Bobby Bowden - Liberty University Convocation

thank you very much he said 61 happy years of marriage which is not bad out of 63. oh boy i uh it's great to be here i was the last time i was here dr falwell was living and i think a couple weeks after i left is when he passed away i sure hated to see that because i hate to sit when we lose great christian leaders which our nation really needs you know we were we were founded by christians you know a constitution was written by christians not religious men christians like you you know and uh i i always hate sitting that's when one goes away i was i was born down in birmingham alabama i was born in i was born i don't know why you were cheering about that but anyway i was born in 1929. oh yeah well y'all don't know what happened in 1929 what are you yelling about out there you know that's when we had the big depression where everybody lost their job oh yeah half the people lost their jobs uh and of course back in those days my dad was able to ki i was just a kid i said i was just a kid i was born in 1929 but my my dad was able to keep his job but he didn't make hardly anything you know but every time one of my relatives would lose their job back in those days you move in with your family you know and my granddad moved in with us he lost his job and his wife had died so he moved in with us and granddad and i shared a bedroom until i was 15 years of age with twin beds he slept in one bed and i slept in the other you know then i had an uncle that lost his job he moved in with us he had two boys my age they slept with me you know granddaddy slept there and me and my cousin slept here in fact i never slept alone i got married you know yeah y'all know y'all know how that is yeah my wife my wife she used to get on me and you know what she was every every year and every game bobby you love football more you do me bobby you love football more you do me i said college a pro tell you something else about them i bet you don't get this i bet you don't get this since all my children i had six children since our children have all moved away and ann and i are by ourselves when we go somewhere she drives she drives the whole time i just sit there and hold the wheel you know y'all did catch that didn't you that gum you're doing pretty good oh boy uh well listen here's kind of what i'm going to talk about today you know i i hope i can leave something with you that would mean something to you uh and and i was thinking i think maybe the best way 60 years ago 60 years ago i'm sitting right where you are i'm sitting in our auditorium doubted well i went to school to at samford university in birmingham which is a baptist college very much like you not as big 4 000 students you know but but 60 years ago i'm sitting out there listening to speaker you know now i've got something none of y'all got and that is i have been there y'all hadn't you hadn't been there yet you're going to college just like i did you're going to university just like i did so i can get an education and get a good job and then i went and got my master's degree so i might can even get a better job you know but but i didn't i didn't know what was ahead of me i didn't know who i would yeah seriously i didn't know who i'd marry i would too because i married when i was a freshman oh yeah she was in high school she she was 16. that's an alabama thing that's just something we do down there in alabama you you know when i think about that today if if i'm if i married her today that put me in jail 20 16 or so but it's been 63 years ago now it worked you know it worked but anyway so anyway i get out of college and then i go through my life and so 60 years now 60 years later i can look back and see exactly how god put my life together and he did and my biggest message to you today would be just like the the previous speaker god will work miracles in your life if you will let him god's alive you can speak to him you can read about him in the bible you know but he will he will lead you in your life not do you mind me telling you how my life went can i tell y'all how god lived my life okay okay now when i was 13 years of age i came down with rheumatic fever and the doctor put me in bed for a year i had to drop out of high school i couldn't do any kind of exercise it was a heart disease and the doctor even told my mother that i wouldn't probably wouldn't live to be at about 40. you know that was passed down to me and uh and so i had to go to bed and stay out of school and everything and and so when i was sick i can remember praying to god god if you will heal me i will serve you through athletics or any way you want me to if you will heal me at that time i didn't know if he was going to heal me but a couple of years later i did get healed a couple of years later the doctor said hey your heart's fine you can go back and play ball now if you want to so i was able to play high school football and get a scholarship to college and play college football you know and but i had told god i would serve him through athletics and that's what i tried to do now let me show you what he did okay i graduate from college i played my last football game and the athletic director at that school comes and said bobby if you'll go get your master's degree we'll hire you back here as an assistant coach now about you now you know when you graduate you're going on a job too aren't you you ain't sure where you're going to work they ain't