Defensive end Troy Brown stepped onto the field in Malone Stadium Saturday night to the roar of a standing crowd. The fans chopped their arms and chanted in perfect unison to the band’s war drums while Brown and his teammates huddled in a circle. When they broke and headed for the sideline, the crowd roared again.

For a moment, it felt like 1987 – the year of destiny, the year of the national championship.

Brown and all of the 1987 national championship football team were inducted into the ULM Sports Hall of Fame last weekend. The team was recognized at halftime of the Warhawks game against Florida Atlantic.

“It feels like I never left,” Brown said after the introduction. “It felt good to be here and feel that same spirit that propelled us to the championship that year.”

And what a year it was. The team finished with a 13-2 record, capped off by a 43-42 victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd in the Division 1-AA championship game.

The team spent the weekend together, first at a reception Friday night at ULM President Nick Bruno’s house, then at a reception in the Fant-Ewing Coliseum Saturday morning and finally during the game. The champions had no shortage of special times and big plays to reminisce about.

There was All-American and future Super Bowl quarterback Stan Humphries’ 48-yard Hail Mary pass that was tipped twice in the endzone before Jackie Harris came down with the winning score.

All-American defensive tackle Claude Brumfield said through a speech he remembered being behind by 14 points late in the championship game when head coach Pat Collins told a battered defense to believe in themselves and the team would win. They did just that.

And all the team applauded at the mention of the 44-7 season-opening trouncing of archrival Louisiana Tech in Ruston.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long ago,” Humphries said. “The reason that team was successful was because of the close-knitness of that group.”

Though nicknamed the “Team of Destiny,” All-American offensive tackle John Clement remembers it as a team confident in its own abilities.

“I hear a team of destiny, or that we got lucky, but we always believed we were going to win,” Clement said. “Yeah we got some bounces, but if they bounced the other way, we still would’ve found a way to win.”

Having a team chock full of talent certainly didn’t hurt either. The 1987 national championship team produced five first team All-Americans, one second team All-American and eight NFL draft picks.

Collins was also awarded as the Chevrolet and Football News National Coach of the Year while also being named the Southland Conference and Louisiana Coach of the Year.

Read more about coach Pat Collins and his team

As much as the championship team talked about their success in the past, they also pointed to the future of the Warhawk program.

After being recognized at halftime, the champions formed a tunnel for the current Warhawks to run through as they came back on the field.

Clement said, “I think you get the sense this team certainly supports what the current team is doing and the direction we’re going.”

The Warhawks seemed to take a page from the champions’ playbook Saturday night. They downed conference foe FAU 35-14, five points more than the championship team’s average points per game.

Whether it’s 1987 or 2012, Brown said he knows the passion for the Warhawks is still there.

“It was the same vibe, the same excitement,” Brown said. “That’s what it’s about: one university, one community coming together for the team.”