Section Assistant Commissioner Bill Clark Will Retire

Bill Clark, assistant commissioner of the Southern Section since 1980, plans to retire in September, a section spokesman announced Friday.

Clark will celebrate his 58th birthday on his retirement date, Sept. 12.

He was out of the office Friday, but he said in a statement that he was “excited about beginning a new chapter in my life.”

Clark applied for the commissioner’s job last year, but the section instead hired Huntington Beach High Principal Jim Staunton. That decision, Staunton said Friday, did not prompt Clark to retire.

“He said he’d been thinking this out for a long time,” Staunton said, “and he wants to enjoy more time with his wife.”

Clark was a teacher, coach and athletic director at El Dorado High from 1967 to 1980. The school inducted him into its hall of fame two years ago.

Clark ran the football and wrestling playoffs for years, and Staunton said Clark promised to help stage those events this fall, after his retirement.

“I think he’ll get too fidgety,” Staunton said.