a job out there for everybody you know but they can be found but anyway there i was given a job and i didn't even ask for it so i go get my master's degree and i come back and i coach here two years after two years as an assistant coach i get a phone call back in those days we used to call by the way phone and the president at south georgia college called me and said we're looking for a new football coach would you be interested well i never heard of south georgia college i sure didn't know that president but a head coaching job sure i'd be interested well come down for an interview so i my wife and i we are like i told you we're married we go drive down to douglas georgia and get interviewed and when we start to leave he said look i'm going to interview a guy from texas next week and i'll call you after that let you know if you have the job we're going to offer the head football head basketball and athletic director so anyway the next week he calls me coach bowden we're going to offer you the job we're going to offer you the job head football head basketball athletic director now look i knew nothing about basketball but i wanted that football job so i accepted it right now my first year i coached basketball i i didn't do all that good basketball you know we we were 10 and 10. 10 to 10 is not quite real bad is it i mean we lost 10 on the road lost 10 at home and uh but anyway i was the i was the athletic director so i fired me i just fired me as a basketball coach got somebody else to come in and coach basketball but anyway i coached there four years we won three state championships in football a lot of people don't know they used to have junior college football in georgia they don't have it anymore because everybody went broke you know but uh we won we won state championship the first three years it came out second second year and then after my fourth year the president called me in his office said bobby we're gonna have to drop football we're losing money all the other schools are losing money and so we're just going to no football he said we'd like for you to stay here as athletic director and head baseball coach at least i had a job you know but i want to coach football and folks now listen this is where god plays a role i am not lying to you and i think you know i'm not lying it might have been a week later it might have been two weeks later but i think it was in that frame time they called me from samford university and said coach bowman we're looking for a football coach we're fixing to start giving scholarships and would you be interested and come here as a head football coach no it reminds me of your school when you started it reminds me of your school i ca i've kept up with this university why i'm a baptist you know and uh uh and so i was interested in you growing which you have done you've out you've outgrown us all you know but uh anyway so gosh go back to sanford university as the head football coach yes i and my salary jumped up now look i i got i was hired out of college south georgia college head coach seven university head coach and i didn't apply you usually have to apply to get a job don't you i didn't apply they called me now folks that is god that is god leading my life because i tried to serve him and i say sir because hey i did some bad things like we all do i did some bad things like we all do you know what but i tried to serve him you know and whatever mistakes i made he forgave me and let me now i coached there for four years at samford back then by the way folks it's called howard cots now i want you to listen to this and see if you think god played a role so i'm the head coach at howard college which is samford university now we had about 2 000 students small college you know and the atlanta quarterback club the atlanta quarterback club is one of the biggest and most prestigious touchdown clubs in the country and every year they have their final banquet around the end of december and they bring in all these big time coaches this is going back to 1962. you know so the atlanta quarterback club man they bring in all these they bring bear brian in there suge jordan bobby dodd these guys y'all don't remember now but i remember them real well you know paul dietzel they must have had about 14 major head coaches up there big time coaches i get invited the only small coach in a country i get invited like them big time guys now why why where would they invite me because the president of that organization went to my school and he wanted his coach there so i got to go up there and sit on the main stage with all them big time coaches and you won't believe who they sent me next sex set me next to all these head coaches are sitting right up here and they sent me next to a guy named bill peterson bill peterson was the head coach at at florida state university i never met him i never met him i'd heard about florida state but i didn't know much about them i'd i had run track against them when i was in college you know what but but but uh they sent me next to peterson and he he and i get to talk and he says you know i lost one of my assistant coaches uh and uh would you be interested in coming to florida state well i'm the head football coach why i don't want to go in there as assistant but i had anne and i had felt like i needed to get into a major college if i was going to ever make it into big time so maybe this is the opportunity so we went down and got interviewed