Bobby Bowden funeral: Tommy, Terry Bowden share their memories of their father

and and have that moment that you see on the soap operas and you see on tv with a father and son together and says i love you and i love your son and all that so i wanted to be with him and have that moment and i can remember maybe 12 10 or 12 days ago being over at the house and the morning home care star the all-night home care service had left and my uh the morning session had not gotten there yet my mother was in the bedroom my sister robin was upstairs and i was in the room with my father he was laying back in the reclining chair it was laid down like a bed and had a blanket over and resting kind of uncomfortably and i was just me and him in the room the room was dimly lit the door was shut just he and i i said i'm going to tell him i've never told him i'm going to i'm going to finally tell him i love him and i'm in the room and uh he's you can tell he's kind of rusting uncomfortably but his eyes would pop open he'd he'd flinch just a little bit and his eyes pop open and go back so i'm going to tell him next time i'm going to tell him i'm having a debate with god i said well god why is this so hard i mean god is love that's what you are why should i have this much trouble saying this to my father so finally i was laying there and the hospice had set up what they call a hand-holding chair where you sit there and hold his hand i've never held a man's hand much less tell him i love him but anyway i'm sitting in the chair his eyes pop open i said dad i said i love you and he looked over me said thanks i appreciate that i said yeah i said i said dad gum i waited 67 years and this is it i waited for this moment and there's one other thing i wanted to see from him uh as i said i've done a lot of christian speak with my father once we both got out of coach and he'll always make this statement he said i know i'm going to heaven so i know i'm going but i'm not homesick you don't go tomorrow so i knew that when he passed away and i wanted to be there for his final breath i knew he's going to have a smile on his face because he was going to heaven he was convinced he was going to heaven and i wanted to be there taking the last breath where i could see that smile on his face and i had read all the books and seen the movies where somebody had passed away for a few minutes and and they see the big light a tunnel of light and jesus meets them and his hands there and you see heaven in the background and i just knew my father was going to be smiling uh when he had that moment i didn't know he's going to pass away but i wanted to be there and that same morning i was sitting in a room and i was holding his hand and he would shake just a little bit and his eyes would pop open so they popped up one time i said dad i said can you see heaven he says what i said can you see heaven he says what the movie and i said there he said no i hadn't seen him and that's kind of guy he was he's just a simple guy i took all them books i had threw them away because i said that that's not true that's not true but uh great legacy and uh one of the things the legacy he left with me so if we had this picture up i was going to show my house a couple of times i was at clemson the plane would get fogged in i'd go spend the night at the house and for 30 years i'd go down those stairs no matter how long ago it was before 5 5 15 5 30 more that's what he would be doing that's what he'd be doing and if you can look what he's doing right there he's obviously he's got the bible in front of him he's reading the bible he just didn't read the bible if you look to his left you see those study books he's he studied the bible that's what he did he did it for about an hour every morning consequently that's what i did 30 years ago i started doing the same thing i'd get i'd always read my bible but i didn't study it he studied it so i started studying the bible yeah it's been the last 30 years i've probably read it through six times it takes about five years the time and i can remember i start to say well i'm getting me some pretty good knowledge i'm gonna go down to my father i'm gonna i'm gonna quiz a little bit and see how much he's been learning from those books i took it so that's how i remember my father uh coach andrew said i wonder what he did at home i know how that that's what he did and so i went in and i said i said dad i said listen i said i've been reading this bible like you and i said you know the bible's got some pretty big words in it i said you know what those words mean and he said no i said well yes you're in the bible don't you think you all know what they nothing mean and he looked over him he took him glasses ringling slung back over his nose he said son he says all i know is john 3 16. and that was him john threes he didn't care about the big words john 3 16 for god so loved the world he gave his only begotten son whosoever believeth him shall not perish but of everlasting life that was it that's all he didn't care about the big words he was just he was just a simple guy that's all he all he really got from the bible the most important thing another skill that he had or one more thing about that you know i remember also asking my father if you ever saw my father interviewed he would say i felt like i was called to go into coaching i felt like god led me to go into coaching it was god's will that i go into coaching he'd always say that and the one thing i learned from my father from that picture is that if you're ever into that you better know the word of god you better study it and you'll find out the direction he wants in your life and the other thing the uh and and our den in morgantown west virginia but he took about eight to ten bricks and he put them over here at eight to ten bricks about ten feet away and he took a one by twelve piece of wood he'd stained it and he'd stick it on the bookshelf and he'd stack eight or ten more bricks and put that piece of wood on there eight or ten more bricks and he built an l-shaped bookshelf in the corner of the room and at that time i was thinking i was 12 going on 13 years old but i'll never forget the first thing he put up on that bookshelf he took a little piece of paper and he hand wrote it at that particular time he wrote this verse joshua you will search later you go to his house out there on killarne you go on his den on the bookshelf is that picture right there choose you this day whom you will serve but for me and my me that's the legacy left for my children if you take that picture where he was reading he was reading about jesus christ you've heard him mentioned several times several people that have mentioned