Last updated: October 9, 2026.
Caitlin Clark started basketball at five in a boys’ league. Her father couldn’t find a girls’ league for her age, so he signed her up anyway. The Caitlin Clark family has handled most things that way since: practical, sporty, and rooted in one corner of Iowa.
Her father played two sports in college. Her grandfather coached football at the high school she later starred for. Her older brother played football at Iowa State, and her younger brother once needed four staples after a one-on-one game with her in the basement.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Caitlin Clark |
| Born | January 22, 2002, Des Moines, Iowa |
| Raised | West Des Moines, Iowa |
| Father | Brent Clark |
| Mother | Anne Nizzi-Clark |
| Siblings | Older brother Blake; younger brother Colin |
| Team | Indiana Fever (No. 1 pick, 2024 WNBA Draft) |
| College | Iowa, 2020 to 2024 |
| Religion | Raised Catholic |
Who Are Caitlin Clark’s Parents?
Caitlin Clark’s parents are Brent Clark and Anne Nizzi-Clark. They raised three children in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Brent Clark, her father
Brent Clark played basketball and baseball at Simpson College in Iowa from 1985 to 1988. He lettered all four years in both sports and earned all-conference honors in basketball, according to People’s profile of her parents. He works as a sales executive.
He coached Caitlin when she was young, and he has been at nearly every game since. In February 2023 he told the Iowa station KCRG that he sees a lot of himself in her passion for the game.
He has also been her bluntest adviser. In the same interview he said he’d told her to step back from social media, and that she still had room to improve.
Anne Nizzi-Clark, her mother
Anne Nizzi-Clark is a former marketing executive. She is of part Italian descent.
She grew up around high school sports. Her father, Bob Nizzi, was the football coach at Dowling Catholic High School, the school all three of her children later attended.
Anne has described a daughter the public doesn’t always see. She told The Gazette that Caitlin is fun and spunky, and more relaxed at home.
Does Caitlin Clark Have Siblings?
Yes. Caitlin Clark has two brothers. Blake is older and Colin is younger.
Blake Clark
Blake Clark played college football at Iowa State. He studied industrial engineering there, led the Student-Athlete Advisory Council, and was named an outstanding graduating senior in December 2022. Those details come from People’s report on her brothers.
His parents call him the steady one. Brent has described him as an old soul. Anne says he is the boss of the three.
Caitlin told The Gazette that she and Blake talk almost every day, and that he gives her honest feedback on her games.
Colin Clark
Colin Clark graduated from Dowling Catholic in 2023, where he played basketball and ran track.
He is the source of the best story about his sister’s competitiveness. He has recalled that during a childhood one-on-one game in the basement, she shoved him into a wall going for a loose ball. He needed four staples.
Her Grandfather and the Wider Family
Bob Nizzi, her maternal grandfather, was a football coach and administrator at Dowling Catholic. He saw it early. He told the site HawkFanatic that when Caitlin was five, she stood up to a bigger, rougher boy in a mixed game, and that he and his wife knew then she would be special.
College sport runs through both sides. Her Wikipedia biography lists an uncle, Tom Faber, who played basketball at Drake and Utica, another uncle, Mike Nizzi, who played football at Nebraska-Omaha, and a cousin, Audrey Faber, who played basketball at Creighton.
Where Did Caitlin Clark Grow Up?
Caitlin Clark was born in Des Moines and grew up in West Des Moines. She was raised in the Catholic Church and is a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi in the Des Moines area.
She tried everything first: softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis and golf. In third grade she made a dream board. It included a college basketball scholarship and playing in the WNBA.
At Dowling Catholic she scored 60 points in one game in 2019 and finished with 2,547 career points. She was Iowa’s Gatorade Player of the Year and a McDonald’s All-American.
How Did Her Family Shape Her Career?
Blake summed it up to The Gazette. The family was always around sports, he said, and his sister plays with a lot of confidence.
She stayed in state for college. At Iowa she led the country in scoring as a freshman, was national player of the year twice, and finished with 3,951 points, the most in NCAA Division I history. Iowa reached the national title game in 2023 and 2024.
The Indiana Fever took her first in the 2024 draft. She was Rookie of the Year and set the league’s single-season assists record.
The No. 1 pick a year later was Paige Bueckers, another guard whose father was her first coach.
What Is Caitlin Clark Doing Now?
Caitlin Clark missed most of 2025 with a run of muscle and ankle injuries and played only 13 games. She came back in 2026. On July 17 she scored 45 points, a career high and a Fever record, and she was an All-Star for the third year running.
She was most valuable player of the United States team’s World Cup qualifying tournament in February 2026, and was named to the roster for the 2026 World Cup.
She has been in a relationship with Connor McCaffery, a former Iowa basketball and baseball player, since 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Caitlin Clark’s parents? Brent Clark, a former Simpson College basketball and baseball player, and Anne Nizzi-Clark, a former marketing executive.
Does Caitlin Clark have siblings? Yes. She has an older brother, Blake, who played football at Iowa State, and a younger brother, Colin.
Who is Caitlin Clark’s grandfather? Her maternal grandfather is Bob Nizzi, a former football coach at Dowling Catholic High School.
Where is Caitlin Clark from? West Des Moines, Iowa. She was born in Des Moines on January 22, 2002.
Is Caitlin Clark Catholic? She was raised Catholic and attended Dowling Catholic High School.
Why did Caitlin Clark play in boys’ leagues? Her father couldn’t find a girls’ league for five-year-olds, so she played with boys.
Sources
- People, via AOL: Caitlin Clark’s parents, by Skyler Caruso (February 2024)
- People, via Yahoo News: Caitlin Clark’s siblings, by Kelsie Gibson (March 2024)
- Wikipedia: Caitlin Clark, statistics and awards
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