Clark Shaughnessy - Personal Life

Personal Life

In December 1917, he married L. Mae, with whom he had one son and two daughters: Clark Shaughnessy, Jr.; Janice Shaughnessy; and Marcia Wilson. He met his wife in New Orleans while coaching at Tulane. A teetotaler, Shaughnessy held a negative opinion of both drinkers and smokers. Marchmont Schwartz noted, "When he said, 'Let's go have a drink,' he meant, 'Let's go drink a milk shake ... He disappointed a lot of newspapermen that way." Aside from his declared hobby as a football coach and experimenter, he enjoyed long-distance driving. Shaughnessy preferred to devise plays late at night, between midnight and dawn, while his household slept. A 1977 Sports Illustrated article described him as an "ascetic" and his lifestyle as "Spartan". It noted he would go to bed as early as 7 o'clock, and wake up for work at three or four in the morning.

Shaughnessy did not take criticism well. In one incident, he demanded that a critical columnist leave a Northern California Football Writers' Association meeting. During a 1945 press conference while coach at Pittsburgh, Shaughnessy responded to criticism that he had been too conservative in a 6–0 win over Temple and taken too many risks in a 39–9 loss to Notre Dame. He said, "You tell me what to do. Shall we play a conservative game—hold down the score and play to look good—or shall we gamble, depending on a freak chance to win but losing by a big score if we fail?"

After he joined the Chicago Bears' staff, sportswriter Roger Treat said, "I always looked upon Clark Shaughnessy as a conscientious idealist who might better have followed the trail of Father Flanagan of Boys Town. He may never be entirely happy in the jovial thuggery of pro football, where every man has a little assassin in him." Illinois head coach Robert Zuppke said, "The world lost the greatest undertaker when Clark Shaughnessy decided on football coaching."