and they hired me at florida state as an assistant coach now but folks ain't that funny how they number one how in the world ever get there and number two why do they sit me next to peterson i think i don't know what you think what do i think i think god set that thing up i coasted florida state as three years and i was an assistant i coached there three years i wasn't real happy y'all hadn't been doing this but you can ask him you ever had a job where he wasn't real happy you ever had a job where you just just didn't feel good that's where i felt back at florida state in those days so my wife and said we need to leave things are not working here things are not moving here you know well we got offered two jobs i was offered two jobs one at auburn and the other was at west virginia university so my wife and i we thought about it we prayed about it and we said let's go to west virginia we'll go up there we'll go up there and learn those people in pennsylvania and we'll learn about those people in ohio and all those people over those red decks over in virginia and mine so so anyway so so we take the west virginia job and i'm assistant coach i'm head of the offense for four years right and then the head coach resigns he said i'm an offensive coordinator we played in the peach bowl we beat south carolina in the peach bowl and after the game the head coach calls all of our assistant coaches in our off in his office he said men i'm leaving i'm fixing to take the head job down at texas tech now i didn't name the idea i didn't have any idea you know but i'm fixing to take the head job at texas tech if you all want to come with me i'd love to have you well okay now picture this the head coach is leaving that means there's a job open the head coach at west virginia is open i'm an assistant coach on that staff the thing for me to do is run see the athletic director run see the uh the the chairman of the board run see the president and try to get that job isn't that what i should do but i couldn't my daddy was dying over in birmingham alabama my daddy was dying i had to get to see him before he died so i grabbed my six kids and my wife and we took off at birmingham and i'm thinking well you just blew that job because one of those other coaches will become the head coach so i go over to birmingham and i do get to see my dad before he died the next morning i get a long a phone call from the athletic director at west virginia university coach bowden our board met last night and we want you as the head football coach will you take it are you kidding you're kidding me so now hey that's the fifth job and i ain't applied for none of them who got me those jobs well you think what you want to here i know what i'm thinking so i go to i go to west virginia and so in that way i got the job so i became i coached as a head coach up there 10 years then i get a call from florida state florida state nor it's where i used to coach as an assistant and they're looking for a head coach they just fired a head coach and uh they call me coach they want you know are you interested in this and that and well i don't know i might i go down and get interviewed i come back my wife and i we came that close of not leaving west virginia we liked it at west virginia we had four children going to west virginia we didn't want to run off and leave our children because they'd have to stay in school there you know and at the last moment we decided let's go home because that's my home i was raised in this i coast in georgia i coached an island by my coast in florida we're going to go home our mothers are in there we lost our daddies our mothers are still living we can be with them the last years of our life so we go back to florida state i stayed there for 34 years six jobs and i hadn't applied for one of them now let me say this there were some jobs i applied for i didn't get them i didn't get them when i applied you know and but ain't god good ain't god good but see you you can't tell that story yet because yours is ahead of you and you don't know what's going to happen to you but i'm saying if you'll put god first in your life put god first in life you know when i was coaching a lot of times i'd get letters or calls from mothers all over the country california i remember a lady from california calling me coach bowden i'm not calling my shirt wrote me a letter coach about and i've got a son he's 15. his dad is gone and i'm trying to raise him what can i tell him to be a success i'd get that letter a lot what can i tell him to be a success i tell them all the same thing i'd say you tell your son to get his priorities in order you tell your son his number one priority has got to be who god you tell him to make god your number one priority well coach what do you mean by that number one priority i mean you tell him don't do nothing if you don't think god wants you to do it every time you're about to reach a decision to do something the boys want you to come out with them that night ask god god is it okay with you and if it is do it but if it's not okay don't do it then you make your family your second priority god family and a chance to go out with the boys one of mama minds i wonder if daddy minds if they think we shouldn't don't do it don't do it you know what and if you'll follow that if you'll follow that i think you'll end up successful especially if you put god first you see because my life is an example you know i'm not sitting up