BROOKE McNEELY Northwest Arkansas Times Arkansas freshman guard Rotnei Clarke joins the Razorbacks after becoming Oklahoma’s all-time leading scorer while playing for Verdigris High School near Tulsa.

Arkansas freshman Rotnei Clarke is a deadeye from the perimeter. The 6-0 guard sank his first four 3-point attempts en route to a game-high 15 points in the Red-White game Friday night.

The 498 treys he drilled in high school helped him become the all-time leading scorer in Oklahoma prep history. In four years, he totaled 3, 758 points for Verdigris High in Claremore, Okla., leading the Cardinals to the Class 3 A state championship his senior year.

“ My definition for Rotnei’s shooting is wow, ” said Rocky Clarke, Rotnei’s uncle. “ It’s just flat-out amazing. That’s what everyone in the state says. He can make them from eight feet behind the 3-point line. ”

Clarke has made his mark as a prolific scorer, but he believes providence has predestined him to pursue a greater purpose.

ADVERTISEMENT

“ He feels like he’s led to play basketball so he can give his testimony, ” said Conley Clarke, Rotnei’s father. “ What he wants to do is either get into coaching or be a minister. ”

Conley helped his son follow that path. A small-college basketball player in Missouri, the elder Clarke encouraged his son’s development. When Rotnei was 6 months old, Conley and a college teammate would lay the infant on a blanket and have him reach 10 times each with his right and left hand.

“ People thought we were just totally nuts, but he could use both hands really well, ” Conley said.

Rotnei started shooting at age 1, sinking baskets on his Fisher Price goal until the wee hours of the morning.

“ The first night he got it you could hear him in his room at about 2 or 3 in the morning just shooting, ” Conley said. “ He was shooting with the lights off, just letting it go. ”

Rocky said Conley began honing his son’s skills at an early age.

“ Conley pushed Rotnei, ” said Rocky, who coaches high school girls basketball in Washington, Okla. “ When Rotnei was a year old, Conley would throw him a ball and make him catch it. He would give him M & Ms if he could catch it. ”

Conley’s other brother, Kelly, coached Rotnei at Verdigris. When it became apparent the all-time scoring record was within Rotnei’s reach, Kelly was pressured to keep him in games long after the outcome had been decided. Rotnei’s exit was often met with a chorus of lusty boos from the capacity crowds that flocked to the Verdigris gym.

“ It wasn’t that big of a deal until his senior year, ” Conley said. “ We’d be up by 20 points at the start of the fourth quarter, and Kelly would take him out. The crowd started booing Kelly. We had boosters at Verdigris who told Kelly if he wanted to be fired, keep taking him out. They wanted to see him get the record. ”

The pressure to keep Rotnei in games wasn’t limited to outside factors. Rocky also urged Kelly to let their nephew take aim at the record. With fellow 2008 class member Keiton Page (3, 709 points ) of Pawnee High also vying for the mark, the pursuit took on a greater urgency.

“ In fact, I called Kelly and told him he’s got to start letting Rotnei score, ” Rocky said. “ He’s worked hard all his life to have an opportunity to break the record. ”

Citing stress and unrealistic expectations, Kelly resigned from Verdigris last April. He’s now the high school girls coach at Yukon (Okla. ) High.

Such scoring prowess has come with a following of ardent supporters. Conley said Rotnei signed hundreds of autographs on the night he broke the scoring record. He also signed his shoes and gave them to a little girl whose family drove more than four hours round-trip to watch many of Rotnei’s games. Conley said the family has already purchased season tickets for Arkansas ’ home games.

After the state finals, Rotnei spent more than an hour signing autographs.

“ They were picking up trash off the floor and having him sign it, ” Conley said. “ He probably signed 300 or 400 [autographs ]. Everybody wanted to leave, but he said ‘ no, I’m going to finish every one of them. ’ ”

The same boosters who were so insistent on seeing the record broke retired Rotnei’s No. 15 jersey, and soon a street that runs adjacent to Verdigris will be renamed Rotnei Clarke Boulevard.

Conley’s said his son’s faith has helped him adjust to his celebrity. Rotnei cited Jesus Christ as his role model when he won the Tulsa World Metro Player of the Year award and spends many evenings witnessing his faith to area church groups.

“ He is a devout Christian, ” Conley said. “ I promise you he’s never cussed. He doesn’t drink. He doesn’t smoke. On weekends he goes and speaks to church groups. ”

Along with his faith, Rotnei’s family has also followed him to Fayetteville. In addition to Conley, Rotnei’s mom Christine and younger sister Cassie have made the move. His maternal grandmother was already located in the area.

Conley, the former director of basketball operations at Oral Roberts University, took a job in skill development at the All-Star Sports Arena in Springdale.

Rocky said basketball and church take up most of the Clarkes’ time. Pheasant hunting and fishing fill what’s left.

“ Most of the time our family is just doing basketball stuff or going to church, ” he said. “ Most people would probably think that’s pretty boring. If we were asked to do one or two things, go to church or play basketball, we’d go to church. ”

The lifestyle Rotnei leads is as pure as the shots he spins off his right hand. Conley said it’s a path his son has taken on his own accord.

“ He’s such a good, clean kid, ” Conley said. “ You couldn’t ask for anything more. People ask me, ‘ how did you get him to do this ?’ It was easy. ”