SAN DIEGO — One of the first things you notice when speaking to Zion Clark is how fast he talks and how many ideas he’s juggling at the same time.
The 24-year-old wrestling and track athlete — who was born without legs — is in a hurry to accomplish as much as he can, as quickly as he can.
The resident of San Diego's East Village neighborhood recently set the Guinness World Record for the fastest 20-meter walk on hands, and he’s hoping to become the first person to compete in both the Olympics and the Paralympics games in 2024.
He’s also a Netflix documentary star, an actor, a motivational speaker, a published author, a drummer, a rap video producer and an entrepreneur, as well as a mixed martial arts fighter-in-training.
Clark said there no mystery to why he’s pushing himself so hard. He spent the first 17 years of his life in foster care, enduring what he described as years of physical and mental abuse and starvation. Now he’s making up for lost time.
“I’m 24 years old, but I’ve only seen real peace in the last seven years,” he said. “I spent more than half of my life suffering and fighting to survive. I didn’t know if I’d be homeless, put in a group home or get the crap beat out of me and die. So for me now, I’ve been putting in a lot of work and time on myself and seeing some success. Sometimes I have to step back and disappear for a few weeks. But 95 percent of the time I’m starting every day at 5 a.m. and getting back home at 11 p.m.”
Clark’s latest project is “No Days Off,” a biographical documentary about him that was produced by the Whistle sports and entertainment brand for its YouTube channel. Released Jan. 4, the nearly 10-minute film has already generated more than 100,000 views.
Craig Levinson, who is Clark’s mentor, manager and trainer, said there are “endless opportunities” for Clark in the music, entertainment, motivational speaking, athletic and philanthropic fields. But he has tried to encourage Clark to narrow his goal list so he doesn’t over-commit. But Levinson said he understands the internal fire that drives his client.
“There are no limitations in Zion’s mind. He really is fearless,” said Levinson, a San Diego resident. “He has overcome the worst in life and now he’s flourishing. He’s gone from the mentality of survival to thriving and it has shifted how he sees himself.”
A native of Columbus, Ohio, Clark was born with Caudal Regression Syndrome, a rare disorder affecting one in 100,000 people that impairs the development of the lower half of the body. His birth mother gave him up to the foster care system as a baby and he bounced through seven or eight foster homes in his youth. Clark said he was bullied, underfed and mistreated and became a difficult child. The only place he felt safe and cared for was at school, where he signed up for many extra-curricular clubs and sports to avoid going home. At age 7, he discovered wrestling.
“I love wrestling because I get to go be myself,” he said. “You may find yourself at the bottom of the barrel getting the crap beat out of you and it’s up to you if you’ll stand up and fight back or not.”
Wrestling was Clark’s passion but he struggled in the sport. He lost virtually every match he played from grade school through his junior year, but he never quit. Then he met Gil Donahue, the high school wrestling coach at Massillon High in Massillon, Ohio. Donahue pushed Clark to work harder. Clark already had tremendous upper-body strength because he prefers walking on his hands to using prosthetic legs or a wheelchair, but Donahue taught Clark how to use explosive power and new techniques to win matches.
In his senior year, Clark won 33 out of 50 wrestling matches, won his high school championship, nearly qualified for the Ohio state championship and went on to wrestle at Kent State University. Clark also won two state championships in wheelchair racing.
Across Clark’s upper back in large block letters are the tattooed words NO EXCUSES. That’s the phrase Donahue drilled into Clark in high school and it's become his motto today.
“I got that tattoo to give respect to my coach who pushed me to the next level,” he said. “It’s just a way for me to remind myself that I’ve got what it takes to be great, and to show others they have what it takes, too, but they have to get off their butts and make something of themselves. We need more active people in this world contributing to society, stepping up for others and for themselves, and that starts with making no excuses.”
Clark credits his early success to Donahue and to Kimberly Hawkins, the foster mom who adopted Clark when he was 17 years old and gave him a stable and loving family home.
Clark’s inspirational story attracted the attention of Hollywood a few years ago and he was the subject of the 2018 documentary short “Zion,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018 and is now available on Netflix. His story has also been turned into an inspirational photo essay book, “Zion: Unmatched,” which Clark co-wrote with biographer James S. Hirsch last year. Clark said they’re now finishing up their second book slated for release in 2023 and a third book is planned in 2025.
In 2019, Ellen DeGeneres invited Clark and his mother, Kimberly, out to tape an episode of “Ellen” and Clark fell in love with California and the many athletic, film and television opportunities it offers. So last year, he moved to Los Angeles and spent a few months living on a friend’s couch.
Nine months ago, he moved permanently to San Diego, where he’s been working with Levinson to achieve some of his goals. These include a plan to start his own business and acting appearances in two feature films over the next couple of years. He also hopes to train for the 2024 Olympics as a member of the wrestling team and the 2024 Paralympics as a wheelchair racer.
Clark’s No. 1 goal right now is training to be an MMA fighter with coaches Charles Martinez at The Arena gym in San Diego and with Antonio McKee of Team Body Shop in Los Angeles. That requires at least five hours of training, five days a week and a strict all-organic diet.
“If you want to be at the top of the pyramid you want to train with people who know what they’re doing,” Clark said. “It’s a violent sport but that’s the name of the game and I love it. I thrive in environments like that because I crave that competition. All I can say is you should expect to see more of me.”
