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Bobby Bowden
Title	Head coach
College	Florida State
Sport	Football
Team record	300-85-4
Born	November 8, 1929 (1929-11-08) (age 78)
Place of birth	Birmingham, Alabama
Career highlights
Overall	373-118-4
Championships
Two National Championships (1993, 1999) 12 Conference Championships (1992-2000, 2002, 2003, 2005)
Playing career
1946-1948	University of Alabama
Position	QB
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1954-55 1956-58 1959-62 1963-65 1966-69 1970-75 1976-Present	Howard College(OC) South Georgia College Howard College Florida State University(WR) West Virginia(OC) West Virginia Florida State
College Football Hall of Fame, 2006

Robert Cleckler Bowden (born November 8, 1929 in Birmingham, Alabama), better known as Bobby Bowden, is the current head college football coach of the Florida State University Seminoles. Since taking the position in 1976, Bowden has led FSU to an Associated Press and Coaches Poll National Title in 1993 and a BCS National Championship National Title in 1999, as well as twelve Atlantic Coast Conference championships since FSU joined the conference in 1991.

With 373 career wins, Bowden is also currently ranked by the NCAA as the all-time winningest Division I-FBS coach by total victories. ^[1][2][3]

Contents 1 Youth and family life 2 Early coaching career 3 Florida State 4 The National Bobby Bowden Award 5 Bobby Bowden Field 6 The Bowden Bowl 7 Head coaching records 8 Author 9 References 10 Notes 11 See also 12 External links

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 have 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.

Bowden served as an assistant football coach and head track and field coach at Howard from 1954–1955. He left his alma mater to become Athletic Director as well as 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.

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 compiled a 300-84-4 record. He is the only coach in Division I-A football history to have enjoyed 14 straight seasons of 10 or more wins. His Florida State Seminoles finished an unprecedented 14 straight seasons in the top 5 of the Associated Press College Football Poll, and 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, "Dadgummit" 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), against whom Bowden has lost 7 of 8 total games, has won more bowl games.

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.

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. Bobby Bowden Field was officially dedicated on November 20, 2004 before the annual game with archrival The University of Florida. The Seminoles lost the game 20-14.

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 at Florida State. Bobby's 1999 Florida State team was the only one to win a National Championship, however. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl	Rank#
Howard College Bulldogs (1959 – 1962)
1959	Howard	9-1-0
1960	Howard	8-1-0
1961	Howard	7-2-0
1962	Howard	7-2-0
Howard:		31-6-0
West Virginia Mountaineers (Independent) (1970 – 1975)
1970	West Virginia	8-3-0
1971	West Virginia	7-4-0
1972	West Virginia	8-4-0			L Peach
1973	West Virginia	6-5-0
1974	West Virginia	4-7-0
1975	West Virginia	9-3-0			W Peach	20
West Virginia:		42-26-0
Florida State Seminoles (Independent (1976-1990) ACC (1991-present)) (1976 — present)
1976	Florida State	5-6-0
1977	Florida State	10-2-0			W Tangerine	10
1978	Florida State	8-3-0
1979	Florida State	11-1-0			L Orange	6
1980	Florida State	10-2-0			L Orange	5
1981	Florida State	6-5-0
1982	Florida State	9-3-0			W Gator	13
1983	Florida State	8-4-0			W Peach
1984	Florida State	7-3-2			Tie Citrus	17
1985	Florida State	9-3-0			W Gator	15
1986	Florida State	7-4-1			W All-American
1987	Florida State	11-1-0			W Fiesta	2
1988	Florida State	11-1-0			W Sugar	3
1989	Florida State	10-2-0			W Fiesta	3
1990	Florida State	10-2-0			W Blockbuster	4
1991	Florida State	11-2-0			W Cotton	4
1992	Florida State	11-1-0	8-0	1	W Orange	2
1993	Florida State	12-1-0	8-0	1	W Orange	1
1994	Florida State	10-1-1	8-0	1	W Sugar	4
1995	Florida State	10-2-0	7-1	1 (t)	W Orange	4
1996	Florida State	11-1-0	8-0	1	L Sugar	3
1997	Florida State	11-1-0	8-0	1	W Sugar	3
1998	Florida State	11-2-0	7-1	1 (t)	L Fiesta †	3
1999	Florida State	12-0-0	8-0	1	W Sugar †	1
2000	Florida State	11-2-0	8-0	1	L Orange †	5
2001	Florida State	8-4-0	6-2	2	W Gator	15
2002	Florida State	9-5-0	7-1	1	L Sugar †	21
2003	Florida State	10-3-0	7-1	1	L Orange †	11
2004	Florida State	9-3-0	6-2	2	W Gator	15
2005	Florida State	8-5-0	5-3	1 - Atlantic	L Orange †	22
2006	Florida State	7-6-0	3-5	5 - Atlantic	W Emerald
2007	Florida State	7-5-0	4-4	4 - Atlantic	Music City
Florida State:		300-85-4
Total:		373-118-4
National Championship         Conference Title         Conference Division Title
†Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final AP Poll of the season.

Bowden has co-authored several books, including:

• Winning's Only Part of the Game : Lessons of Life and Football (1996)
  • ISBN 0-446-52050-0
• The Bowden Way : 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom (2001)
  • ISBN 1-56352-684-0
• Bobby Bowden: Win by Win (2003)
  • ISBN 0-7385-1544-2
• Bobby Bowden's Tales from the Seminole Sideline (2004)
  • ISBN 1-58261-406-7

• ACC Standings. 2006 ACC Football Media Guide. Atlantic Coast Conference. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
• Florida State University Coaching Staff. 2006 Florida State Football Media Guide. Florida State University Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
• Florida State University Year-By-Year Record. 2006 Florida State Football Media Guide. Florida State University Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.
• West Virginia University Coaching History. 2006 West Virginia Football Media Guide. West Virginia University Athletics. Retrieved on 2007-01-10.

• List of Florida State University head football coaches

• 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.

Preceded by Virgil C. Ledbetter	Howard College Head Football Coach 1959–1962	Succeeded by Herman L. Scott
Preceded by Jim Carlen	West Virginia Head Football Coach 1970–1975	Succeeded by Frank Cignetti
Preceded by Darrell Mudra	Florida State University Head Football Coach 1976–	Succeeded by Current
Preceded by Bobby Ross	Walter Camp Coach of the Year 1991	Succeeded by Gene Stallings

v • d • e Current Head Football Coaches of the Atlantic Coast Conference
Frank Beamer (Virginia Tech) | Bobby Bowden (FSU) | Tommy Bowden (Clemson) | Butch Davis (UNC) | Paul Johnson (Georgia Tech) | Jim Grobe (Wake Forest) | Al Groh (Virginia) | Jeff Jagodzinski (Boston College) | Ralph Friedgen (Maryland) | Tom O'Brien (NC State) | David Cutcliffe (Duke) | Randy Shannon (Miami)

v • d • e West Virginia Mountaineers Head Football Coaches
Emory • Rane • McCrory • Trenchard • Krebs • Anderson • Yeager • Hill • Trout • Chez • Forkum • Russell • Lueder • Edmunds • Sweetland • Metzger • McIntyre • Spears • Rodgers • Neale • Tallman • Glenn • Kern • DeGroot • Lewis • Corum • Carlen • Bowden • Cignetti • Nehlen • Rodriguez • TBD

v • d • e Florida State Seminoles Head Football Coaches
Williamson • Veller • Nugent • Moss • Peterson • Jones • Mudra • Bowden