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- Skyy Clark has become a vital part of UCLA’s season and NCAA tournament push despite having to watch his father battle a series of life-threatening health issues.
- Clark credits his dad’s support for helping him become a standout player in high school and in college.
- Clark is hopeful UCLA can win in the NCAA tournament so his dad can possibly attend a game.
Skyy Clark’s phone kept ringing in class. It was his second day of summer school at UCLA, so he didn’t answer. When one of his brothers sent him a message on Snapchat, he finally relented and looked to see what was going on.
Dad’s in the hospital. He had a stroke.
Bolting from his seat, Clark called his father. At first, Kenny Clark seemed fine, his wry sense of humor intact even from a hospital bed.
“He was joking around and sending us selfie videos,” Skyy said, “and was like, ‘They’re about to discharge me’ and everything, and then something crazy happened.”
At the time, Skyy and his father were on the verge of a mutual homecoming. After a lifetime’s worth of detours that included four high schools and three colleges, Skyy was going to play for the hometown Bruins and his family was planning to move nearby.
The No. 7 seed UCLA Bruins open NCAA tournament play far from home against No. 10 seed Utah State Aggies Thursday in Lexington, Ky.
Kenny had trumpeted his son’s new college choice by suggesting a playful spin on one Louisville fan’s relentless social media campaign to have UCLA’s Mick Cronin fill the Cardinals’ coaching vacancy.
Alongside Skyy’s announcement that he would transfer from Louisville to UCLA, he added — at his father’s urging — the same hashtag that had been littering “X” timelines for months: “#MickIsThePick.”
Now, Skyy was left to contemplate a season without his most steadying influence and No. 1 fan nearby. Three days after his stroke, Kenny suffered a series of complications that would threaten his life. Skyy forged on without the father who had attended practically every game and missed only a handful of workouts being there to support him.
Hourlong phone calls every day couldn’t begin to compensate for his absence.
“This is the first year,” Skyy said, “I haven’t had my dad around.”
Said Kenny: “It’s hard as hell.”
The tattoo on Skyy’s left thigh reflects their bond.
It’s an image of Kenny holding his young son while kissing him on the cheek.
“That’s my baby picture right here,” Skyy said, pulling up the hem of his shorts to show the tattoo. “That’s me, that’s him.”
Tattoo on Skyy Clark’s left leg depicting him as a baby with his father. (Ben Bolch / Los Angeles Times)
Long before Skyy bounced his first basketball, his father had established the family’s athletic heritage. After starring as a wide receiver at the University of Central Florida, Kenny signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent. Known for his swagger and flamboyant touchdown celebrations, he returned two kickoffs for the Vikings during the 2003 season before a back injury forced his retirement.
Kenny went on to become his son’s first coach. Though he played basketball in high school, Kenny liberally supplemented his knowledge of the game in hopes of accelerating Skyy’s early growth.
“Whatever I needed to learn about basketball, he was studying,” Skyy said, “so if it was something about shooting, something about pick-and-roll, he was watching videos and learning everything he could to teach me.”
One lesson became a mantra: Whatever you do, do it with everything you’ve got.
As a high school freshman, Skyy found that increasingly hard to do while making a 50-mile commute each way from his home in Santa Clarita to Oaks Christian High in Thousand Oaks.
After half a year of rising at 5 a.m., Skyy abandoned the endeavor for sanity’s sake and returned to Heritage Christian in Northridge, where he had attended middle school. Cronin showed up at his games, sitting in the stands while the coach’s daughter did homework.
“It was cool because he’s always been helping me my whole life, so for me to have that chance to do that for him, it just felt like a full-circle moment right there.”
— Skyy Clark, on helping his father
When the pandemic hit, the family decided it wanted to live somewhere that was less restrictive with health regulations and more open to a sense of normalcy. The Clarks packed their things and made the three-day drive to Nashville, Tenn., Skyy enrolling at Ensworth High. Skyy spent his final high school season at Montverde Academy in Florida, winning the Geico national basketball championship while being limited by his recovery from a torn knee ligament.
