In 1964 Ken Gardner attended a Troy University homecoming game. He hasn’t missed one in the 52 years that followed.

“I love coming back,” he said on Saturday, shortly before being recognized during the halftime ceremonies at Troy University.

Gardner attended his first homecoming in 1964 as an escort to the homecoming court. Since then, he’s made the trek from Monroe County and Daphne.

“I have been very fortunate health wise,” Gardner said. “Amazingly, families on both side haven’t scheduled major events. I think some of them knew better. It wasn’t intentional.”

Gardner has seen three Troy teams win a national championship and witnessed the team move from the Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly known as Division-1A) to Division 1.

“There have been so many good games,” Gardner said. “Especially when Coach (Larry) Blakeney really brought us back and took us to Division 1-AA (now known as the Football Championship Series). To watch them beat Marshall, Oklahoma State and Missouri, those are memories I will never forget.”

The fact that Gardner had made the trip for that long hadn’t dawned on him until a few years back when his wife brought it up on the way up for a game.

“She said, ‘Do you realize how many years you have been traveling this road?’” Gardner said. “I hadn’t thought about it and she said, ‘This year will be 50.’ I said, ‘Now you’re telling me how old I am.’”

Gardner said coming back to Troy is like coming back home.

“I get to see a lot of friends,” Gardner said. “I have seen friends that I have been friends with since 1964.”

He enjoys watching both the university and town grow.

“It’s hard to keep track with all the progress that is going on,” Gardner said. “I think back to what the campus looked like in 1964 to what it looks like now. It’s gone from what I loved back then – a small home town school where you knew everybody – to a major university.”

With head coach Neal Brown in his second year with the program, Gardner is excited for the future. “I am so excited for what he has done in such a short period of time,” Gardner said. “It’s really amazing, especially defensively.”

Gardner was honored on Saturday during Troy’s game against Georgia State to recognize his dedication for the football program.

“It’s very humbling to be honest with you. It’s surprising and almost embarrassing because I don’t think I have done anything to deserve it,” Gardner said. “I come because I want to come back. It’s not because I want to establish any record.”