Been hearing lots of stories about Coach Bobby Bowden so I thought I would share mine. I had the privilege of meeting him several times starting with the first meeting in November 1988. It was the Friday night before the UF game. I was dropping off some dinner to my then wife who worked the front desk at the Holiday Inn in Thomasville, GA. Right after I arrived I heard the door open and in walked Coach Bowden. He was checking in the football team for the night as it was customary for coach to do the night before each FSU home game. It was just him, my wife behind the desk that were there and I'm standing there off to the side so he could do his business and he turns to me and sticks out his hand and introduced himself to me and asked me how I was doing. We talked for a couple minutes and he noticed my haircut and asked if I was in the military and I told him I was currently serving in the US Marine Corps. He got a big grin on his face and said he loved the Marines and I just smiled back and said thank you sir and I wished him and team luck against UF the next day and in the Sugar Bowl a few weeks later. He patted me on the back and said thank you, God bless you and Semper Fi and he turned to go get the team off the bus and I stood and watched everyone of them and the coaches walk through the lobby to their rooms. Nobody else was around that night and it was the coolest.
When I was attending FSU from 91-93 he came out to talk to us in the Marching Chiefs before the first game and that first year in 1991 I was fortunate to talk to him again and he remembered me from 1988 at the Holiday Inn. I asked him how in the world could he have remembered me from that long ago? He reminded me that we talked about me being in the Marines and how find he had always been of our US Military and it isn't everyday you get to meet a US Marine. I was blown away. I told him that I had just returned from Desert Storm in June of 91 before coming to FSU and the Marching Chiefs. He was excited to ask me about what I did in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait just a few months earlier. He just had a knack for making you feel like he'd known you all your life. Each time after that during my time on campus that we'd pass each other around the athletic department or heck even in the parking lot he would make sure to stop and shake my hand if nothing else.
After I moved to TN we would always (and still do) come home for the FSU homecoming games and in the early 2000's I would take my kids to meet him at his call-in shows. I remember one year my boys had made pinewood derby cars for their scout troop and they painted them in FSU Seminole theme. They asked the coach to sign them and coach was so impressed with them and their cars. He'd obviously signed tons of footballs and photos and such but he said that was the first time he'd ever been asked to sign pinewood derby cars. He got such a kick out of that. He signed several autographs for my kids and just adored them. In fact he enjoyed my kids so much that he or Jeff Bowden would call me every year to make sure that we were coming down and to make sure we brought the kids by to see him.
In 2008 I found an old University of Alabama Million Dollar Band hat in an antique store. I bought it because it was from the same era from when Coach Bowden was there. I packed it up with a US Marine Band Master Sergeant rank chevron and some trombone music for the Alabama fight song and other school tunes and sent it to coach. He was also a trombone player for those of you that didn't know it. I also caught him up on my military career and that I was retiring later in 2008. He then sent me a personal letter thanking me for those items and was so proud of that hat that he put it on display in his cabinet behind his desk for all to see and invited me to come bring the family in the next time we are in town which we did that following homecoming game.
He had us come to his office so we could see it displayed. He actually had that MSgt Chevron and a couple pieces of the trombone music I sent to him under the glass on top of his desk!!! It was so cool to spend time with him in his office and to hear him tell me stories of the items in his cabinet from the Bear Bryant bust to all of the books on the US military and wars. And he always said God bless you to me and I in return to him. I was so honored that he thought enough of me to share the things that were near and dear to his heart besides football.
A few years after he retired I got to see him again at a speaking engagement in Memphis, TN. What an incredible speaker he was. I met up with him after he was through speaking and he told me it was good to see me and that he still had those items I had given him a few years before. He told me he personally made sure those items were handled carefully when his office was packed up at FSU when we retired. He hugged my neck and told me that we were in his prayers and I told him he was in ours too.