The injury didn’t limit him as a freshman at Illinois, Skyy starting the first 12 games and becoming a significant contributor. But on a trip home for Christmas, he noticed his dad’s health deteriorating because of diabetes. Kenny was in constant pain and nearly unable to see.
Skyy returned to Illinois for one more game before figuring his father needed him more than his team. He announced his departure for family reasons, keeping Kenny’s condition private.
As the oldest of seven siblings — including brother, ZZ, who plays for UC Santa Barbara — Skyy felt a responsibility to take charge of his father’s care. He accompanied him to medical visits, made sure he exercised and even pricked his finger for blood tests.
“I basically became like a registered nurse,” Skyy said. “It was cool because he’s always been helping me my whole life, so for me to have that chance to do that for him, it just felt like a full-circle moment right there.”
Transferring to Louisville for his sophomore season would allow him to stay close to the family’s Nashville home, about a 2?-hour drive away. Skyy became the leading scorer on a bad team, his 13.2 points per game unable to save the Cardinals from a losing season or coach Kenny Payne from losing his job.
That prompted his latest move. Skyy picked UCLA, the college he said he would have attended from the start had he finished high school on the West Coast. It was all coming together for the Los Angeles native whose family was going to join him.
“We had closed on a house and everything,” Kenny said.
Then came that dreadful news.
Just when it seemed as if Kenny had stabilized from his initial stroke, three uneventful days in the hospital leaving the family encouraged, came a massive setback.
Kenny suffered a series of more debilitating strokes and slipped into a coma.
He woke up after about a month, though it was just the start of a lengthy recovery that required several more months of hospitalization.
“I’m just happy he’s still here,” Skyy said.
“Skyy’s a tough-ass kid. ... If you guys knew it all, you’d be shocked that he’s even been able to play this year.”
— Mick Cronin, UCLA coach, on Skyy Clark
Father and son talked daily, the conversations revolving around more than Kenny’s rehabilitation and Skyy’s season.
“We talk about everything — we talk about basketball, we talk about life, like, literally anything,” Skyy said. “He’s really just been telling me to keep working hard, but he’s been telling me how much he’s proud of me, how I’ve handled myself this year.”
Taking on a far different role than he had at Louisville, Skyy has sacrificed scoring while becoming one of the most selfless players in the Big Ten. The junior guard takes charges, grabs offensive rebounds despite being one of the shortest players on the team and plays through injuries he won’t mention unless someone brings them up.
“I’ve got jammed fingers, I’ve got jammed thumbs, I’ve got all types of injuries,” Skyy finally conceded when asked what he had pushed through without missing a game. “Yeah, I mean, if I can still walk, I can still run, I can still breathe, I’ll be all right once the adrenaline kicks in.”
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Along the way, Skyy has impressed his coach with an influence far exceeding his averages of 8.0 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.
“Skyy’s a tough-ass kid,” Cronin said. “Just to get what we’ve been able to get from him this year, I’m ecstatic because I know what he’s been going through in the situation with his family. If you guys knew it all, you’d be shocked that he’s even been able to play this year.”
Kenny has watched every game on television, joking that it has its advantages because he gets to watch replays. He especially savored Skyy’s season-high 17-point performance against USC earlier this month, when he made seven of 10 shots to go with six assists and three steals.
“The USC game, I saw it all come together,” Kenny said. “I was like a proud papa.”
Having sufficiently recovered during rehabilitation, Kenny reached his own milestone Sunday when he moved back home. He’s been able to stand up and take a few steps, doctors telling the family that he should be able to walk again in about two months if he remains diligent with his strengthening exercises.
Skyy briefly hoped his father would be able to make the three-hour drive to Lexington, Ky., for the Bruins’ NCAA tournament opener against Utah State on Thursday, but that desire proved overly ambitious given the circumstances. Kenny will watch once more on television, having encouraged his son to be aggressive because deep March runs are all about guard play.
They might still get that mutual homecoming. Skyy has committed to returning to UCLA for his final college season and Kenny is planning on making that move back to Southern California.
“God willing,” Skyy said, “he’ll be able to come back out here for sure next season.”
That would allow them to trade phone calls for hugs, the father holding his son firmly once more.
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