• CFB150 Website | OVC's CFB150 Archive
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee. It is home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
Its proximity to Austin Peay State University leads to many partnerships between the military, the APSU community and the athletic department.
Earlier this summer the Governors football team spent a day at Fort Campbell going through team-building exercises led by the soldiers on base.
The day included drills such as low crawls, rope swings, teamwork exercises and one particularly tough obstacle that forced the guys to go up and under wooden beams, ascending upward and then down.
The group also participated in a "three-mile ruck march" which is a march ranging from speed walking up to a nice jog with a large backpack weighing about 45 pounds, to go along with a rubber rifle. Throughout the march teams would stop each mile to compete in different team-oriented tasks to further bond with their teammates.
The event also had a leadership seminar with soldiers leading discussions with the student-athletes and concluded as Lt. Col. Timothy Sulzner, the rear detachment commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, presented head coach Mark Hudspeth with a 101st Airborne flag, and Hudspeth returned the favor by giving Sulzner and others who helped put the event together Austin Peay football helmets and Governor Football shirts.
"We really appreciate the 1st Brigade having us today," Govs first-year head coach Mark Hudspeth said. "After going through their workouts, we have an even greater respect for what they do because they kicked our tail today. We really appreciate the partnership Fort Campbell has with Austin Peay that allows us to do that."
At the end of the 2018 season Austin Peay hosted its annual Military Appreciation Day. As part of the event the Govs welcomed 80 Gold Star families of fallen soldiers onto the field following the end of the game, presenting each family with an Austin Peay football jersey with the family name emblazoned on the back.
It was a touching, moving moment for the families and reinforced for the players and coaches just how lucky they are to do what they do.
The game also saw more than 1,000 tickets donated to active duty and retired military members, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division helping hold an oversized American Flag on the field for the playing of the National Anthem and a flyover consisting of two Apache helicopters from 101CAB at Fort Campbell flying over Fortera Stadium.