meeting jesus christ but as he read about jesus christ he passed that legacy to me because of that i know jesus christ my wife knows jesus christ my son knows jesus christ my daughter knows jesus christ her husband legacy to leave your children a child a legacy of influence that's what my father left me and my four left me through my wife through my son through my daughter my four rugrats are going to have a chance to meet him thank you [Applause] son which friend which booster he cared for everybody he cared for everybody about the same i think that was the the one thing the compassion and love that my father has had for everybody i know we love the story in the bible the sermon on the mount where christ fed five thousand but we need to go back remember he fed a thousand one at a time and that was kind of the way dad did it he he shared his faith and his love for everybody one at a time it's funny this story i love to tell about you know which which was his favorite we were at church one day visiting my grandparents in birmingham uh you've heard some of him tell this story but we were there visiting rahima baptist church that's where my mother and father grew up she was 14 years old in the choir when she moved into town he was 17 selling the back row not paying a whole lot of attention except for that 14 year old up in the choir and that's where they went to church years ago and we went back as a family years later visiting my grandparents and the church was there and we sat down the front row mother and father on each end six of us children in between and the preacher was a guest speaker and i think he was giving a revival or something like a revival and he was getting excited talking about faith and he was getting involved and getting excited he began to stomp and he began to sweat and slap that bible and you know what it means when you get into a revival type deal he was getting into it and just like some baptist preachers tend to do during a sermon he saw my dad in the front row next to all his kids and he pointed and said sir do you have faith of course all of us kids kind of look at my dad you know and he said well yeah i've got faith and that pastor said well if you have so much faith if i took a balance beam and stretched it across the floor down here in front of the pulpit would you walk across that beam for a hundred dollars and all of us kids looked at him you know and you know yeah i got that kind of face sure i would sure i would he said but sir if i took that same balance beam and i straight and i put it across two high buildings then would you walk across that beam for a hundred dollars he said no no i wouldn't do that we're staring at him you know no i wouldn't do that and then that preacher said but sir if i hung your child over that other building then would you walk across that beam for a hundred dollars and i remember my dad so much looked all those kids little best of which one and and i never knew which one quite he cared the most about we all kind of had us guessing after that but we all kind of guessed which coach did he love the most which player did what they love the most but don't we all think it was us didn't he all make us think it was us now if your name is buddy or gal don't get too excited because most of the people as you all have already said already uh if you wasn't quite sure who you are we're buddy and gal but you know what how many people are walking around today see i love the way he called me buddy and i love the way he called me gal they're not saying he didn't know my name he didn't know my name a man of great kindness and i think about what of the scriptures always reminded me of father because he was inspirational he was tough we saw coaching when he was young my brothers and i who played for him and and coached with him when he was a lot more fiery than you may remember him being on that sideline as an older coach but man he could get after it now and he did he was fierce and he was inspirational he was motivationable but that's not the father i remember and i thought that things that's not the christian he wanted to be i remember him being kind i remember him being kind and being thoughtful and when you walked into his office he looked you in your eyes and he cared about you he cared about you and i talk about the scripture what it says i know ephesians 4 1 2 says live a life worthy of your calling you have received be completely humble and gentle be patient bearing one another in love you know christ only described himself one time in the battle in the bible not as a revolutionary not as a martyr he described himself one time in the bible he said for i am gentle and humble in heart and i think my father and his desire all his life to be christ-like his desire to be christ-like was to be kind gentle humble and loving and to be quite honest with you all you out there who knew him personally and knew you intimately isn't that the bobby bowden you knew isn't that the bobby bowden who made an impact on you not the screaming not the hollering not the shouting or the standing but that personal feeling of seeing you there and wanted to be kind and wanting to be gentle because he tried every day to be the best he could to be like jesus and that's what jesus was all about i wonder sometimes we say i wish i knew what god was like your dad always said we know exactly what it's like he's like jesus he used to love to tell the story when he was about about sharing his faith what it was like to know god about when he was young after practice and he was so thirsty he wanted to get some orange juice to drink you might remember he would come under the line at the at the cafeteria and he would want that whole big bat of orange juice and he won the whole thing and drink the whole amount i could have it all but he had all he could get was that one little glass he'd pull that glass he'd drink that little glass of orange juice and he'd say man that's so good and he couldn't have that whole big thing up in that bat but he could drink that one glass of orange juice and know it was exactly what was in that vat and that's how he felt about jesus about christ that he knew god he knew how to act like god he was kind and gentle that's what he wanted to be my dad always felt that football was a priority of his life that we would not win at fsu when we were there unless we made football a priority and i just spoke to my team thinking back having gone through what we've gone through the last couple weeks i had my state of the union addressed just a week ago and i said we're not going to change ulm we're not going to go from a 0-10 team we're not going to go from a team that never led