FCS Throwbacks: Flanders Runs Wild in Albuquerque, Lifts Sam Houston to Upset over New Mexico

07 JAN 2012: Tim Flanders (20) of Sam Houston State runs the ball against North Dakota State University during the Division I Men’s FCS Football Championship held at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX. North Dakota State beat Sam Houston State 17-6 to win the national title Tom Pennington/NCAA Photos via Getty Images | NCAA Photos via Getty Images If an athlete is lucky they will have one transcendent performance in their career; one that forever etches them into the lore of their team’s (and maybe even the sport’s) history. Michael Jordan had the flu game.

Don Larsen had a perfect game in the 1956 World Series. There are several examples of athletes having an out-of-body showing in the biggest moments and they are justly remembered forever by almost everyone. There are many more instances, though, of a player doing it when far less people are watching.

For every generational showing in the NBA Finals, the Super Bowl or the national championship, there are at least ten more that happen when the lights aren’t so bright. Whether it’s fair or not, most of those performances fade into the forgotten and countless anils of sports history. So what happens when a player has his finest hour on a random September afternoon?

When most of the cameras are pointed elsewhere and when the only ones truly invested are the fans who wear his same colors? That exact thing happened to one Tim Flanders in the fall of 2011. The average college football fan might not remember that name but those in Huntsville, Texas likely won’t ever forget it.