Former state District Judge Harley Clark of Austin, who issued the first major court ruling against Texas in its long-running series of school finance lawsuits, died Thursday at the age of 78. Clark was perhaps better know as the UT-Austin student cheerleader who introduced the “Hook ‘em Horns” hand sign at a pep rally on campus prior to a football game against TCU in 1955. The sign has been used by Longhorn fans ever since to cheer on their sports teams. Clark, who maintained strong ties to the university his whole life, passed away at his farm near Dripping Spring, according to the UT-Austin news service. He had been battling cancer.
The first major school finance lawsuit filed against Texas in state court was assigned to Clark, who heard testimony from attorneys for poor school districts over several weeks in early 1987. That summer, Clark ruled that the school finance system was unconstitutional and inequitable, and he gave the Legislature until Sept. 1, 1989 to fix the problems. Although he was initially overruled by an appellate court, the Texas Supreme Court upheld his decision in the fall of 1989 by a vote of 9-0.
That led to a series of special sessions in 1990 that pitted Republican Gov. Bill Clements against the Democratic-led Legislature. After several failed attempts marked by Clements vetoing tax bills passed by lawmakers, Clements finally gave in and signed into law what was then the largest tax increase in state history, including an increase in the state sales tax. The legal battle would go on, but Clark’s decision was the first to bring relief for the state’s poorest school districts, many of whom had thousands of dollars less to spend per student each year than wealthier districts around the state.
Lawyers and others who took part in the school finance trial in 1987 remembered that Clark adorned the front of his courtroom with drawings by his young children, a reminder that the case was about the schoolchildren of Texas. Clark retired as a judge in 1989 and worked for the Vinson & Elkins law firm for 10 years before retiring to his 40-acre Dripping Springs farm where, according to the UT-Austin news service, he produced “gourmet-quality vegetables and herbs” for area restaurants. On the Hook ‘em Horns sign, the young Clark was initially cautioned by the dean of students, who worried the signal might be misinterpreted. Clark replied, “Dean, you need to look at the bright side of things. Instead of our mascot being a longhorn, it could have been a unicorn.”