Shelly Clark was a leader on the first Indian Hills basketball team to make it to the NJCAA National Tournament and he remains the school's all-time leading rebounder. Clark averaged 16 points, 12 rebounds and 2.4 steals as a freshman and was named first-team all-region and the team MVP. The next year he boosted his averages to 17.4 points and 13 rebounds and repeated as first-team all-region and team MVP for the national tourney team. Clark capped his IHCC career by being named to the all-tournament team at Hutch, where he scored 96 points and grabbed 60 rebounds in four games. He was named an honorable mention All-American, only the third basketball player to earn that honor. The Chicago native is still first in single-season and career rebounds and in the top-five in nine other season or career categories. After graduating from Indian Hills, Clark played two seasons at the University of Illinois, where he averaged 9.5 points and 6.4 rebounds as a junior and 11.8 points and 8.3 rebounds the next year.