Seahawks defensive lineman Frank Clark (55) soaks in the noise of CenturyLink Field during Seattle’s win over the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 3. Clark lost his father, Frank Clark III, and three other family members to a house fire in Cleveland last week.
Seahawks defensive lineman Frank Clark (55) soaks in the noise of CenturyLink Field during Seattle’s win over the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 3. Clark lost his father, Frank Clark III, and three other family members to a house fire in Cleveland last week. Joshua Bessex joshua.bessex@gateline.com
Seahawks defensive lineman Frank Clark (55) soaks in the noise of CenturyLink Field during Seattle’s win over the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 3. Clark lost his father, Frank Clark III, and three other family members to a house fire in Cleveland last week. Joshua Bessex joshua.bessex@gateline.com

Frank Clark, Seahawks mourning loss of Clark’s father, 3 other family members in house fire

February 05, 2018 02:44 PM

Frank Clark lost his father and three other family members in a fire last week in Cleveland, where he went to high school.

The Seahawks’ defensive end shared his grief online this past weekend, writing: “Words can’t replace the pain.”

The Cleveland Division of Fire confirmed four people, including Frank Clark III, died in the house fire in the South Collinwood neighborhood of East Cleveland on Jan. 30.

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The younger Clark, 24, attended nearby Glenville High School. His mother had him move from Los Angeles to Cleveland to live with family members when he was 12. He then played collegiately at Michigan before the Seahawks made him their top draft choice in 2015.

Officials from the Cleveland Division of Fire told the city’s WEWS television the surviving woman who jumped from the burning house in the 1600 block of Hillview Road in the South Collinwood neighborhood on Tuesday is the mother of a 3-year-old boy, grandmother of an 8-year-old girl, wife of the 46-year-old man and aunt to the 44-year-old Frank Clark III. The bodies of those latter four were found dead in the home. Officials told WEWS the husband and wife were sleeping on the second floor of the home when the fire awakened them. The mother tried to rescue her son, but she was repelled by smoke. She escaped by jumping through a second-floor window.

Clark posted on his Instagram account text messages he exchanged with his dad around New Year’s.

 

Words can’t replace the pain. see you soon always, never goodbye!

A post shared by Skid Row (@therealfrankc55) on

Clark had two tackles, a quarterback hit and a pass defensed in the Seahawks’ season-ending loss to Arizona on Dec. 31.

The Seahawks on Sunday night released a statement of their condolences.