Clark has been with the NFBC all 21 years, having joined in 2004 and winning Main Event league titles each of his first two seasons. During his 21 seasons in the NFBC, Clark has won a total of 23 NFBC league titles while competing in 149 NFBC pay events. He has cashed in 44.3% of all NFBC leagues he's entered and now ranks 12th on the NFBC Career Earnings list with $458,513. He has also entered 55 Main Event leagues, winning 10 for a winning percentage of 18.2.
Clark's Main Event title in 2024 was his first NFBC national title that he won, but he has won a different national title with us in football. Clark won the 2016 NFFC Primetime national title and that $150,000 grand prize and he's actually 28th overall in the NFFC Career Earnings list with winnings of $237,200.
Clark has finished in the Top 12 of NFBC national contests 13 times before winning the Main Event overall title in 2024. He finished 4th overall in the Main Event in 2017 and 7th overall in the Main Event in 2023. He also finished 4th overall in the Draft Champions National Championship in 2023 and was 9th in the Draft Champions National Championship in 2020. He also finished 10th overall in the 2012 NFBC Auction Championship.
In the NFBC Main Event, Clark made it look easy early on as he won his first two Main Event league titles in 2004 and 2005. Only Clark, Shawn Childs and Steve Jupinka won league titles each of those first two seasons. He competed in Las Vegas both years and finished 13th overall in 2004 and 11th overall in 2005. He then admittedly struggled in the NFBC and didn't win another Main Event league title until 2012 and then went five more years before winning one more Main Event league title. But since 2020, he's won six Main Event league titles, earning titles in 2020, 2021, 2022, two in 2023 and then again in 2024. He had four Main Event teams in 2024, finishing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, while finishing 1st, 23rd, 62nd and 240th overall.
Clark has had eight Top 15 Main Event overall finishes and 14 Top 50 overall finishes. He finished 4th overall in 2017, 7th in 2023, 11th in 2005, 11th in 2020, 13th in 2004, 14th in 2023, 14th in 2021 and 14th in 2012.
Of his 23 NFBC league titles, he's won 10 Main Event titles, two $2500 Draft Champions titles, five $400 Draft Champions titles, two $150 Draft Champions titles, one $1250 NL Auction League title, one Online Championship title, one Gladiator title and one Gladiator All-Star Break title. Again, in 21 years he's competed in only 149 leagues as he doesn't play a lot of 12-team league formats and limits his exposure to the Draft Champions format. But when he competes, he has a knack for winning titles and certainly cashing in over 44 percent of the leagues he enters.
While he excels at fantasy sports, Clark is actually a professor at the University of Washington. I'll post from his bio page on the university website:
"Dr. Clark Olson received the B.S. degree in computer engineering in 1989 and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1990, both from the University of Washington, Seattle. He received the Ph.D. degree in computer science in 1994 from the University of California, Berkeley. After spending two years doing research at Cornell University, he moved to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he spent five years working on computer vision techniques for Mars rovers and other applications. Dr. Olson joined the faculty at the University of Washington, Bothell in 2001. He teaches classes on introductory programming, data structures, algorithms, database systems, and computer vision."
That's right, you're getting beat by someone who worked on the Mars rover!!! Don't feel so bad now!!! In 2007, the New York Times wrote about him here (if you have access):
https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/15/spor ... cheer.html
Clark first joined the NFBC as part of the Leaderboard Sports group from ESPN.com. Clark, Dave Cushard, the rock star Meat Loaf, and many others had been playing multiple fantasy sports on ESPN.com and were looking for a more competitive and profitable venture. They had won enough ESPN T-shirts to last them a lifetime and wanted to play in a high-stakes format. They played WCOFB in 2003 and joined the NFBC in 2004 with Leaderboard Sports players forming about 23 Main Event teams.
Clark was a legend on ESPN.com by then, having finished among the top three in ESPN’s Über Standings — which rank fantasy players based on aggregate performance across multiple sports — every year from 2002 to 2007. He was written up in this University of Washington magazine on his fantasy sports accomplishments:
https://magazine.washington.edu/in-fant ... advantage/
He stopped playing at ESPN.com after having success in high-stakes leagues and now he's a national champion in baseball and football. If I know Clark, he's not going to be giving up this competition anytime soon. He loves the competition and the money earned too much!!!
