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Robert Cleckler Bowden (; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American
college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
coach. Bowden coached the
Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivi ...
of
Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
(FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all time for his accomplishments with the Seminoles. During his time at Florida State, Bowden led FSU to an Associated Press and Coaches Poll National Title in 1993 and a BCS National Championship in
1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
, as well as twelve
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...
championships In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
once FSU joined the conference in 1991. Bowden's Seminoles finished as an AP top-5 team for 14 consecutive seasons, setting a record which doubled the closest program. However, the program weakened during the mid-2000s, and after a difficult 2009 season Bowden was fired by President T.K. Wetherell, just weeks after his 80th birthday. He made his final coaching appearance in the
2010 Gator Bowl The 2010 Gator Bowl game was a post-season college football bowl game between the ] 2009 West Virginia Mountaineers football team, West Virginia University Mountaineers representing the Big East, and the Florida State University Seminoles from the ...
game on January 1, 2010, with a 33–21 victory over his former program, 2009 West Virginia Mountaineers football team, West Virginia. Bowden spent the last part of his career in a race with Joe Paterno to become the winningest NCAA Division I college football coach of all time. The coaches overtook each other throughout the 2000s, sitting just a game apart before the 2008 college football season. However, on March 6, 2009, an NCAA ruling required Florida State to "vacate wins for any games in which an ineligible player participated", threatening to remove as many as fourteen of Bowden's wins from the 2006 and 2007 seasons in relation to an academic scandal. Florida State appealed the ruling, but the NCAA upheld it on January 5, 2010. Upon final investigation by FSU, it was determined that Bowden was to vacate 12 wins, bringing his final career record to 377–129–4, second to Paterno's final tally of 409 wins.


Youth and early life

Bowden was born in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...
, the son of Bob Bowden and Sunset () Bowden. When he was 13 years old, Bowden was diagnosed with
rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful ...
. After a six-month hospital stay, he was confined to his bed at home for just over a year. While ill, Bowden passed the time by listening to World War II reports on the radio, beginning an interest in the war which lasted throughout his lifetime. It was also around this time where he began to follow college football, as he would listen to University of Alabama football on Saturday mornings. Bowden was an outstanding football player at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, and accepted a scholarship to play for the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publ ...
as a
quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...
. He then returned to Birmingham after only one semester and eloped with his high school sweetheart, Ann Estock, on April 1, 1949. Bowden transferred to Howard College (now known as
Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United St ...
), where he played football, baseball, ran track and became a brother in
Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...
. In his junior year, he was elected president of Pi Kappa Alpha. His senior year, he was re-elected to the presidency as well as captain of the football team, where he garnered "Little All-America" honors as quarterback. The Howard College faculty nominated him for Who's Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges in recognition of his academic and athletic leadership. Bowden graduated from Howard in 1953.


Early coaching career

Bowden served as an assistant football coach and head
track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...
coach at Howard College (now known as
Samford University Samford University is a private Christian university in Homewood, Alabama. In 1841, the university was founded as Howard College by Baptists. Samford University describes itself as the 87th oldest institution of higher learning in the United St ...
) in Birmingham, Alabama from 1954–55. He left his alma mater to become athletic director as well as head football, baseball, and basketball coach at South Georgia College from 1956 to 1958. After a losing basketball season, Bowden fired himself as head coach. Bowden then returned to
Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also probabl ...
as head coach, where he compiled a 31–6 record between 1959 and 1962. In 1962, Bowden went to Florida State University as an assistant coach under head coach Bill Peterson. Bowden left Florida State in 1965 to go to
West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...
(WVU) as an assistant under
Jim Carlen James Anthony Carlen III (July 11, 1933 – July 22, 2012) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at West Virginia University (1966–1969) and Texas Tech University (1970 ...
. When Carlen left following the 1969 season to become head coach at
Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...
, Bowden replaced him. Bowden then compiled a 42–26 record at WVU before returning to FSU as head coach in 1976. During Bowden's first year as head coach at WVU, the football team of the state's other top-division school,
Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges ...
, was killed in a plane crash. He asked NCAA permission to wear Marshall jerseys and play Marshall's final game of the 1970 season against
Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
, but was denied. In memory of the victims of the crash, Mountaineers players put green crosses and the initials "MU" on their helmets. Bowden allowed Marshall's new head coach Jack Lengyel and his assistants access to game film and playbooks to acquaint themselves with the veer offense, a variation of the
option offense An option offense is an American football offensive system in which a key player (usually the quarterback) has several "options" of how each play will proceed based upon the actions of the defense. Traditionally, option-based offenses rely on ru ...
which aids teams with weak offensive lines. Lengyel credits Bowden with helping the young Thundering Herd recover. Bowden reportedly became emotional while viewing the movie '' We Are Marshall'', and has said that he was the original candidate for the Marshall head coaching job filled by crash victim
Rick Tolley Rickey Dale Tolley (January 6, 1940 – November 14, 1970) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Marshall University during the 1969 and 1970 seasons. He died in the 1970 plane crash that killed all of the crew a ...
.


