Asa V. Clark Papers, 1955

Asa V. Clark (1889-1972) was a longtime Pullman resident, a farmer, and a Washington State College alumnus from 1916. As a WSC student, Clark served as captain of the 1915 football team that made WSC's first appearance in the Rose Bowl, in which they defeated Brown University 14-0. Clark served in the State House of Representatives from 1941 to 1949 and as a State Senator from Whitman County from 1949 to 1956. In the summer of 1955, Clark, along with 11 other American farmers, traveled to the U.S.S.R. to tour Soviet collective farms from Moscow to Kazakhstan as "farm ambassadors". At the same time, 12 Russian farmers visited fields and research stations in the United States from Iowa to California. Clark Hall on the Washington State University (formerly WSC) Pullman campus was named after Asa V. Clark in 1972. Clark was also inducted to the WSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978.