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This Saturday, Sept. 21, the Troy Trojans will celebrate the 1984 National Championship winning team during its home game with the Florida A&M Rattlers.

The 1984 National Championship team was the first Trojan squad to win a Division II National Championship and the second Troy State team to win a National Championship ever, with the school previously winning an NAIA National Championship. Troy would go on to win another Division II Championship in 1987 before jumping to Division I in 1993.

The 1984 season was the second year under legendary coach Chan Gailey. Troy had gone 7-4 in Gailey’s first year as head coach in 1983 after going 2-8 the year prior. Future Troy head coach Rick Rhoades – who would lead the Trojans to the 1987 championship – served as defensive coordinator.

While Troy Hall of Famer Mike Turk is probably the most celebrated player from this team, it was senior Cary Christensen who won the starting quarterback job heading into the season.

“The reason I ended up at Troy State was because of Chan Gailey,” Christensen flatly said. “He recruited me to Air Force and had been named head coach at Troy. I trusted Chan and that’s why I ended up at Troy.

“I was only there two years but the previous year – before Coach Gailey got there – Troy had only won like two games,” Christensen said. “The real crazy thing is that not a lot changed on that team, personnel-wise. We didn’t add a bunch of transfers or anything, Coach Gailey was basically working with the same guys that had gone 2-8 the previous year.”

Christensen helped roll Troy to a 2-0 record in the first two games, with a 26-7 win over Nicholls State in week one and a 17-3 win over Florida A&M in week two. Then, in week three against Livingston (West Alabama), Christensen suffered a severe foot injury.

“On the first drive of the game we faced a fourth-and-one in Livingston’s territory and I got the first down and one of the linemen was blocking a defensive tackle and the guy just lost his balance – or got blocked into me – and he landed with his knee straight down on my left foot,” Christensen remembered. “I broke my fifth metatarsal in the foot. I stayed in for the rest of the drive but I knew there was something wrong. I couldn’t hardly put any weight on it.”

Walk-on freshman Turk then entered the game and led Troy to a 35-26 win over Livingston. Christensen was told by doctors he would be out for 6-12 weeks and Turk went on to start at quarterback for the Trojans for the next six games.

“As the backup quarterback, you try to prepare yourself everyday in case that happens but I wasn’t ready for it,” Turk recalled. “I had no choice but to get ready for it pretty quickly, though. There were so many older guys on that team that took me under their wing and got me through the first part of it, which was the roughest part. That really is what made the difference for me.”

During that stretch, Troy earned wins over West Georgia, Valdosta State, Mississippi College and Delta State before dropping the only loss of the season 13-10 to North Alabama on Oct. 27. Troy then rebounded to win 31-7 over Tennessee-Martin the next week.

“We had a really good relationship,” Turk said of Christensen. “Carey took me under his wing. I got there that January and he was done playing the next December. We were only teammates for a year but our relationship really grew a lot during that time. “We roomed together on the road and he took good care of me. He was at every practice and every game constantly coaching me, which I am not only appreciative of but needed.”

While Christensen got healthy heading into the UT-Martin game, a decision needed to be made about whether he would redshrit or not.

“I dressed out for the UT-Martin game on homecoming and before the game, Coach Gailey asked me if I wanted to redshirt because I could have,” he recalled. “I told him, ‘No, this is my group and we’re going to win a national championship and I’m going to be a big part of it.’ He looked at me and told me, ‘Yes, you will’ and I started playing from there.”

While Christensen played just a few snaps against UT-Martin, he and Turk would share the quarterback job for the remainder of the season. In the regular season finale, a 42-39 win over rival Jacksonville State, Christensen threw for 59 yards.

Turk ended the season winning Conference Freshman of the Year as he threw for 989 yards and five touchdowns along with rushing for 556 yards and eight touchdowns. Christensen threw for 815 yards five touchdowns. Receiver Rufus Cox was a big play machine for the Trojans, catching 56 passes for 1,169 yards and seven touchdowns. Troy also boasted one of the most formidable fullbacks in the country, Troy State’s first ever 1,000-yard rusher in Elba native Ted Horstead. He ran for 1,123 yards and five touchdowns that season.

