Arkansas State University

Dick Clay - Former KAIT Sports Director

Dick “Dickie Bird” Clay was sports director at KAIT-TV in Jonesboro from 1970-1998. For 30 years he was the face of A-State and local sports coverage in Northeast Arkansas and Southwest Missouri for a generation of television viewers.

Clay’s memorable signature signoff to each sports segment was “I’m Dick Clay, and that’s sports” with his pen pointing to the camera. He highlighted A-State athletics, high school teams throughout central Arkansas and his beloved St. Louis Cardinals. He would proclaim close games to be “a real barnburner.”

KAIT news anchor Diana Davis, who worked with Clay, noted that Clay covered A-State’s 11-0 football season in 1975.

In 2024, Clay was inducted into the Arkansas Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame.

After retirement as sports anchor, Clay hosted “Dick Clay Sports Magazine,” which focused on hunting, fishing and other outdoors activities. He was a member of the A-State All-Centennial Football Team Selection Committee in 2014.

Clay grew up in Portageville, Mo., and attended A-State, where he graduated with a master’s degree in physical education. He served as the first director of Arkansas Special Olympics in the 1970s.

He passed away on Aug. 6, 2014, at the age of 78. 

Clay’s wife, Pat, of Jonesboro and son, Jason, of Arlington, Tenn., represented Clay at the Wall of Honor ceremony.