Troy University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2025
Ted Clem engraved himself into Troy history with a legendary 50-yard field goal to give the Troy State Trojans its first Division II National Championship. The kick is simply the biggest kick in Troy history.
Head coach Chan Gailey vividly remembers the finish to the 1984 National Championship as the Trojans trailed North Dakota State 17-15 in the final seconds. With the clock hurrying, Troy State had to rush its special teams unit onto the field. Clem’s foot met the ball as time expired, and his 50-yard kick was a no-doubter as Gailey believes it would have been good from 60.
“The clock was running,” Gailey said. “We had to send the field goal team out there in a hurry and get them all lined up. I remember that I wasn’t thinking about Ted being a walk-on freshman kicker. If we had said, ‘Oh gosh, we’re depending on a walk-on freshman kicker,’ we’d have been nervous. But it was Ted. It was Ted Clem who had made other ones and had done the job. I was more worried about us getting lined up and getting the snap off than I was about Ted making it. I swear that it would have been good from 60.”
Gailey believes Clem’s kick began the upward trajectory to what we know as the Troy football program today. From Troy State winning Division II National Championships in 1984 and 1987, to moving to Division I-AA in 1991 and to Division I-A, now FBS, in 2001, it was Clem’s kick that won that first national title that started it all.
“That’s probably the biggest kick in Troy history,” Gailey said. “He’s a part of Troy history forever. That kick probably started it all. The success with the national championships and the move from Division II to Division I-AA and now to Division I-A, that started it all. Him making that kick. That was the catalyst.”
Clem’s legacy is more than just a single kick, as he statistically is one of the best kickers in Troy history. Clem is Troy’s all-time leader in extra points made (166), second in field goals made (48), and he made 16 field goals in Troy State’s two national championship seasons in 1984 and 1987.
Clem’s mentality is what made him so special. Clem had missed a game-winning kick earlier in that 1984 season against North Alabama, but he didn’t let that phase him. He was a rock-solid kid who was always focused on the next play.
“He was solid as a rock,” Gailey said. “Never up. Never down. Just steady as he could be. That was the one thing that sort of endured you to him as a coach to a kicker. You don’t want one of these emotional kickers. Those are the kinds that get you in trouble. You want the guy that’s got a rock-solid, steady attitude.”
Gailey recalls Clem being one of the hardest workers on the team. He was someone that was getting extra reps before and after every single practice because he wanted to do his job to the best of his ability.
“He was quiet. You didn’t hear much from Ted. He went about his business. He was focused on what he was doing. He was trying to get better every day. Lee Hollingsworth was the holder, and they would get together and kick before or after practice. We tried to put them in some pressure situations in practice from time to time, but I just remember that he wasn’t trying to create any waves. He was trying to be there and do his job.”
