LAKE FOREST, Ill. – On his game-winning 34-yard touchdown reception last Oct. 7 against the Packers in Green Bay, Bears tight end Desmond Clark never dreamed of stepping out of bounds short of the goal line.

The 31-year-old applied the same approach in earning his college degree, completing a final class this spring before being presented with his diploma during graduation ceremonies Monday at Wake Forest University.

Desmond Clark's 34-yard touchdown catch gave the Bears a 27-20 win over the Green Bay Packers last Oct. 7 at Lambeau Field.

“I was too close not to do it,” said Clark, a communications major. “Why go through four years of school and be so close to graduating and not do it? Although I did make it to the NFL, I didn’t want to feel like I wasted my time as a student at Wake Forest. I wanted to go back and get it just to say that I finished and I did it.”

Clark earned the final five credits required for his degree at Lake Forest College, which is located about four miles from Halas Hall. 

He took a rhetoric class in 2006 that focused on Abraham Lincoln’s speeches and a visual communications class this spring that required him to describe his personal experiences in an Internet blog.

“I wrote a lot about football,” Clark said. “I took some vacations and discussed the language barriers and stuff like that. That class was easy because it was based off life experiences.”

Clark tried to take classes at a college in Denver while playing for the Broncos in 2001, but his status as a pro football player was too big of a distraction. When he enrolled at Lake Forest, Clark was relieved to be treated like every other student.

“When I went to Lake Forest, everybody was cool,” he said. “They knew I played football, but that wasn’t the topic of conversation in class, so that made it easier to sit there and deal with.”

Clark originally attended Wake Forest from 1995-98, playing wide receiver and leaving the school as the ACC's all-time leading receiver. He was selected by the Broncos in the sixth round of the 1999 draft and played three seasons in Denver. After appearing in 11 games with the Miami Dolphins in 2002, he joined the Bears as a free agent in 2003.

About 25 members of Clark’s family attended Monday’s ceremony in Winston-Salem, N.C. By graduating, he fulfilled a vow to his grandfather, Edward Buchanan, who passed away in 2006.

“I promised him that I would do it because he was big on education,” Clark said. “He always told me to make sure I go back and get it. I always told him I would, and now I can say that I did go back and get it.”

Another reason Clark wanted to earn his degree was for the example it will ultimately provide his five-year-old twin daughters, both of whom are slated to graduate from preschool next week.

“Now there’s some substance when I say, ‘get your education,’” Clark said. “Anybody can say it, but if you haven’t done it, how much weight does it hold?

“Now I can look back and tell my kids that I finished. When I say, ‘finish school,’ they’re not going to look at me [and think], ‘What did you do?’”