today: Ernie Clark, former Detroit Lions and Michigan State football standout, dies at 86.