DKE Provided Friendship, Sense of Family for Randy Clark

Oftentimes the transition from high school to college is challenging; the new environment, people, and routines can be overwhelming. C. Randall Clark ’61 came to Tuscaloosa from Birmingham, Alabama, in 1957, expecting the move to be somewhat difficult. He recalled, “Sometimes you can get swallowed up at big colleges right out of high school.” Randy learned of Delta Kappa Epsilon through some of his high school friends and, after attending several recruitment events, found that the Fraternity was a good fit.

Randy’s decision to join Delta Kappa Epsilon not only provided him with the opportunity to meet many other students, but helped scale down the size of the University. Randy formed many strong friendships with his pledge brothers and enjoyed meeting men from different backgrounds. He viewed the Fraternity as an extended family of sorts, and the Chapter House as a home on campus.
Although Randy does not make it back to the UA campus as often as he would like, he still maintains strong friendships with some of his Deke brothers. They enjoy attending thoroughbred horse races when they visit Randy in Kentucky and other non-structured events, when the Clarks visit friends in the Gulf area of Alabama.

Randy was a business major at Alabama and following graduation became the fourth generation in his family to work in coal mining and transportation. He serves as president of Transkentucky

Transportation Railroad Inc., which moves trainloads of Kentucky coal to the Ohio River where it is shipped to electric utilities and other customers. His tenure with TTI began in 1984 as vice president of marketing, until he was promoted to president in 1997. Randy doesn’t plan on retiring in the near future because he still enjoys the day-to-day challenges of his position.

Randy offers this advice to young alumni: “I would urge any young person to be selective in their career choices. You can spend a lifetime building a positive reputation for yourself, but it takes far less time to discredit your name.”

Randy and his wife, Jan, live in a lake house in Lancaster, Kentucky. They have two grown children, Rob and Betsy, who both graduated from The University of Alabama. Rob works as an administrator for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and resides with his family in Memphis, Tennessee. Betsy works in real estate and lives with her family in Louisville, Kentucky. The Clarks enjoy traveling, playing with their four grandchildren, and try to spend as much time appreciating “lake life” as possible. Reach Randy via e-mail at [email protected] or during lake season on his dock at Lullwater Landing, the Clarks’ home on Herrington Lake.