NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 88 - Ron Christian, East

The No. 88 player on our list knew how to perform when it was his turn.

At East High School, Ron Christian had to backup Ron Fearn at quarterback. Fearn led the Big Eight in rushing touchdowns with 10, added another five passing and was so impressive that he was recruited to play at the University of Illinois where he'd eventually be chosen team captain.

Christian took over the E-Rabs in 1960 and led the Big Eight with 11 touchdown runs. He was named first team All-Big Eight despite East's 4-5 record.

That earned Christian a scholarship to Northern Illinois University, which was still an NCAA Division II school in the early 1960s.

In DeKalb, Christian left the team in the spring of 1962 to join a U.S. Marines program. In 1963, he backed up George Bork, who was rewriting NIU's passing records. Bork's senior year alone, he set 19 school passing records and tied one more. Bork would go on to play three years in the Canadian Football League.

In 1964, Christian was an occasional starter, but he was more of a second fiddle to Jack Dean in NIU coach Howard Fletcher's ahead-of-its-time spread offense.

Finally, in 1965, as NIU moved into the stadium it still plays in today, Christian was put in charge of the offense. He more than lived up to the standards set by those before him.

He opened the new stadium by passing for 314 yards and four TDs against Illinois State. Christian would go on to lead the NCAA Division II in total offense with 2,307 yards. He was 173 of 323 in passing for 2,140 yards and 23 touchdowns. With Christian running the show, the Huskies went 9-1, losing its final game, 37-20, in the Mineral Bowl, which pitted the top teams from Division II against each other. Christian was named to the NCAA Little All-America team.

No. 88 - Ron Christian, East
Year	Level	School	Accomplishments	Points
1959	High School	East	Winning Team	1
1960	High School	East	First Team All-Conference	2
			League Leader (rushing TDs)	1
1962	College	Northern Illinois	Left Team for Marines	0
1963	College	Northern Illinois	Letter Winner in NCAA Div. 2	2
			Winning Team	1
			Bowl Team	1
			National Champion	1
1964	College	Northern Illinois	Letter Winner in NCAA Div. 2	2
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1965	College	Northern Illinois	Letter Winner in NCAA Div. 2	2
			Starter	1
			All-Conference	1
			Honorable Mention All-America	.5
			Winning Team	1
			Bowl Game (Mineral Bowl)	1
			National Leader (total offense)	1
Total				20.50

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players

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