We will honor Clark with a formal induction into the NFBC Hall of Fame at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 22nd at 11 am PT. At that time, Clark will join the NFBC Stage of Champions and give his Hall of Fame speech along with his Main Event championship speech. As I said earlier, it's the first time someone has been inducted into the Hall of Fame after winning the Main Event overall title, but it's an honor well deserved. He was on the Hall of Fame radar last year, but his accomplishments this past year pushed that resume well past the threshold. We are honored and proud to induct Clark Olson into the NFBC Hall of Fame as our 10th inductee.
One of the criteria for earning a Hall of Fame spot is "Excellence in several NFBC formats; consistency in multiple formats." In that regard, Clark more than passes the test, having won league titles in five different formats and excelling in all of the national contests. His consistency in the Main Event over 21 years is testament to his skills and his tenacity to keep chasing the top prize. He's definitely been one of the very best since the NFBC was started in 2004.
Congrats Clark on this great honor. It's been well deserved over two decades of excellence. We can't wait to celebrate your honor in March with a few hundred of your peers in the same ballroom. See you there when you try to defend your Main Event title.
Here again are the 23 league titles he's won since 2004:
** 10 NFBC Main Event League titles
** 5 NFBC $400 Draft Champions League titles
** 2 NFBC $2500 Draft Champions League titles
** 2 NFBC $150 Draft Champions League titles
** 1 NL $1250 Auction League title
** 1 Rotowire Online Championship League title
** 1 NFBC Gladiator League title
** 1 NFBC Gladiator All-Star Break League title
Add it all up and it's:
23 - NFBC League titles
10 - NFBC Main Event League titles (3rd best all-time)
13 - Top 12 overall finishes in national championships
8 - Top 15 Main Event overall finishes
66 - Cash finishes in 149 leagues (44.3% cashout)
Clark now becomes the 10th NFBC player to be inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame. He joins:
NFBC Hall of Famers
2010 - Steve Jupinka, Shawn Childs
2012- Lindy Hinkelman
2015 - David DiDonato
2017 - Dave Potts
2019 - Mark Srebro
2020 - KC Cha
2022 - John Pausma
2023 - Shawn Johnson
2025 - Clark Olson
Clark will be competing at Park MGM in Las Vegas March 20-24 and will likely do at least two Main Event leagues there, including the Saturday, March 22nd, 11 am league. He's also scheduled to compete in the debut CLQ Championship Auction on Friday, March 21st at 4 pm PT and hopes to get into the Platinum or Diamond League in 2025. He will also accept any complimentary drinks that entire weekend at the NFBC bar!!!
If you want to look at how Clark has excelled through the years -- with a few dry years -- here's a look at his year-by-year chart as Clark has competed in the NFBC every year since 2004:
2004 - Main Event League title
2005 - Main Event League title; $1250 NL Auction League title
2007 - 3rd in Main Event League
2012 - Main Event League title; Rotowire Online Championship League title; 2nd Auction Championship league
2013 - $150 Draft Champions League title
2014 - Main Event 3rd place League finish
2015 - Main Event 3rd place; $400 DC League title
2016 - $400 DC League title
2017 - Main Event League title; two 3rd place Main Event league finishes; $150 DC League title
2020 - Main Event League title, 2nd and 3rd place Main Event league finishes
2021 - Main Event League title; three 2nd place Main Event league finishes
2022 - Main Event League title; 2nd Main Event; $2500 Draft Champions league title; two $400 DC league titles
2023 - two Main Event League titles; $2500 Draft Champions league title; $400 DC League title
2024 - Main Event overall title; Main Event League title; 2nd, 3rd in Main Event leagues; Gladiator League title
We have been stingy in placing our champions in the NFBC Hall of Fame because it's the ultimate honor in a very tough format. That explains why we've inducted only 10 players in 21 years. It's a high bar to receive this honor.
But we look for people who dominate over time and dominate in multiple formats. Our previous Hall of Famers have done just that and Clark certainly has done that since 2004. It's an impressive resume against some of the best players in the world. Winning the Main Event overall title was just the final feather in your cap. You are now one of only 20 different people to win that prestigious title and today you are now one of only 10 people ever inducted into the NFBC Hall of Fame. You have earned it the old fashioned way, by grinding each and every year. Congrats.
Please welcome our newest NFBC Hall of Famer: Clark Olson!!! And be ready for the official induction in Las Vegas!! You will enjoy it!!
