New legislative leaders ready for challenge

The big lesson learned in 20 years of basketball officiating that applies to politics: "When you make a controversial call, you'd better sell it to the crowd."

So believes David Clark, the new speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, one of the three most powerful politicians in the state.

Along with GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Senate President Michael Waddoups, Clark, R-Santa Clara, will lead the Legislature's efforts over the next 45 days.

And the St. George banker, former Brigham Young University football receiver, now 55 years old, says that experiences in making tough calls on the hardwood court will serve him well in his new leadership job.

In making a rough referee call "you may not always be right," Clark says, but you need to make it look right, learn from it, if you can, and move on.

Clark has been in some big games, making calls at the end of state high school basketball championships, making calls at the end of games that determined college tournament championships.

(Utah and BYU fans can take a step back, he never officiated in the Mountain West Conference or in previous conferences were those two teams belonged.)

And he's learned to take some severe criticisms, smile and keep on going.

"Even today, and I've been out of officiating for some time, I meet people who can't quite place my face — then there's a recognition, and " 'Oh, yeah, you're the guy who made that call!' " I just smile," says Clark, who can put a smile on his face pretty quickly.

"Some sins take longer to forgive than others — you learn that in refereeing," Clark says.

Maybe it's his nature. Or an acquired trait. But Clark is a steady-as-it-goes type of guy.

In eight years in the Utah House, he's rarely lost his temper. He often stops just as he approaches the part in a sentence where he could really lash out at someone, or some institution, and instead picks a much-watered-down rhetoric.

He sticks to things — married 37 years to his high school sweetheart, they have four grown children together and nine grandchildren. He's worked for the same company, Zions Bank, for 32 years, now serving as Utah southern region president.

And he knows defeat. Clark was one of three finalists put forward by the Washington County Republican Party in 1994 when controversial Rep. Met Johnson suddenly resigned from that House district.