Rece Davis remembers Bobby Bowden’s legacy as a ‘man of great faith’
By Keith Farner
Published:
As coverage of the passing of Florida State coaching legend Bobby Bowden enveloped the college football world on Sunday morning, Rece Davis, host of ESPN’s “College GameDay” appeared on “SportsCenter” to put it in context.
Davis said Bowden’s legacy will be a “man of great faith, who cared about others, who made an impact on all the people that he touched.” Bowden died on Sunday morning. He was 91.
Bowden won 377 games, second most in FBS history, with two national titles in 1993 and 1999. He had 21 bowl wins, which is second most behind Joe Paterno. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
“He always had this unique and uncanny ability to make anyone who walked up to him wanting a picture, wanting to meet, just wanting to say hello feel as though they were the most important person of anyone around him at that moment, and that is a gift,” Davis said. “So I will think of that first, the type of character that he had, his deep spirituality, how he was unafraid to share that with other people and the impact that it had on them.”
Davis then added about Bowden’s contributions on the field, and the “transformation that he took Florida State under. I don’t know if people of this generation realize just a few years before Bobby took over in 1976 at Florida State, they went 0-11, 1-10 and 3-8.”
Davis also said Florida State was considered an “after thought,” and a “little regional school.”
“He turned it into a national power, and one of the great programs in the history of college football,” Davis said. “And it was all because his daring, his bravado and his expertise.”
A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.
