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More than 30 years after working with him, the author had a chance to visit with Coach Bowden during the World Premiere of the Bowden Dynasty documentary at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg in 2017. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Florida State football legend Bobby Bowden recently announced he has a terminal illness. One of America’s most-famous, most-quoted and possibly the most-beloved football coaches is nearing the end of his time on Earth and the news hit me like a gut punch.
How could he be leaving us?
In 1980 I received a call from FSU Sports Information Director Mark Carlson offering me a graduate assistant’s job in his office, beginning a seven-year relationship with the man I simply called “Coach.”
During those years I would attend practically every football practice, arranging media interviews for Coach Bowden and players attendance and providing daily practice reports to the state’s newspapers.
Bobby was the most-media friendly coach I’d ever work with — going out of his way to make every writer, TV reporter or radio personality feel welcome with a “Hey Buddy” or “Hey Gal” and doing everything in his power not only to grant access but to make them feel like they not only had his time but they were talking to a friend.
I often thought his willingness to accommodate just about any interview request was sometimes ridiculous, but whether he was talking to the New York Times or the Palatka Daily News – he always made time.
In 1985 we opened the season with a nationally-televised 1 p.m. game at Nebraska. TV guys with a local affiliate in Lincoln asked me if Bowden would be willing to do an on-field interview at 12:40 p.m. for their local kickoff show.
I responded, “Let me get this straight, you want me to get my head coach 20 minutes before kickoff and get him out on the field to do a local interview? Are you crazy?”
They laughed and said, “We ask that every week and no one ever says ‘yes.’ We heard Coach Bowden was the best and thought we would ask.”
I said I’d ask but not to hold their breath. I found Coach Bowden in the locker room.
“Has any visiting coach ever done it?” he asked.
“No.”
“Does Tom (Osborne, Nebraska coach) ever do it?”
“No,” and I explained it was just a local affiliate.
“Tell them I’ll do it.”
Shocked, I went outside and told them he would give them three minutes. Coach Bowden was in front of his guys talking about what plays they were going to run on the first series. He stops mid-sentence and goes, “Men I’ll be right back,” follows me out to the field, and conducted the interview.
I can promise you, no visiting head coach in Lincoln has done that since …
An extremely religious man, Coach Bowden wears his faith on his sleeve, seldom turning down almost weekly invitations to speak at Sunday services. Despite working in a profession where coaches routinely use colorful expressions when upset, Coach Bowden never swore. He called us into his office once extremely upset about a state newspaper story and wanted us to contact the writer and get a retraction.
After a quick read, we could not understand why he was so upset. “He quoted me as saying we were playing a ‘damn’ fine team,” Coach said. “What I said was a ‘darn’ fine team. Damn is a curse word and you call him and tell him Bobby doesn’t curse.”
He got the apology and retraction …
Folksy humor was a Bowden trademark. Once, on a small plane to the media day in New Orleans, we were over Lake Pontchartrain during a nasty thunderstorm that bounced the plane all over the place. Coach Bowden did not like small planes and had a nervous look on his face, both hands grabbing the armrests in a white-knuckled death grip. Tallahassee Democrat Sports Editor Bill McGrotha asked, “Bobby, for a religious of a man that you are, you don’t think the good Lord would come and take you in a plane crash, do you?”
Bowden quickly replied, “I’m not worried about me and the Good Lord, I’m not so sure how much he likes that pilot.” …
After arriving at FSU in 1981, FSU was coming off back-to-back 11-1 and 10-2 seasons where they beat a lot of nationally ranked teams on the road. Fans started to refer to Coach Bowden as “St. Bobby.” When asked about the nickname, Bowden quickly said, “There’s only about six inches that turns that halo into a noose.” …
He once was asked if it was true a star linebacker didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘fear’. He replied, “If you check his report card, you realize he doesn’t know the meaning of a lot of words.” When someone once questioned players with long hair and earrings, Bowden said, “If short hair was that important, Army and Navy would win the National Championship every year.” …
Longing to build the Seminoles brand, Bowden coveted TV exposure. He once was told that ABC requested a 3 o’clock kickoff and he replied, “Great, AM or PM?” …
More than anything, what I will always remember about Coach Bowden is his fierce loyalty to his players, the life lessons he taught them and the men they became because of him.
Some of the more famous players have done great things on the national level — Warrick Dunn, Charlie Ward and Derrick Brooks. But thousands of former players became successful men, great fathers and great humans. Almost all credit Coach Bowden for their success. Never turning his back on a player and providing those second chances, there are many more who credit him for turning their very lives around.
Tampa radio personality J.P. Peterson said it best: “The reach that man has had is really immeasurable. Think of the thousands of players he coached and taught and are now out there teaching those same lessons as parents and coaches to thousands of others.”
A couple of decades after I left FSU, I read a quote from Coach when asked about retirement.
“I am in no hurry to quit. After you retire, there is only one big event left in your life.”
Unfortunately, that one event is upon us, darn it.
Goodbye, Coach.
