Trojan Tribute: The history of Troy’s Military Appreciation uniform
Once a year or more, Troy hosts a game that holds meaning not only for the conference season, but for the Trojans program and fanbase.
Troy’s Military Appreciation Day (previously known as the Salute to Veterans Game) has become a yearly tribute to the men and women of the Armed Forces, retired and active, and it’s been successful not only in the stands but on the field.
Out of the 22 Appreciation games the Trojans have hosted, they have only lost 6, including last year. Troy’s first loss in the all-grey alternate uniforms, specially created for this game, came in 2014.
By that time the promotion had been around 15 years.
In 2004, Troy AD Johnny Williams had a weekly blog in which he answered fan questions. In November 2004, Troy fan Russell Chambliss asked if disabled veterans could have help getting to a game. Williams’ response provides the earliest evidence of a “Salute to Veterans” game, dating it to 1999 and providing an opponent for the 2004 game.
Later the Middle Tennessee promotion was named “Fort Rucker Appreciation Day”, but all members of the Armed Forces were recognized during the game. Troy won 37-17.
The beginning of the next year, Troy’s interim AD Scott Farmer fielded another question about the Salute to Veterans promotion, confirming the obvious answer about scheduling.
At that point in time, these promotions weren’t documented quite like they are now, much less given an alternate uniform. I only found confirmation for the 2004, 2007, and 2009-2011 games.
This answer helped me identify games that might have been Armed Forces promotions.
Of course, short of finding old game programs some of these guesses are just that. Assuming these games are correct, an 11-2 record over the first 13 years is insanely good.
Nestled in the middle of these games is a one-off tribute of another kind.
If you haven’t heard the story of Al Lucas yet, here’s the short version. Lucas won the 1999 Buck Buchanan Award (the I-AA equivalent of Bednarik Award) and went on to play in the Arena Football League.
In 2005, Lucas made what looked like a normal tackle, except the player’s knee hit his helmet, impacting his spinal cord. Lucas collapsed on the field. He was rushed to the hospital where he died from the injury.
That fall, Troy pulled the 1999 black uniforms out of the closet for the FIU game. It was the Trojans’ first throwback uniform, and the team’s first alternate uniform at the FBS level. Troy won 18-13.
The jerseys were auctioned off after the game, and the money went to support an endowment in Lucas’ name.
The Al Lucas throwback was also the Trojans’ first alternate helmet. Troy managers put the regular decals on a black helmet, but it was the first time since the first game of the 2004 season Troy wore any design other than the standard shield on a cardinal helmet.
The second time came in 2012. The Trojans made a deal with Navy to play a home and home series, and the second game happened to coincide with the Marine Corps’ 237th anniversary and Troy’s “Salute to Veterans” game.
Incidentally, the College Gameday crew hosted the show aboard a Navy ship in San Diego for the game, meaning Troy became the first Sun Belt team to host Gameday—from the other side of the country. (It’s also worth noting Kirk Herbstreit literally said “I never pick Troy.”)
For just the second time ever, Troy broke out a new design on its helmets—a camouflage pattern in the stripe and shield decals. Both teams wore a Marine Corps deal too.
Troy beat Navy 41-31 in its biggest win since the 2010 New Orleans Bowl. The game cemented Troy’s Salute to Veterans game as an annual affair, and it inspired the program to branch out even farther.
Enter Halloween 2013.
Troy introduced a completely new look for the night game against ULM, which also doubled as the military appreciation game. For the first time since 2006, the Trojans lost the game 49-37.
Troy wore the helmets two more times that year. The pants appeared five more times before Blakeney retired, and the jerseys were demoted to practice duty.
According to Troy’s 2015 Adidas contract, the Trojans got a “buy one, get one” deal for alternate football uniforms. Presumably that applied to the previous deal as well, meaning Troy could get another set of threads if it wanted.
I make that assumption because the next year, Troy introduced the first installment of the all-grey Military Appreciation jerseys it’s worn every year since. The first version had Troy shields on either shoulder and beveled, stylized numbers.
From this point on, the promotion became the Military Appreciation game.
In 2014, Coach Larry Blakeney won his 100th game against Georgia State 45-21. The Trojans wore the grey pants in Blakeney’s last two games after that.
The next year, Neal Brown continued the winning tradition in the Power T helmet, beating ULM 51-14. The Trojans wore the grey pants against Mississippi State later that year too.
Jeremy McClain signed the previously-mentioned deal with Adidas in 2015, and the Trojans picked up a newer version of the Military Appreciation uniforms as well as the Patriotic Power T helmet. The jerseys had stripes on the shoulder, different numbers, and a giant reflective Power T on the pants.
