Posted on 08/08/2021 5:42:04 AM PDT by Enlightened1
Bobby Bowden, whose homespun charm and coaching savvy turned the Florida State Seminoles into a football superpower, died on Sunday morning. He was 91.
Terry Bowden, son of the legendary coach, confirmed to The Associated Press that his father died at home surrounded by family. “It was truly peaceful,” Terry Bowden said in a text message to AP.
Bowden won more major-college games than anyone except Penn State’s Joe Paterno. He retired following the 2009 season with a record of 377-129-4, but the numbers don’t reflect the impact he had on college football in general and FSU in particular.
The school was ready to drop football when Bowden arrived in 1976. He quickly transformed it into a football brand name with appeal far beyond Tallahassee.
Bowden was a combination coach, preacher and public-relations guru. As college football exploded into a multibillion-dollar business, Bowden’s folksy demeanor put a spell on recruits, fans and even the dadgum media.
Dadgum.
That was Bowden’s go-to expression and as salty a term as his Baptist tongue would allow him to speak. He was unique, unassuming and probably the only major-college coach in America who had his name listed in the local phone book.
Bowden and his wife, Ann, had six children and spawned a coaching tree. Tommy was head coach at Tulane and Clemson while Terry coached Auburn and Akron.
Bowden was born in Birmingham, Alabama, at the dawn of the Great Depression. His father, Bob, was a bank teller and managed to keep the family in its home, which was located just over some bushes from Woodlawn High School.
Bob Bowden would sit on the roof with his son and watch football practice in the afternoons. Bobby grew into a fast, mischievous kid.
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
RIP
Tough day here. Fitting he went to glory on the Lord’s Day.
I was a Gator fan all my adult life, beginning in 1979 when I first moved to FL, frankly for no particularly good reason. Bobby Bowden was the best argument for choosing the Noles instead. By God’s grace I will see him one day where he is, and where our Lord is. RIP.
Wonderful man. The world needs more like him.
Texas Tech v Florida State was my first college football game when I was a freshman.
Did he get the jab because of his age?
I recall a documentary about Bowden years ago in which it was mentioned somewhat jokingly that after the University of Florida refused to play the University of Miami ever again that Bobby's tombstone would read "But I played Miami"
I learned from the movie “We Are Marshall” what a class act Bobby was to that program after the horrific plane crash decimated the team. Bobby was the head coach at West Virginia then.
God bless Bobby and may he rest in peace.
May all of his team’s field goal attempts in Heaven never go wide right.
Farewell, to a fine Christian man, and a worthy opponent all those years.
Yeah, I remember that pummeling. Burt Reynolds threw down the spear at the beginning of the game.
Not sure. But he had Pancreatic Cancer.
He arrived after I graduated but what a guy!
I remember he beat COVID a while back 8 months or so?
RIP thanks for the games and the air attack.
An offensive genius IMO. RIP.
He was #1 in wins among major college football coaches for a while. Then they reinstated certain wins by Paterno and Bowden dipped back to #2. Grambling coach (Robinson?) still #1 among all football coaches at the college level if my recollection is correct...
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