Nick Saban on the passing of legendary Bobby Bowden
Bobby Bowden passed away on Sunday morning a couple of weeks following his announcement that he had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Nick Saban reflected on Bowden’s legacy in a message posted to Twitter by Alabama Football.
Alabama head coach Nick Saban releases statement on Bowden
Alabama Football released Saban’s statement on Sunday.
“Bobby Bowden was a wonderful friend whose accomplishments as a coach are only surpassed by the character and class he displayed as a father, mentor and friend,” Saban said. “His passing is a loss for everyone but should be seen as a chance to celebrate a life remarkably well-lived. Sometimes it’s not what you do, but who you are that is truly important. And no one embodies that more than Bobby Bowden.
“His influence on the countless young men he led in over 60 years of coaching can never be measured. His achievements as a coach are well documented and among the greatest the game has ever known. But when I think about coach, it’s about the man he was and the impact he had on everyone he encountered. I probably understood that impact even earlier than the rest of college football.”
Saban noted that Bowden was there for him and his family when Saban’s father passed away earlier in his career.
“My father passed away while coach Bowden was at West Virginia University,” he said. “Coach didn’t know me from Adam’s house cat, but he knew my dad and got word that maybe my mom was struggling a bit back home in West Virginia. I pick up the phone one day and it’s coach Bowden himself. He tells me knew my dad and said that if I needed to be closer to home, he would make a place for me on his Mountaineer coaching staff. How many coaches would do that? How many people would do that?
“For me, that story is the personification of the true character of Bobby Bowden. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Ann and children Terry, Jeff, Ginger, Steve and Robyn.”
Bobby Bowden on his legacy
In 2009, Mike Freeman wrote BOWDEN – How Bobby Bowden Forged a College Football Dynasty. In it, Bobby Bowden detailed how we wanted to be remembered.
“A lot of people in the past have asked me what about my legacy,” Bowden shared with Freeman. “I’ve said this and that and I don’t like talking about it all that much, but I answer the question the best I can. I want people to say, ‘He was one of the best.’ Not the best. Just one of the best. I want people to say I didn’t cheat. We made some mistakes here, but I never had a win-at-all-costs mentality. We had that dadgum Free Shoes University thing, but we didn’t know what the players were doing and anyone who says we did isn’t telling the truth. I would’ve rather lost than be seen as a guy who won and cheated. I guess I want my legacy to be we won and we mostly won the right way, and along the way, people had fun, and I treated people with respect and decency, I was something Florida State could be proud of. They’d say, ‘That dadgum Bowden was a good guy.’ That’s how I hope I’ll be remembered.”
On3’s Jamie Oakes contributed to this report.