They debuted in the 2016 win over Appalachian State, a defining win in the Neal Brown era. Brown’s Trojan teams never lost in the Military Appreciation kit, no matter how hard Akron tried.
Chip Lindsey’s first year saw the first military appreciation loss in seven years, a 43-50 shootout against Arkansas State.
Little did we know that would be the last time Troy wore the military appreciation uniforms. In 2020, Troy unveiled the “Trojan Smoke” uniforms, replacing the all-grey look with a dark grey-almost black uniform.
The Patriotic Power T stuck around though, and for the next two years Troy paired it with a standard uniform combination. In 2020 though, the year this article was originally published, there was nothing standard about the uniform, the opponent, the date, or even the reveal video:
For starters, the Patriotic Power T was paired with a white jersey for a home game–something Troy did for the first time since the late 1950s.
Troy was supposed to host Coastal Carolina on Veterans Day weekend, but a COVID-19 outbreak postponed the game. Instead, the next week, Troy held over the look for Middle Tennessee… a team the Trojans already beat that season.
In fact, it was the third time ever two teams played two games in the regular season, after Liberty and New Mexico State helped each other fill out their schedules in 2018 and 2019.
What’s more, the Palladium was on the line. The trophy Troy held since week 2… went back to the Blue Raiders.
The next year, Troy went back to a standard home look, cardinal jersey and white pants, which made the Patriotic Power T stand out. Unfortunately, the performance was not as strong as the uni combo.
Third-round draft pick Malik Willis and Liberty escaped the Vet with a win, 13-21. The Military Appreciation game was on a losing streak.
Then, Jon Sumrall happened.
As part of homecoming his first season, Troy used a script font decal on its helmets for the first time. It was the first time Troy used a wordmark on the helmet since BYU in 2020 and the second time since 1982.
Troy added a little patriotic flair for the Military Appreciation game against Army. In fact, the University went all out to welcome West Point: borrowing aircraft from Fort Rucker, bringing back the massive flag for pregame, and all-out blitzing for the attendance record.
It worked, Carlton Martial got his FBS tackling record, and the Trojans held on for another defining comeback victory over Army 10-9.
Two uniforms stand out among this list of alternate looks and Armed Forces tributes—the first: the Digi-Camo helmet decal.
For the 2017 Veterans Day game, the Trojans introduced the decal for their game at Coastal Carolina. It was the Trojans’ fourth alternate decal design since the team dropped “State” from its name.
It surged in popularity like Marcus Jones surged his way into the Troy record books, returning two kickoffs for touchdowns in the Trojans’ 42-17 win.
Four years later, Troy brought back the decal–this time on a cardinal helmet–for the Veterans Day game against Louisiana. As exciting as the decal’s return was, the game was a dud: a 21-35 loss to the eventual conference champions.
While it doesn’t count as a Military Appreciation game, the Digi-Camo helmet fits into the legacy of Troy’s Armed Forces tributes.
Now for the other uniform on that list. In October 2021, Troy revealed a new helmet design for the Georgia Southern game… with an all-too familiar decal.
The TSU logo was back.
For the first time since Troy beat Utah State and ULM to end the 2003 season, played as an independent and then dropped “State” from its name, the Trojans wore the TSU Knight helmet decal. Troy fans overwhelmingly voted this their favorite logo in January 2021.
It was Troy’s first true throwback uniform since the Al Lucas tribute game in 2005, with black jerseys and white pants… just like the Trojans wore in 1999. Incidentally, that was both Lucas’ final season with Troy… and the first year of the “Salute to Veterans” game.
The game on the field was an all-timer as well.
Reggie Todd hauled in a pass and scored a touchdown to put Troy up 24-3 with 11 minutes left in the third quarter. Georgia Southern, to its credit, went nowhere. The Eagles rallied to tie the ballgame with six minutes left in the game.
Two minutes later, TJ Harris picked off a Justin Tomlin pass. The Trojans drove down the field and put the ball through the uprights, going up 27-24 with less than two minutes to go.
Georgia Southern kept its nose to the grind, driving down the field. With 30 seconds left though, Elijah Culp batted up a pass… into the hands of Javon Solomon. Troy pulled the win out of thin air, and the TSU Knight decal kept its win streak alive, despite a 19-year absence.
Even though the team has a losing streak in Military Appreciation uniforms, the promotion’s success off the field means the game will stick around for a while. Troy’s partnership with the military and local bases is a big driving force behind the game.
I don’t expect the alternate uniforms to disappear soon either. It’s a strong selling point for recruiting purposes as well as the University as a whole. As long as the Trojans play in November, the team will set aside a game to honor the men and women who serve our country.