GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) – Joe Louis Clark, the baseball bat and megaphone director whose unwavering commitment to his students and uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me”, died at his Florida home on Tuesday after a long battle with an unspecified illness, his family said in a statement. He was 82 years old.
Born in Rochelle, Georgia, on May 8, 1938, Clark’s family moved north to Newark, New Jersey, when he was 6 years old. After graduating from Newark Central High School, Clark received his bachelor’s degree from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University), a master’s degree from Seton Hall University and an honorary doctorate from the US Sports Academy. Clark also served as a U.S. Army Reserve sergeant and training instructor.
Clark started teaching at a Paterson elementary school in Essex County, NJ, before becoming director of PS 6 Grammar School.
He was later hired as headmaster of Eastside High School, addicted to drugs and crime. In one day, he expelled 300 students for fighting, vandalism, teacher abuse and drug possession, and raised the expectations of those who remained, continually challenging them to perform better. Wandering the halls with a megaphone and a baseball bat, Clark’s unorthodox methods have won admirers and critics across the country. President Ronald Reagan offered Clark a political adviser position at the White House after his high school success.
Morgan Freeman starred as Clark in the 1989 film “Lean on Me”, which was loosely based on Clark’s management at Eastside.
After retiring from Eastside in 1989, Clark worked for six years as a director at Essex County Detention House, a juvenile detention center in Newark. He also wrote “Establishing the Law: Joe Clark’s Strategy to Save Our Schools”, detailing his methods for reversing Eastside High.
He retired in Gainesville, Florida.
Clark leaves his children, Joetta, Hazel and JJ, and grandchildren, Talitha, Jorell and Hazel. His wife, Gloria, preceded him in death.