BOBBY BOWDEN

'Robert Cleckler Bowden' (born November 8, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama), better known as ''Bobby Bowden'', is a college football coach and the winningest coach in NCAA Division I-FBS (formerly I-A) football history with 367 career wins with his latest win over UAB.^[1][2]
Bowden has coached the Seminoles of Florida State University since 1976, leading them to two National Championships (1993, 1999) and twelve ACC championships.

Contents

Youth and family life

Early coaching career

Florida State

The National Bobby Bowden Award

Bobby Bowden Field

The Bowden Bowl

Head coaching records

Author

References

Notes

See also

External links

Youth and family life

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Bowden spent a portion of his childhood in bed, sick. When he was 13 years old, Bowden was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. After a six month hospital stay, Bowden was confined to his bed at home for just over a year with nothing more than a radio and his imagination to pass the time. It was listening to World War II reports on the radio that began Bowden's interest in the war, an interest he still has to this day. It was also around this time that his love for football increased, 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 went on to the University of Alabama as a quarterback, fulfilling a lifelong dream to play for the Crimson Tide before returning to Birmingham and marrying his high school sweetheart Ann Estock on April 1, 1949 (today, the couple has six children and 21 grandchildren). Bobby transferred to Howard College (now Samford University), where he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Bowden graduated from Howard in 1949.

Early coaching career

Bobby got his coaching career started at South Georgia College in Douglas,Georgia before moving on to Howard College, now known as Samford University. Bowden served as an assistant football coach and head track and field coach at Howard from 1954-1955. He left his alma mater to serve as Athletic Director and head football baseball and basketball coach at South Georgia College from 1956 to 1958. 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 Bill Peterson and left in 1965 to go to West Virginia University as assistant coach. When the head coach at West Virginia left before the 1970 season, Bowden replaced him. Bowden then compiled a 42-26 record at West Virginia University before returning to FSU as head coach in 1976.

Florida State

At Florida State, Bowden inherited a team that had won just four games over the previous three seasons. In his 31 years as the head coach at Florida State, he has had only one losing season, his first in 1976; and has piled up a 289-77-4 record. He is the only coach in Division I-A football history to have enjoyed 14 straight 10-win seasons. His Florida State Seminoles finished an unprecedented 14 straight seasons in the top 5 of the Associated Press College Football Poll. His Seminoles won the College Football National Championship in 1993 and 1999.
Nicknamed "The Riverboat Gambler" for his creative trick plays, he's notorious for his southern drawl, with statements like, "Dagummit" topping the list. His charisma and memorable quotes have been enjoyed by college football fans for years. One of Bowden's greatest coaching achievements revolves around his success in bowl games. His 20-8-1 record ranks second all-time. Only Joe Paterno (22) has won more bowl games.
Bobby Bowden's 367 total coaching victories ranks first all-time among all Division I-A head coaches. Paterno is second with 365 but therein lies a controversy as 31 of Bowden's career victories were earned while coaching at Howard College, now known as Samford University. Samford does not play major college football, and all of those 31 victories at Howard/Samford were earned against teams not currently in Division I-A, including wins over The University of Mexico, Gordon Junior College, Millington Naval Air Station, and the Tennessee Tech Freshman Team. However, it is also important to note that in the 1950s and 1960s, there were not the distinctions between "major" college football and "minor" college football. Bowden Wins By Opponent Bowden also has 18 victories while coaching at West Virginia and Florida State against schools that are currently not in Division I-A, for a total of 49 non-Division I-A victories. Over his career, Paterno has 5 victories against schools not currently in Division I-A. Paterno Records By Opponent. Paul "Bear" Bryant, the previous Division I-A victory leader with 323, had 26 wins against teams not currently in Division I-A. Bryant Records By Opponent

The National Bobby Bowden Award

In 2004, The Fellowship of Christian Athletes presented the first of what is now a yearly award in Bowden's name, The National Bobby Bowden Award, honoring one college football player for his achievements on the field, in the classroom and in the community. The award is presented each year prior to the Bowl Championship Series' national title game.
Past winners are
2003 - Jason Wright, Northwestern University, Cleveland Browns.
2004 - Billy Bajema, Oklahoma State University, Washington Redskins.
2005 - D. J. Shockley, University of Georgia, Atlanta Falcons.
2006 - Carl Pendleton, University of Oklahoma.

Bobby Bowden Field

In November 2004, by an act of the 2000 session of the Legislature of the State of Florida, Florida State renamed the field at Doak Campbell Stadium as Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium, erected a bronze statue of his likeness, and unveiled a three story stained-glass window in his honor.

The Bowden Bowl

Bobby is not the only member of his family to coach Division I-A football. His son Tommy Bowden is the head coach at Clemson University; another son, Terry Bowden, was the head coach at Auburn University where he was the 1993 Coach of the Year; and a third son, Jeff Bowden, 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, Bobby was the only one to win a National Championship. As both Florida State and Clemson are in the same division of the Atlantic Coast Conference for football, the two teams play every year in a game that has become known as "The Bowden Bowl". Their first meeting, in 1999, was the first time in Division I-A history that a father and a son met as opposing head coaches in a football game. As of September 3, 2007, Bobby holds the edge in the series, leading 5-4 with all four losses within the last five seasons. Tommy's four wins in the series remain the only times the son has ever beaten the father when facing off as head coach in any of America's four major sports.
One Bowden Bowl was scheduled between Auburn and Florida State for 1999 when Terry Bowden was the coach at Auburn. However, Terry's midseason resignation in 1998 ended the possibility of a Bowden Bowl. Auburn later used the buyout clause in the contract to get out of this matchup.

Head coaching records

Author

Bowden has co-authored several books, including:

★ ''Winning's Only Part of the Game : Lessons of Life and Football'' (1996)

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★ ISBN 0-446-52050-0

★ ''The Bowden Way : 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom'' (2001)

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★ ISBN 1-56352-684-0

★ ''Bobby Bowden: Win by Win'' (2003)

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★ ISBN 0-7385-1544-2

★ ''Bobby Bowden's Tales from the Seminole Sideline'' (2004)

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★ ISBN 1-58261-406-7

References

★ ACC Standings

★ Florida State University Coaching Staff

★ Florida State University Year-By-Year Record

★ West Virginia University Coaching History

Notes

1. NCAA 2007 Football Records, pg 378
2. Bobby Bowden profile

See also

★ List of Florida State University head football coaches

External links

★ Bowden's bio from the official Florida State athletic's website

★ Video clip from 1977 Bobby Bowden comments on his first season as head coach of Florida State University's football program.