one game unless we make football a priority of our life but let me tell you something we will never get there if we make it the priority of our life it will never get there if we make it the priority our life because you'll lay awake and with that with this with with anxiety with worry with doubt it'll become too important we need to make football a priority of our life but not the priority of life that's one of those secrets to success i grew up in the 80s when you read all these books on attitude and secrets of success that is the secrets of success that is the secret of success don't make football on the priority of your life we love the verse that that jesus that we can be saved through jesus and that i can do all things through christ who strengthens me don't we love that verse it's one of our favorites philippians 4 13. but that dad always felt it came right right after seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and all these things will be gathered unto you a priority but not the priority he understood that derek you took my next verse away the three things faith family and football that was the next things i told my team we won't be successful here at ulm unless we do what my father taught me unless we keep those three f's faith family football have acted as players he taught me to throw education right there before football faith family education and football for a young man who wants to get ahead and football you can you can substitute anything in life you want to substitute if you want to get his message or the message just substitute whatever you want in a number four but never make number four number three two or one that's what dad always talked about and that's what he did and that's what he lived and that's what i remember so much about my father he made football a priority his life he never got too far away from football tommy had a story of the day we we've all enjoyed we enjoyed being able to be with him in his final days and we enjoyed getting a time to go back and spend time with my father knowing from our doctor that these days were getting shorter and the end was coming quicker and we enjoyed our time with him in so many ways one last comment one last hand squeeze one last look as we as we came together but he always loved football and his heart was never very far away from fsu football i promise you it was always a priority of his life just a week before he passed away robin was able to tell all of us i'll tell the story robin as she came home she was spending a lot of time with mother we could only thank robin for all the time she spent there while we were off working and and doing other things but she came home one day from my mom and her maybe going to do do mom's hair or something and she came home and there was my dad sitting by the door kid had tasha who helps us so much get him dressed and he was dressed in his khaki pants and his garnet shirt and he had his hat in his lap and robin said where you going he says i got to get to the game he said i got to get to the game even those final days football was a priority of his life and it was fsu football that he loved so much football a priority but not a priority and i want to leave you all with with this final thought we as a family god has been so much a part of our lives through the blessings of having a mother and father that raised us as christian parents and so i all of us asked each other and especially my sister ginger if we could read a letter that he wrote to us as a family it was september of 2004 and we never had had a real tragedy in our family we'd never had something we could go through that was devastating or tough and that we couldn't handle but that was a tragic day in in september because my sister ginger son bowden and his father were killed in a car accident billy billy smith came to the door to let us know and we found out that week before the miami game of 2004 that we lost a family member for the first time ever and oh my goodness home as parents that you don't want our children supposed to live longer than our parents but it was something we didn't know how to handle and didn't know how to respond to but we got a letter from my father and he wrote all of his children and we felt we we're gonna i was gonna read that to you i know he would want me to we all want you to and i think we're gonna have it up on the uh the uh screen this is the letter he pinned to us i want to say it was in the airport i wanted to say it was on the way to miami before a football game days after that terrible event he penned a letter to all of his children and i want to read it to you that says this my dear children when the dead that tragedy occurred last week i saw again the bond of love our family as he has for each other i witnessed the inner strength of ginger in a time of mortal crisis and love of her mother brothers sisters spouses nephews nieces children as well as in-laws and friends oh how i love you all this brought back the memory of when you were just children your mother would stay up half the night each saturday ironing and polishing your shoes she would lay your clothes out systematically and we would all go to church each sunday morning now is a good time to reflect on where you came from and in my number one goal was that we raise you in the same environment we were raised i remember vividly the day you accepted the lord and were baptized the good news of this strategy tragedy is that john and bowden were saved and today live again in the presence of god in their new heavenly home it has been said that when we die we can take nothing with us except one thing our children great job ginger keep in mind all this time our family will be together forever if we trust in jesus and surrender our lives to him i don't mean change jobs or schools but just make your life available to christ as your grandparents did and and i have tried to do when i die and go to heaven and i know i will if all of you and your family are not there with me when that time comes when your time comes i will consider myself to have failed in life all the statues trophies championships etc will be in vain somewhere along the line i failed you if you are not there now is the time to recommit our lives to christ just as you did as a child jesus said i am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me i choose jesus as my savior and commit to him each night this is my fervent prayer hear our prayer oh lord thank you [Applause] serving as a senior pastor as a high calling and serving as coach

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Length: 21min 24sec (1284 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 14 2021