Bobby Bowden honored, remembered at memorial service

The life of college football legend Bobby Bowden was celebrated on Saturday. Funeral services for the legendary Florida State coach were held at the Tucker Civic Center in Tallahassee.

Bowden died Sunday at the age of 91. He announced in late July that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer.

“An incredible service and celebration for the life of coach Bobby Bowden,” current Florida State coach Mike Norvell wrote on Twitter after the memorial. “The testimonies shared today as well as the attendance in love from so many was truly special. A life well lived and a legacy which will last forever. Thank you coach for inspiring us all to be our best!”

Bowden set the bar for Florida State football, and now Norvell is trying to turn around the program. The Seminoles finished 3-6 last season and have not had a winning season since 2017. They last won an ACC title in 2014 under Jimbo Fisher.

Fisher and Clemson coach Dabo Swinney both attended the memorial on Saturday. Former players Charlie Ward, Derrick Brooks, Warrick Dunn and former assistant coaches Mark Richt and Mickey Andrews all shared remembrances of Bowden at the service.

“Coach Bowden was one of the greatest coaches ever, but more than that he was an incredible man,” Norvell said in a statement after Bowden’s death. “He was a special human being who earned an enduring legacy because of his wonderful heart, faith and values he lived. It was the honor of my lifetime to know him and beyond anything I could dream to have a relationship with him.”

Bobby Bowden resume is unrivaled in Tallahassee

Bobby Bowden amassed a 315-98-4 record during his 34-year tenure in Tallahassee. When he took over at Florida State, the team had gone 4-29 in its previous three seasons. By his second year, they won 10 games. Over the next 14 years leading up to FSU’s ACC debut, they won at least nine games nine times. When they joined their new conference, then-ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan commented how valuable they had become in the college football world.

“Their football team had more national television exposure last year than all our teams had together,” Corrigan said. 

Not only did he turn the Seminoles into a competitive program, he twice reached the pinnacle of college football, winning national titles in 1993 and 1999. Bobby Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006 before retiring in 2009.