HU scholarship honors Nashville native, announces first recipient

Nashville native Garrett Lance has been named the first recipient of the Floyd W. Clark Jr. Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Harding University. A 2018 Nashville High School graduate, he will be attending the University this fall and plans to major in business. Lance is the son of Dr. Glenn and Cynthia Lance.

“I can’t think of a student more deserving as the first recipient of Floyd’s scholarship than Garrett,” said Coleen Clark, Floyd’s wife. “He is an outstanding young man who I know will achieve great success through his career plans as well as continue to grow in his faith. Floyd would be pleased that Garrett is the first to benefit from the scholarship.”

The new scholarship, funded through donations from family and friends of Clark, is awarded annually to incoming or current Harding University students who are Howard County natives. Clark, a 1977 Harding graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, died of pancreatic cancer March 10, 2017. He graduated from Nashville High School in 1973 and spent most of his career as an insurance agent and manager for Arkansas Farm Bureau in Howard and Polk counties.

"Floyd was loved and admired not only by his family and friends in Nashville and Howard County but also by his classmates at Harding," said Ken Bissell, senior advancement officer at Harding. "He cut a wide swath where he went, and he did it with an unsurpassed faith in God. This scholarship connects two communities he deeply loved, Howard County and Harding, in a way that remembers his legacy and helps students pursue their dreams."

Following an all-star high school football career as a Nashville Scrapper offensive lineman, Clark received a football scholarship at Harding and was the starting center before knee injuries ended his career in 1975. His Harding teammate Ronnie Huckeba originated the idea of the scholarship to remember his friend and fellow Bison lineman.

“I always admired Floyd for his work ethic and determination,” said Huckeba, who retired as Harding’s head football coach in 2017. “Even after he was injured, he was still a leader on the team. He was a force on campus and that carried over to his career in the insurance business. I’ve never heard anyone say a negative word about Floyd Clark, and that is something very rare.”

To learn more about donating to the scholarship, contact Bissell at kbissell@harding.edu or by calling 501-279-4177. Prospective or current students who plan to attend Harding for the 2019-20 academic year and are Howard County natives also can apply for the scholarship by contacting Bissell.