He was so kind to me every single time we met up and talked. No matter what was going on around him or who was with him he always made sure to reach out his hand to me if nothing else and say hello. He saw me on the football field at homecoming with the Marching Chiefs Alumni Band a few times at pre-game and would wave to me and wink as he would be running back to the locker room. Just a decent, humble, God fearing man of great faith and friend. He autographed my Marching Chiefs jacket and couple of footballs and books which are all great and cherished items but beyond all of that I am grateful that I was blessed to be considered his friend. I will miss him greatly but I know I will absolutely see him again when the good Lord takes me home too. Rest In Peace coach and thank you for the friendship, the stories, great football games and countless memories.
When I was attending FSU from 91-93 he came out to talk to us in the Marching Chiefs before the first game and that first year in 1991 I was fortunate to talk to him again and he remembered me from 1988 at the Holiday Inn. I asked him how in the world could he have remembered me from that long ago? He reminded me that we talked about me being in the Marines and how find he had always been of our US Military and it isn't everyday you get to meet a US Marine. I was blown away. I told him that I had just returned from Desert Storm in June of 91 before coming to FSU and the Marching Chiefs. He was excited to ask me about what I did in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait just a few months earlier. He just had a knack for making you feel like he'd known you all your life. Each time after that during my time on campus that we'd pass each other around the athletic department or heck even in the parking lot he would make sure to stop and shake my hand if nothing else.
After I moved to TN we would always (and still do) come home for the FSU homecoming games and in the early 2000's I would take my kids to meet him at his call-in shows. I remember one year my boys had made pinewood derby cars for their scout troop and they painted them in FSU Seminole theme. They asked the coach to sign them and coach was so impressed with them and their cars. He'd obviously signed tons of footballs and photos and such but he said that was the first time he'd ever been asked to sign pinewood derby cars. He got such a kick out of that. He signed several autographs for my kids and just adored them. In fact he enjoyed my kids so much that he or Jeff Bowden would call me every year to make sure that we were coming down and to make sure we brought the kids by to see him.
In 2008 I found an old University of Alabama Million Dollar Band hat in an antique store. I bought it because it was from the same era from when Coach Bowden was there. I packed it up with a US Marine Band Master Sergeant rank chevron and some trombone music for the Alabama fight song and other school tunes and sent it to coach. He was also a trombone player for those of you that didn't know it. I also caught him up on my military career and that I was retiring later in 2008. He then sent me a personal letter thanking me for those items and was so proud of that hat that he put it on display in his cabinet behind his desk for all to see and invited me to come bring the family in the next time we are in town which we did that following homecoming game.
He had us come to his office so we could see it displayed. He actually had that MSgt Chevron and a couple pieces of the trombone music I sent to him under the glass on top of his desk!!! It was so cool to spend time with him in his office and to hear him tell me stories of the items in his cabinet from the Bear Bryant bust to all of the books on the US military and wars. And he always said God bless you to me and I in return to him. I was so honored that he thought enough of me to share the things that were near and dear to his heart besides football.
A few years after he retired I got to see him again at a speaking engagement in Memphis, TN. What an incredible speaker he was. I met up with him after he was through speaking and he told me it was good to see me and that he still had those items I had given him a few years before. He told me he personally made sure those items were handled carefully when his office was packed up at FSU when we retired. He hugged my neck and told me that we were in his prayers and I told him he was in ours too.
He was so kind to me every single time we met up and talked. No matter what was going on around him or who was with him he always made sure to reach out his hand to me if nothing else and say hello. He saw me on the football field at homecoming with the Marching Chiefs Alumni Band a few times at pre-game and would wave to me and wink as he would be running back to the locker room. Just a decent, humble, God fearing man of great faith and friend. He autographed my Marching Chiefs jacket and couple of footballs and books which are all great and cherished items but beyond all of that I am grateful that I was blessed to be considered his friend. I will miss him greatly but I know I will absolutely see him again when the good Lord takes me home too. Rest In Peace coach and thank you for the friendship, the stories, great football games and countless memories.
