Bobby Enslen (2013) - Hall of Fame - Troy University Athletics

Bobby Enslen

Induction:
2013

The 1968 Troy national championship football team featured its fair share of stars, but Bobby Enslen might have been the piece that pulled it all together.

Enslen was one of the most dangerous all-purpose players in the country as he used a blend of speed and agility to excel as a split end and as a premier punt returner. The Montgomery, Ala., native caught 61 passes for 970 yards and 12 touchdowns during Troy State’s national championship season and still holds the school record with a 90-yard punt return that came in 1967.

“The year we won the national championship, I really think the thing that made it all come together was Bobby,” Troy University Sports Hall of Fame inductee Danny Grant said. “Bobby and I were not the tallest people in the world, but we were pretty quick and agile and it was a dangerous combination.”

The 1968 Trojans were in a class of their own as they averaged 43.3 points per game and won their final three games of the season, including the national championship game, by a combined 182-45 margin. With head coach Billy Atkins’ pro style offense and the dynamic one-two punch of Enslen and Grant, opposing defenses didn’t have much of a chance against the Trojans.

Enslen caught a 54-yard touchdown pass in Troy State’s 43-35 victory over Texas A&I in the Champion Bowl (NAIA National Championship Game), but it is another play that his teammates will remember him for.

“They were double covering me all game long and Bobby was really footloose and fancy free,” Grant said. “He caught a pass down the middle for around 65 yards that set up a go-ahead touchdown for us, but he broke his collarbone on the play. They had to take him to the hospital and I don’t think he was on the field to finish the game. That is a play that I’ll never forget.”

He finished his two-year Troy State career with 16 touchdown receptions, which still ranks as the fifth most in school history. Enslen’s 61 catches and 970 receiving yards in 1968 stand as the eighth most in a single-season in Troy history. Always a clutch performer, Enslen caught four touchdown receptions in Troy State’s 63-10 victory over Willamette in the national semifinals to help the Red Wave advance to the 1968 national championship game.

Enslen earned all-conference and all-district honors at Troy State and the Red Wave went a combined 19-3 in his two seasons. Enslen was a part of two Alabama Collegiate Conference championship teams and never lost a game to in-state rivals West Alabama, Samford and North Alabama.

In fact, the two squads he played for were so dominant that the three games they lost came by an average of just 7.3 points, while the 19 wins were by an average of 28.9 points.

“We were really great friends and we had a lot of fun together,” Grant said. “But the thing about Bobby was that when it was time to play football, we played football.”