Bobby Bowden, who passed away Sunday at 91, was a beloved sports figure in West Virginia, which is unusual when you consider the history.
Bowden spent ten years at WVU, four as offensive coordinator and six as head coach, before leaving after the 1975 season to take over at Florida State.
His record at WVU was 42 and 26. He had some memorable victories, like the 17-14 last-second field goal win over Pitt at the end of the ’75 season, the 13-10 victory over favored North Carolina State in the bowl game that year, and the win over Maryland in 1973 when Danny Buggs returned a punt for a game-winning touchdown on the final play of the game.
But there was also the humiliating 36-35 loss to Pitt after leading 35-8 at the half. There was the 1974 season where the injury-plagued Mountaineers won just four games while losing seven. The fans, especially the students, really got on Bowden that year.
From his office window, Bowden could look out and see a banner strung from a student dormitory window that read, “Bye-Bye Bobby.” Irate fans hung him in effigy from a tree on the downtown campus.
Bowden talked about that in a 2004 profile by WVU sports historian John Antonik:
“I saw how quick people will turn on you,” Bowden said. “I saw how quickly my friends turn on you. How quickly people who used to invite me to their parties quit inviting me. I remember saying to Ann (Bowden’s wife), ‘If you and I ever get a chance to leave here, and not that we are, but we have every right in the world to because people are fickle, and this is a fickle profession.”
Bowden’s chance came after the successful ’75 season, and he was off to Florida State where he guided the Seminoles to two national championships and became the second-winningest coach in the history of major college football.
The more he won, the more once-irate West Virginia fans re-evaluated their attitude toward Bowden. We shared in his success and increasingly claimed him as one of our own. Who would have blamed Bowden if he had harbored antipathy toward West Virginia and rejected our overtures to reconnect with him?
But he did not. In fact, Bowden embraced West Virginia and, in his own self-deprecating way, gave credit to the University and its fans.
“I can honestly say that I did enjoy my ten years at West Virginia,” Bowden told Antonik. “Ann and I both did. We loved the beautiful mountains. We loved the state. We loved the people, and we loved the University.”
“The only thing was I need to apologize to the people of West Virginia for some of the mistakes that I made that I shouldn’t have made, and I learned not to make,” Bowden said.
Over the years, Bowden returned often to West Virginia. He never tired of going to speak whenever and wherever he was invited, especially if it was an invitation from the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, where Bowden could talk about his deep faith.
His folksy charm, comical storytelling and unadulterated love of people–seemingly everyone he met—forged a deep kinship between Bowden and West Virginia. We basked in the glow that one of the greatest was, at least in part, one of us.