Wellesley remembers Harry Clark
‘He never made any excuses and never let anything hold him back’
In early June, Harry Clark sat in the hospital fighting for his life, but he wanted to make a phone call to former Wellesley girls basketball coach Glen Magpiong.
Clark, who was the team manager on Magpiong’s staff for four seasons before graduating from Wellesley last year, wanted to wish Magpiong a happy birthday. That’s just in Clark’s nature, always putting others before himself, even with his health deteriorating.
That phone call was the last time Magpiong heard Clark’s voice.
Clark died July 3 at the age of 20 after a courageous and lengthy battle with a craniopharyngioma brain tumor, which also took Clark’s sight away from him in stages throughout his life. In the face of so much adversity, Clark’s perseverance never wavered and his exuberant personality shone through to make an immense impact on those who came in contact with him.
“He had a pretty quick sense of humor. He just had an infectious laugh and smile,” Magpiong said.
“When he was talking with you, he made you feel special and this is at a time when he’s going through some crazy stuff and yet he made you feel special.”
Magpiong first met Clark at a basketball clinic when Clark was in the first grade. Magpiong learned quickly that the youngster was a fighter.
At age five, Clark was diagnosed with the rare brain tumor. It never stopped him from living his life. Not once. Not even after enduring grueling treatment that consisted of multiple surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy or when his sight started to fade away and completely vanished during his senior year of high school.
With Clark wanting to get more involved with sports, the school nurse approached Magpiong looking for any opportunity for Clark. Magpiong made Clark the team manager and Clark became a fixture on Wellesley’s bench.
“The kid was amazing,” Magpiong said. “The challenges that he faced, to me as far as I was concerned, were unprecedented for anyone that I had been around. Just an amazing young man.”
Brooke Guiffre and Clark joined the team the same season. Their roles vastly different, but neither more important than the other. Guiffre starred on the court; Clark’s presence filled the entire gymnasium.
“He always walked into the gym with a huge smile on his face that never changed regardless of what he was going through,” Guiffre said. “It was just really nice to have him be there for us and he was always cheering us on. We were really lucky to have him as a manager.”
In between procedures and treatment that grew in volume over the course of high school, Clark took his role as team manager seriously despite taking in the action in an unconventional way. He wasn’t afraid to share his opinion either as JV coach Kirk Fredericks heard on occasion from always sitting next to him on the bench.
“Although he couldn’t see what was going on, he’d listen to the things Glen would say or the other coaches would say or the players would say, and it was like he was watching the game,” Fredericks said. “All of a sudden, you’d hear, ‘Come on, that was a foul.’”
Guiffre always felt Clark was a part of the team. Magpiong made sure of that too, especially when he tried to create a special moment for Clark after a game when Magpiong told the team in the locker room that Clark had been accepted into Providence College.
But before a celebration could ensue, Clark flashed his quickwitted humor to correct Magpiong. “Actually coach, I have been accepted into all of the colleges I’ve applied to so far,” Clark said.
He attended Assumption College last year and planned to attend Providence College this fall.
Clark’s passion for sports involved more than just being Wellesley’s team manager. A diehard Patriots and Red Sox fan, Clark rode in the Pan Mass Challenge twice on the back of a tandem bike.
Clark relentlessly pursued experiences. He was class vice president as a sophomore and as a junior contributed to a youth panel at a Massachusetts Commission on the Blind conference.
“He went through things that people will probably never have to go through in their lives and he never made any excuses and never let anything hold him back,” Guiffre said. “The stuff he was challenging himself to do was unbelievable considering what he was going through.”
A private funeral mass will be held followed by a community celebration of Harry’s life at a later date
“The fact that someone can go through life and make the most out of each day and not let those things run your life, it’s something I hope to take from him,” Fredericks said.