These days, he's better known as 'Caleb's Dad', but former All Black Eroni Clarke is desperately trying to reclaim a small slice of his own personal glory as part of Three's Match Fit roster.
Over the past two weeks, young Caleb Clarke has emerged as New Zealand's latest rugby hero, cutting a wide swath through the Wallabies during the Bledisloe Cup series.
But his father is just realising how far off peak condition he has let himself slide since retiring from professional rugby in 2005.
In his heyday, Clarke Snr played 150 times for Auckland, 51 Super Rugby games for the Blues and Highlanders, and made 14 appearances for the national side, scoring 11 tries.
More recently, he has been appointed NZ Rugby's Pasifika engagement manager, tasked with nurturing our long-neglected relationship with our Pacific Island neighbours.
Clarke has always been a spiritual beacon in his community, but he'll need every bit of faith he can muster to overcome the obstacles posed during Match Fit, where he joins a roster full of now-middle-aged international teammates to prepare for one last competitive outing.
All Blacks legends Wayne 'Buck' Shelford and Sir Graham Henry will lead a band of former stars, including Frank Bunce, Piri Weepu and Craig Dowd, through a programme that forces them to confront physical and mental health issues common among gentlemen of their vintage.
The enormity of that task hit the former worldbeaters when they undertook body scans during Tuesday's opening episode.
"There's the cold hard reality of it," reflects Clarke, surveying his results. "It's a starting point and if I'm already at the bottom… it's going to be a good journey.
"I got to a point where I had to make a decision, and I realised I had to choose between my hopes and dreams or my children's aspirations - it was a no-brainer.
"When I finished playing rugby, I didn't want to continue any of the disciplines I engaged in when I was playing sport."
"Fifty kilos later, my clothes are telling me, my health is telling me, my children are telling me, 'Dad, you've got to do something about this'.
"I want to inspire our men, 'If Eroni can do it, so can I'."
At 51, Clarke's metabolic age is 66, with 36 percent body fat.
While some of his contemporaries have remained remarkably fit - midfield Pita Alatini, 44, and lock Troy Flavell, 43, registered in the late 20s - others are in the same predicament as Clarke.
Loose forward Ron Cribb, 44, has a metabolic age of 59 - the same as Sir Graham, who is 30 years older in real terms.
Prop Kees Meeuws, 46, clocks in at 61.
"We, as Polynesian and Māori, actually live 10 years shorter than the Pākehā," warns Shelford, who survived a cancer scare in 2007. "That's a fact of life for Polynesians and Māori in New Zealand."
Clarke is excused the first physical pain of the series - a much-feared 1.2km shuttle run known as the 'Bronco' - as he exits to celebrate his son's selection for the All Blacks.
Alatini, Flavell and Eric Rush lead the field home in 6m 14s (well short of Beauden Barrett's 4m 12s record), but the effort leaves Rush - one of rugby's fittest men during his prime, now sporting an artificial hip and knee - in a moon boot.
Reality - and middle age - bites hard.
Made with 'NZ On Air' funding, watch Match Fit over October/November, 7:30pm Tuesdays, or on Three Now.