“At the time, I didn’t really think about it,” Horstead recalled of being Troy’s first 1,000-yard rusher. “I was just doing what I could to try and assist the team and win. We had a great offensive line that made it a lot easier for me.

“I’ve watched film over the years and I never once saw where our offensive line didn’t move the line of scrimmage. So, that made it so much easier for me. That first yard was given and then you just had to make the right cuts and do what you needed to do to gain more. That was the key. I didn’t think about it a lot then but over the years I thought about it being a great accomplishment. It’s definitely something I’m proud of but I had a lot of help doing it, too. It was definitely a team effort.”

As the playoffs began, Troy rolled up nearly 600 yards of offense in a home win over third seed Central State in the Division II Quarterfinals. Troy then decimated the No. 8 seed Towson State by a score of 45-3 in the semifinals.

In the Palm Bowl, Troy was set to face No. 1-ranked North Dakota State – the reigning National Champions – in McAllen, Tex., for the Division II National Championship. Turk earned the start in the game but Christensen was the lone Trojan to find the end zone that day, scoring on a 4-yard touchdown run that capped off a 90-yard drive late in the first half. With Troy leading 15-14 in the fourth quarter, Turk was unable to lead Troy down the field to extend the lead and North Dakota State responded by marching on a 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive that took up 5:43 of game time. The drive was capped off with a 19-yard field goal that gave NDSU a 17-15 lead.

Christensen returned to the game, with just 1:29 remaining, backed up at the Troy 14-yard line.

“I did what I did,” Christensen flatly said. “In high school, I did that three or four times my senior year, led last-minute charges down the field. It’s an usual thing for a ‘wish bone’ offense to do but I was good at that.

“I was a good runner but I think what I brought that no one else brought (to the ‘wish bone’) was that I could really throw the ball around, too. I could make every throw and that came up big on that drive. Also, my protection was really great. I played in two full games (before injury), one series against Livingston and four games at the end of the season – so over six games – and I was never sacked during that span. I never even really got close to getting sacked that I can remember.”

Christensen started the drive with a 21-yard strike to Lee Hollingsworth and then hit Greg Wall for a 12-yard pickup near midfield. After an 8-yard pass to Cox got Troy into North Dakota State territory, Elba native Ted Horstead picked up five yards for another first down to the NDSU 39.

Christensen then spiked the ball to stop the clock and found Wall for another four-yard pickup with just 29 seconds left. On third down, Christensen scrambled for four yards but Troy had no timeouts. Georgiana freshman Ted Clem – the hero of the ‘84 Championship – then hurried onto the field and booted a game-winning 50-yard field goal as time expired to give the Trojans the National Championship.

“We got him in position and he made the kick,” Christensen recalled. “It was a great kick form Ted and it would have been good from 65 (yards) easily. It’s just amazing to think about what we were able to do.”

Horstead said that championship is his favorite memory from his Troy career.

“My favorite memory is, of course, the national championship,” Horstead emphasized. “It’s by far the accomplishment I’m most proud of, but also being able to meet so many great people (at Troy) that I’m still friends with to this day is so special to me.”

Turk said that he and his fellow underclassmen wanted to win the championship for the senior class, which had come into Troy at a low point and helped turn it into a Division II power.

“The thing I remember most about that first year – and winning that national championship – was that it was for the seniors on that team,” said Turk. “I was excited because I was on the team but I was really excited for those guys. Their freshman and sophomore seasons had to have been miserable. I think they won five games those two years combined.

“They went through a coaching change and survived all of that and held it together and reaped the benefits of that just two short years later. They deserved that and I was glad I got to be a part of it.”

This Saturday, Troy will hold a reunion for the 1984 team along with a team-only reception on Friday. There will also be a pre-game tailgate with the 1984 team prior to the Florida A&M game and the team will be honored on the field during it. The current Trojans will also wear throwback 1984 helmets to honor the team and commemorative posters will be given to fans remembering that team.