Bobby Bowden

Robert Cleckler Bowden (/ˈbaʊdən/; November 8, 1929 – August 8, 2021) was an American college football coach. Bowden coached the Florida State Seminoles of Florida State University (FSU) from 1976 to 2009 and is considered one of the greatest college football coaches of all time for his accomplishments with the team.

During his time at Florida State, Bowden led FSU to consensus national championships in 1993 and 1999, as well as twelve Atlantic Coast Conference championships 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 forced to retire just weeks after his 80th birthday. He made his final coaching appearance in the 2010 Gator Bowl game on January 1, 2010, with a 33–21 victory over his former program, West Virginia.

Bowden spent the last part of his career in a race with his close friend, 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.

Bowden was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the son of Bob Bowden and Sunset (née Cleckler) Bowden. When he was 13 years old, Bowden was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, which led to a six-month hospital stay. After his discharge, Bowden was confined to his bed at home for just over a year. While ill, Bowden passed the time by listening to World War II news reports on the radio, which sparked his interest in World War II, which endured for the rest of his lifetime. Also around this time, he began to follow college football; he listened 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 as a quarterback. He then returned to Birmingham after only one semester and eloped with his high school sweetheart, Ann Estock, on April 1, 1949.

Bowden then transferred to Howard College, now known as Samford University, where he played football, baseball, ran track, and became a brother in Pi Kappa Alpha. In his junior year, he was elected president of Pi Kappa Alpha. In his senior year, he was re-elected as Pi Kappa Alpha president and became captain of the Samford 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.

Bowden graduated from Howard in 1953, and began his coaching career at his alma mater, that fall as an assistant football coach in charge of the backfield under Earl Gartman. He left Howard in 1955 to become athletic director as well as head football, baseball, and basketball coach at South Georgia College. After a losing basketball season, Bowden fired himself as head coach. His baseball teams at South Georgia won three consecutive state titles. Bowden then returned to Howard 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 (WVU) as an assistant under Jim Carlen. When Carlen left following the 1969 season to become head coach at Texas Tech, 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, 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, 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 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.