Former Florida State Head Coach Bobby Bowden visited Pearl River Community College on Tuesday to give a speech on behalf of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Bowden coached football for 57 years. For 34 of those years, he was in Tallahassee as the head coach of the Florida State Seminoles, where he won two national championships and led the team to 33 consecutive winning seasons. His 357 wins are the most by any head coach in college football history.
“Now that I’m not coaching, I can spend a lot of time travelling and supporting the Fellowship of Christian Athletes,” said Bowden.
Bowden said he joined the FCA in 1963 and has started an FCA program at every school he has coached throughout his career. His focus now is to travel to schools that are attempting to start or build upon an existing FCA program and encourage people to support it financially.
“What I try to do is help them raise money,” said Bowden.
Bowden said he saw the need for the FCA in his time at Florida State, where so many of the young men he met and coached grew up without a father figure. Bowden stressed the importance of the male role model and faith in God, saying that the FCA addresses the need for both of these issues in schools throughout the country. In his speech, Bowden talked about the need for a full-time FCA leader on the PRCC campus and lobbied for support to raise the funds necessary to fund the position. The event also hosted a silent auction featuring signed items from Bowden, Peyton and Archie Manning, Joe Namath, Hugh Freeze, Dan Mullen and others, with all proceeds going towards the FCA. Bowden said he enjoyed his first trip to Poplarville.
“I love a community like this,” said Bowden, “Whenever I come back, I hope to see all of you involved in the FCA.”