Win or lose, Rich Clarkson enjoys every Final Four, and he hasn’t missed the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 47 years.

As thousands of fans witness the winning shot of the championship game, Clarkson captures the coaches’ and teams’ reactions to the final buzzer on film.

But then again, that’s all just part of a day’s work.

For more than 50 years, the 1956 graduate has worked his way to the top of the photography business.

When Clarkson captures the memorable moments at this weekend’s Final Four in St. Louis, his 50th tournament shoot, the 72-year-old Lawrence native won’t be surprised if photographers are capturing his own movements through their telephoto lenses.

If another journalist or photographer exists who has worked 50 Final Fours, nobody knows about it, Clarkson said.

“He’s one of a kind guy,” said Bill Snead, Lawrence Journal-World senior editor. “I don’t know anyone else like him.”

As a photographer for the Lawrence Journal-World and The Topeka Capital Journal, Clarkson mentored Snead for nine years. Clarkson has established himself as a taskmaster of perfection, but he takes pride in teaching young photojournalists the art of photography, Snead said.

Because of the experiences of his last 50 years, Clarkson said he would never get tired of basketball. The easy “walk-up” atmosphere has made the Final Four more enjoyable than the Superbowl and the World Series, which he has covered several times.

“I just love college basketball,” he said. “I think it’s one of the best games. I think the Final Four during the years that I’ve been doing it has developed into a premier sports event.”

Clarkson continuing his career at his age has impressed Snead, but Clarkson said he has cut back on the number of sporting events he covers. Clarkson photographed about 20 sporting events this past year, but he used to cover about 100 events per year, he said.

Now he personally covers track and field events and the Final Four because he enjoys those events the most.

Along the way to national prominence, Clarkson has worked for several newspapers and magazines, including the Lawrence Journal-World and The Topeka Capital-Journal, National Geographic and Sports Illustrated.

Clarkson resides in Denver where he owns a photography company that covers all 88 NCAA championships, and the pro teams the Denver Broncos and the Colorado Rockies.

Rich Clarkson

A giant of an opportunity

Clarkson’s passion for photography began as an activity for the yearbook at Liberty Memorial High School — now Lawrence High — before it transformed into one of the most prominent photography careers in the country.

By his senior year of high school, Clarkson had snapped shots of KU football and basketball games as a freelance photographer.

His ability did not go unnoticed. He received a personal invitation to the 1952 Final Four in Seattle, his first, from basketball coach Forrest “Phog” Allen.

Rich Clarkson, 1956 graduate, took this photo of Wilt Chamberlain, then a freshman at the University of Kansas, in 1956. Clarkson realized a shot of Chamberlain seated would accurately depict the basketball star’s high waist and long legs that composed his towering seven-foot body. This photo received a spot in Sports Illustrated.

Clarkson enjoyed covering KU sports, but it would not lead him to his dream job at Sports Illustrated, a new magazine at the time.

That changed when basketball standout Wilt Chamberlain arrived on campus, shortly after Clarkson graduated from the University in 1956.

As a freelance photographer, Clarkson took Chamberlain’s picture at the beginning of Chamberlain’s freshman season. He took several pictures of the star dunking and jumping, but Clarkson said he couldn’t depict just how tall Chamberlain stood.

Clarkson realized a seated shot of Wilt would maximize the effect of the star’s high waist and long legs to accurately depict his towering seven-foot frame.

“I thought, gee, if I could just get him to sit down in one of these folding chairs and tie his shoes, that might make him look taller,’” Clarkson said.

And it did.

Clarkson sent several 8-by-10 copies of the pictures to Sports Illustrated in New York.

The photo editor at the time, Jerry Ashter, received Clarkson’s photos on the Monday before he planned to send a photographer to Lawrence for a piece on Chamberlain. The magazine used Clarkson’s photo and never sent a photographer to Lawrence.

“I thought that was the epitome of success at that time,” Clarkson said.

Three months later, an editor at the magazine gave him his first assignment. What was supposed to be a single photo from a Kansas vs. iowa State basketball game became a six-page spread after another story fell through.

Three years later, the magazine selected Clarkson to cover all basketball games for Sports Illustrated.

Ahead of the game

Other professionals have said Clarkson’s 50-year run in the field is highlighted by the progress he has continued to make.

“If you do the same thing for 50 years, I don’t know how you would get out of bed,” Snead said. “To keep your interest up, you’ve got to change.”

And for a photographer who began his career with a old-fashioned speed graphics camera, technological advancements have not slowed Clarkson down.

Clarkson was usually ahead of the game when it came to technological advancements in sports photography. He was the first to put digital cameras behind the backboard glass to capture action shots around the hoop, said Snead, who used to poke fun at Clarkson’s idea.

“I asked him if he had his Windex to wipe down the board,” he said.

But Snead said Clarkson never feared trying a new technique.

For Clarkson, tournament time poses the biggest challenges to maintain originality. Photographers often think about more creative opportunities during the postseason because by then people have seen many basketball pictures, Clarkson said.

He knows from experience that creativity could cause photographers to miss the most important shot of the game.

“By the time you get to the championship game at the Final Four, you’re making damn sure that you aren’t taking one of those kinds of gambles in the name of creativity,” Clarkson said.