Florida State

Bowden made the move to become the head coach of the Florida State Seminoles in 1976 the same place where he had coached wide receivers because the climate was warmer than in Morgantown, and because
Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...
was closer to
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% f ...
, where his mother and mother-in-law both lived. The team had a 4–29 record over the previous three seasons and he planned to stay only briefly before taking a better job, perhaps as head coach at Alabama. Bowden became very successful very quickly at Florida State. By his second year, Bowden faced rumors he would leave for another job; the team went 9–2, compared to the four wins total in the three seasons before Bowden. He said he would be content to finish his career at Florida State, however, and reportedly told another athletic-department employee he would "never coach anywhere north of Tallahassee". During 34 years as head coach he had only one losing season–his first, in 1976–and declined head coaching job offers from Alabama, Auburn, LSU, and the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
's
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcon ...
. From 1987 to 2000, the Seminoles finished every season with at least 10 wins and in the top 5 of the Associated Press College Football Poll, and won the national championship in 1993 and 1999. The team was particularly dominant after joining the
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Assoc ...
(ACC) in 1992, winning or sharing nine consecutive conference titles from 1992 to 2000, and only losing two conference games in that stretch. Bowden's tenure crested with a third consecutive appearance in the national championship game after the 2000 season, a loss to
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
in the 2001 Orange Bowl. They opened the following season with an upset 41–9 loss to
North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...
, only the third loss they had ever suffered in ACC play. They finished 8–4, the first time they had lost that many games in 15 years. It also marked the first time since joining the ACC where they did not win at least a share of the ACC title; indeed, their two losses in ACC play were as many as they had suffered in their first nine years in the league. From then on, Bowden notched one more appearance in the top 10 of a final media poll, in 2003–which was also the last time he won 10 games in a season.


The Bowden Bowl

As both Florida State and Clemson are in the same division of the ACC for football, the two teams played each other every year from 1999 through 2007 in a game that became known as the "Bowden Bowl". Their 1999 meeting was the first time in Division I-A history that a father and a son met as opposing head coaches in a football game. Bobby held the edge in the series 5–4, with all four losses within the last five games. One Bowden Bowl was scheduled between Auburn and
Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the sta ...
for 1999 when Terry Bowden was the coach at Auburn. However, Terry's midseason resignation in 1998 ended the possibility of a Bowden Bowl. Another Bowden Bowl was scheduled between Clemson and Florida State in 2008, but Tommy Bowden's resignation halfway through the year ended the Bowden Bowls.


Personal life and death

Bowden married Ann Estock, his childhood sweetheart, in 1949 and the couple raised six children and 21 grandchildren. Bowden was a
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
who credited his success in football to his faith. He twice endorsed and supported US President Donald Trump, in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Bowden was not the only member of his family to have coached Division I-A football. His son Tommy Bowden was the head coach at
Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...
. Another son, Terry Bowden, was the head coach at
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a public land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama. With more than 24,600 undergraduate students and a total enrollment of more than 30,000 with 1,330 faculty members, Auburn is the second largest ...
, where he was the 1993 Coach of the Year. A third son,
Jeff Bowden Jeff Bowden () is an American college football coach. He served as the special teams coordinator and the outside wide receivers coach at Akron. Before that he served as the offensive coordinator for the Florida State Seminoles under his father an ...
, was the offensive coordinator at Florida State. All three Bowden men who were head coaches have achieved an undefeated season: Terry in 1993 at Auburn; Tommy in 1998 at Tulane; and Bobby in 1999 at Florida State. Bobby's 1993 and 1999 Florida State teams were the only ones to win a national championship, however. Bowden was diagnosed with
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
in October 2020. On July 21, 2021, it was reported that Bowden was diagnosed with a terminal medical condition. On July 23, his son reported that the condition was pancreatic cancer. He died the morning of August 8. He lay in honor in the rotunda of the Florida Capitol Building on August 13. He then lay repose at the Moore Athletic Center outside of Doak Campbell Stadium later that day. A memorial service was held for Bowden in the Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee on August 14. Bowden then lay in repose in the Reid Chapel at Samford University on August 15, prior to burial in
Trussville, Alabama Trussville is a city in Jefferson and St. Clair counties in the State of Alabama. It is a suburb of Birmingham and part of the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population at the 2020 census was 26,123. Geography Trussv ...
.


Awards

Bowden was awarded the
Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award The Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award is an annual college football award given to the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision head coach whose team excels on the field, in the classroom, and in the community. The award is named for Bobby Dodd, ...
for 1980. He received the
Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award The Walter Camp Coach of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football head coach adjudged by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) head coaches and sports in ...
for 1991. In 1992 Bowden received the United States Sports Academy's Amos Alonzo Stagg Coaching Award in recognition of his outstanding achievement as a coach.


