GAINESVILLE, Florida (AP) – Joe Louis Clark, director of baseball bats and megaphones the unshakable commitment to his students and his uncompromising disciplinary methods inspired the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” which died Tuesday at his Florida home 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 she was 6 years old. After graduating from Newark Central High School, Clark graduated from William Paterson College (now William Paterson University), earned a master’s degree from Seton Hall University, and earned an honorary doctorate from the U.S. Sports Academy. Clark was also a sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve and a drill instructor.
Clark began teaching at Paterson Elementary School in Essex County, New Jersey, before becoming principal of PS 6 Grammar School.
He was later hired as director of crime and drugged Eastside High School. 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 aisles with a megaphone and a baseball bat, Clark’s unorthodox methods earned him both admirers and critics across the country. President Ronald Reagan offered Clark a position as a political adviser in the White House after his success in high school.
Morgan Freeman starred as Clark in the 1989 film “Lean on Me,” which was loosely based on Clark’s tenure in Eastside.
After retiring from Eastside in 1989, Clark worked for six years as director of the Essex County Detention Center, a juvenile detention center in Newark. He also wrote “Setting the Law: Joe Clark’s Strategy for Saving Our Schools,” detailing his methods for turning Eastside High around.
He retired to Gainesville, Florida.
Clark is survived by his children, Joetta, Hazel and JJ, and grandchildren, Talitha, Jorell and Hazel. His wife, Gloria, preceded him in death.