Bobby Bowden Biography – Bobby Bowden Wiki
Bobby Bowden (born Robert Cleckler Bowden) was an American college football coach. The Birmingham native won 377 games over his long career as a head coach at Samford, West Virginia, and Florida State. He played on the freshman team at Alabama in 1948 before transferring to Samford (then Howard College), where he played from 1949 to 1952, and earned All-America honors in 1952 as a quarterback.
While serving as head coach at his alma mater from 1959 to 1962, Bowden amassed a record of 31-6, posting the highest winning percentage of any coach in school history. He was hired as the head coach at West Virginia in 1970, and served in that role until 1975. In 1976, Bowden began his legendary run at Florida State. During his time with the Seminoles, Bowden won 304 games, and he led the program to the 1993 and 1999 national titles. Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Bowden was named National Coach of the Year six times (1979, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1996 and 1999), and a national award for citizenship bears his name. FSU competed as an independent over his first 16 years with the Seminoles before joining the ACC. Bowden led Florida State to the ACC Championship 12 times including eight in a row from 1992-2000.
Bobby Bowden Age
Bowden was born on November 8, 1929, in Birmingham, Alabama. He died on August 8, 2021, in Tallahassee, Florida, aged 91.
Bobby Bowden Wife
Was Bobby Bowden married? Bowden was married for 72 years to childhood sweetheart Ann Estock. Bowden and Ann married on April 1, 1949. Bowden was 19, Ann 16 when they married at the home of the Justice of the Peace in Rising Fawn, Georgia.
Bobby Bowden Children
Coach Bobby Bowden and his wife, Ann Estock, have six children; Terry, Tommy, Jeff, Ginger, Steve and Robyn. Three of his sons also served as coaches, with Tommy Bowden having coached at Clemson, Terry Bowden at Auburn and Jeff Bowden as an offensive coordinator at Florida State. Steve Bowden has worked most of his career in academia. Daughter Ginger Bowden Madden is the state attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida. Robyn – the oldest child – was a school teacher for many years but retired early to help her parents.
Bobby Bowden Family
Bobby Bowden is survived by his wife Ann Bowden, daughters Robyn Hines (Jack) and Ginger Madden Bowden, and sons Stephen, Terry, Tommy (Linda), and Jeff (Cindi), 19 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren.
Bobby Bowden Pancreatic Cancer
Bobby Bowden was diagnosed with a terminal illness in July 2021. He did not disclose what the condition was at the time, although his son Terry later told reporters that it was pancreatic cancer.
“I’ve always tried to serve God’s purpose for my life, on and off the field, and I am prepared for what is to come,” Bobby Bowden said in a statement announcing the condition. “My wife Ann and our family have been life’s greatest blessing. I am at peace.”
Bobby Bowden Death
Longtime Florida State coach Bobby Bowden died on August 8, 2021, at the age of 91, the school announced. Bobby’s son, Terry Bowden, confirmed to The Associated Press that his father died at home in Tallahassee, Florida, surrounded by family.
Terry said in a statement: “My father passed away peacefully early this morning [August 8, 2021] with all six of his children and my mother here by his side. I couldn’t have asked for a better personal mentor than my father. He was a wonderful husband and father, who relied on his strong Christian faith to provide the foundation for his life. I also was fortunate to be raised by a football coach who had a reputation for coaching the right way his entire career. He was admired by everyone who played for him or coached against him.”
“Florida State University has lost a legend in the passing of Bobby Bowden,” university president John Thrasher said in a statement. “On behalf of everyone at FSU, Jean and I extend our deepest condolences to Ann and the Bowden family. Coach Bowden built a football dynasty and raised the national profile of Florida State University, and he did it with class and a sense of humor. While he leaves an incredible legacy as one of the best football coaches in collegiate history, he also will be remembered for his great faith, his love of family and his mentorship of countless young people. He will be profoundly missed.”
Alabama coach Nick Saban said in a statement: “Bobby Bowden was a wonderful friend whose accomplishments as a coach are only surpassed by the character and class he displayed as a husband, father, mentor and friend. His passing is a loss for everyone but should be seen as a chance to celebrate a life remarkably well lived. Sometimes it’s not what you do, but who you are that is truly important, and nobody embodies that more than Bobby Bowden.
“His influence on the countless young men he lead in over 60 years of coaching can never be measured. His achievements as a coach are well documented and among the greatest the game has ever known, but when I think about coach, it’s about the man he was and the impact he had on everyone he encountered. I probably understood that impact even earlier than the rest of college football.
“My father passed away while coach Bowden was at West Virginia University. Coach didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat, but he knew my dad and got word that maybe my mom was struggling a bit back home in West Virginia.
“I pick up the phone one day and it’s coach Bowden himself. He tells me he knew my dad and said that if I needed to be closer to home, he would make a place for me on his Mountaineer coaching staff. How many coaches would do that? How many people would do that?
“For me, that story is the personification of the true character of Bobby Bowden. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and children Terry, Tommy, Jeff, Ginger, Steve and Robyn.”
Bobby Bowden Cause of Death
Coach Bobby Bowden died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2021. He also dealt with a bout of COVID-19 in 2020, which came a few days after returning to his Tallahassee home from a lengthy hospital stay for an infection in his leg, ESPN reported.
Bobby Bowden Net Worth 2021
Bobby Bowden’s net worth is estimated to be $14million. During Bowden’s early years in coaching, money was sparse. He was a one-man show from 1956-58 at South Georgia State College, located in Douglas, Georgia. He was the school’s athletic director, in addition to its football, basketball and baseball head coach. His annual salary was $4,200.
Bobby Bowden Funeral
A public funeral service will be held for Bowden on Saturday, August 14, at the Tucker Civic Center at FSU. Public viewings will take place at FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium in the Moore Athletic Center on Friday, August 13, and at the Reid Chapel on the campus of Samford University, his alma mater, on Sunday, August 15. A family-only burial service will follow in Trussville, Ala.
Bobby Bowden Obituary
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