Awards named after him

On March 21, 2010, the Over the Mountain Touchdown Club of Birmingham, Alabama presented the first annual Bobby Bowden National Collegiate Coach of the Year Award, named in honor of Bowden and the contributions that he made during his career. The award recognizes a coach each year with unmatched success on and off of the field in the same attributes that Bowden showed throughout his career: perseverance, attitude, integrity, and determination. University of Alabama head coach
Nick Saban Nicholas Lou Saban Jr. (; born October 31, 1951) is an American football coach who has been the head football coach at the University of Alabama since 2007. Saban previously served as head coach of the National Football League's Miami Dolphi ...
was the first recipient of the award, and it was presented by Bowden himself. The award is presented each year after national signing day and before the commencement of Spring practice. In 2003, the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes The Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) is an international non-profit Christian sports ministry founded in 1954 and based in Kansas City, Missouri. It has staff offices located throughout the United States and abroad. History FCA was foun ...
presented the first of what is now a yearly award in Bowden's name. The award was initiated by former Bowden assistant coach Vince Gibson and former Bowden player Vernon Brinson. It honors one college football player for his achievements on the field, in the classroom and in the community. In 2013, the Seminole Tribe of Florida became the official sponsor of the award. The Seminole Tribe of Florida Bobby Bowden Student-Athlete of the Year Award is presented each year prior to the College Football Playoff (CFP) national title. In 2011, in recognition of his philanthropic efforts with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Bowden received the Children's Champion Award for Leadership Development from the charitable organization
Children's Hunger Fund Children's Hunger Fund (CHF) is a Christian non-profit organization that resources and empowers local churches in the United States and around the world to meet the needs of their impoverished community members. CHF's mission is to "deliver hope ...
.


Head coaching record

In his 44 seasons as a head coach, Bowden had 40 winning seasons (including 33 consecutive at Florida State), and 36 Division I-A winning seasons. From 1987 through 2000, Bowden coached Florida State to 14 straight seasons with 10 or more victories, and his team had a final ranking in the top five of the major polls. ^ The 1983 season includes a forfeit win vs. Tulane.
‡ For the 2006 and 2007 seasons 12 wins, including 6 conference wins, were vacated for use of ineligible players. 5 wins from 2006 (including 2 conference wins) and 7 wins from 2007 (including 4 conference wins) were ultimately vacated by the NCAA.


Coaching tree

Assistant coaches under Bobby Bowden who became NCAA head coaches: * Brad Scott *
Mark Richt Mark Allan Richt (born February 18, 1960) is a retired American football head coach, former player, and television analyst. He was the head football coach at the University of Georgia for 15 years and at the University of Miami, his alma mater, ...
*
Chuck Amato Charles Michael Amato (born June 26, 1946) is a former American football coach and former player. He was most recently the defensive coordinator for the Akron Zips football team. He served as the head football at North Carolina State University ...
* Tommy Bowden * Terry Bowden * Rick Stockstill * Skip Holtz * Kirby Smart *
Daryl Dickey Daryl Raymond Dickey (born June 11, 1961) is an American football administrator, former coach, and former player. He served as the head football coach at the University of West Georgia from 2008 through the 2013 season, and assumed the athleti ...
*
Jimbo Fisher John James "Jimbo" Fisher Jr. (born October 9, 1965) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies. Previously, Fisher was the head coach at Florida State, where his team won the 2014 BCS ...
* Manny Diaz


Bibliography

Bobby Bowden has co-authored several books, including: *''Winning's Only Part of the Game: Lessons of Life and Football'' (1996) () *''The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom'' (2001) () *''Bobby Bowden's Tales from the Seminole Sideline'' (2004) () *''Called to Coach: Reflections on Life, Faith, and Football'' (2010) () Books about Bobby Bowden's early coaching years: *''Bobby Bowden: Memories of A Legend and his Boys from South Georgia College'' (2008) () Books about Bobby Bowden's entire career: *''Bobby Bowden: Win by Win'' (2003) () *''Bowden: How Bobby Bowden Forged a Football Dynasty '' (2003) () *''Pure Gold: Bobby Bowden – An Inside Look'' (2004) () Books that feature contributions from Bobby Bowden: *''Grateful: From Walking On To Winning It All At Florida State'' by Ryan Sprague, (2010) ()


See also

*
List of College Football Hall of Fame inductees (coaches) This is a list of College Football Hall of Fame members who have been inducted as coaches. As of the 2017 inductions, 214 individuals have been inducted as coaches since the College Football Hall of Fame was established in 1951. Details Active ...
*
List of college football coaches with 200 wins This is a list of college football coaches with 200 career wins. "College level" is defined as a four-year college or university program in either the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) or the National Collegiate Athletic A ...


References


Footnotes


External links


Florida State profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowden, Bobby 1929 births 2021 deaths American football quarterbacks Alabama Crimson Tide football players Florida State Seminoles football coaches Samford Bulldogs football coaches Samford Bulldogs football players West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches South Georgia State Hawks baseball coaches South Georgia State Hawks football coaches Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Birmingham, Alabama Players of American football from Tallahassee, Florida 21st-century American male writers Sportswriters from Florida Writers from Birmingham, Alabama Writers from Tallahassee, Florida Articles containing video clips Journalists from Alabama Leaders of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in Florida