here telling you making up a story about somebody else i'm telling you exactly what happened to me now you're like you're fixed again i graduate one of these days some of you taking too long by the way six years is entirely too long you know but anyway all of you eventually graduate you know you'll be out there working on your profession you know and all i say is put god first and let let him lead you and he'll do it there's there's two two thoughts be sure i've got them written down here uh of of uh that there were there were two scriptures that all my life meant a lot to me and every time i faced a ball game or anything else i always referred to them one was i can do all things through christ i can do all things through christ you know what then the other was with god everything is possible remember that now i want you to remember that as you go through life with god all things are possible two i can do all things through christ who strengtheneth me you know what if you'll let those verses lead you you'll be okay well i got 10 minutes up there i'm gonna i wanna can i tell y'all my favorite football story will you will you sit there and listen without getting up and running off okay i'm gonna tell you first i want to refer to a scripture one of my favorite i've talked to him a thousand times you know proverbs 4 23 keep thy heart with all diligence because out of it come the issues of life out of your heart comes the issues of life now listen when they used to talk about the heart and when the bible talks about the heart he ain't talking about no muscle it's not referring to a muscle that pumps blood it's talking about your will i will i can do anything i will do it you know what it's talking about your mind and it's talking about your emotion that's your heart you know keep your heart with all diligence coughs out of it comes the issues of life your heart is full of little hidden seeds of thought you know everything you do starts with a thought which becomes words which becomes action which becomes habits you're known by your habits you're known by your habits and then your habits your habits become your character and your character determines where you're spending eternity okay now let me tell you the story i'm going to try to get it quickly this is a biggest upset ever in college football university of michigan and the university of illinois back in okay here we go i'll try to get it back in now this goes back long time ago 1939. now in 1939 michigan had won the national championship the year before and then 39 michigan was undefeated yeah they're fixing to play illinois illinois won a game illinois had even scored a touchdown they lost four games they might have scored one touchdown you know played a small college and tied nothing nothing and they're fixing to play illinois the number i mean it's fixed to play michigan the number one team in the nation which had five all-americans now i would know him you want tommy harmon one of the greatest running backs ever was their tail back far safest chess scene was it blocking back they had an all-american uh center named fruitig and and they're going to play this illinois team and kill them now ray elliott was assistant coach at the university of illinois and i heard him give this lecture that's where i heard this story and when he was telling us about he says in illinois we had one of the worst teams we've ever had we could beat anybody you know and so anyway picture this now friday night before the game are there any ball players in here are there any football player there are some football players do you all go out of town friday night before the game they do that that most schools on friday night before the game will take their boys out of town and stand up say 15 miles away 20 hours stay in a hotel why to get them away from their family and their girlfriends and people who will distract you know so coach we always took our boys away and and this illinois team had done the same thing they'd gone out of town and was staying at his hotel so it's the night before the game and the boys were sitting there like y'all in wicker chairs they're just eating supper and the coaches up here explaining the next day's last game plan and when he and and so anyway as they were sitting there i'm leaving out something but that week of practice get this now the week of practice illinois had a captain named male harder i spoke in up in carbondale illinois about three years ago and i told his story and somebody said well this is well male heart was born but anyway mel harder was their captain and that monday before they play michigan mel harder's momma dies you gotta go home you can't you can't you get your momma dies you've got to get home so mel harder left and coach says boy there was no enthusiasm at all you know the main enthusiasm they had was gone their captain but they practiced and it was sorry practices and they gonna get killed and they're having their last game meal before the get up the next morning go play and they're sitting in this room and all of a sudden the back door opens the back door open there's a small room so that back door distracts and everybody turned around to see who who's there coming in our meeting and it was mel harder coming back their captain and mel harder said coach before you all say anything i want to thank y'all for those beautiful flowers you sent my mother and i want to thank you for those phone calls and i want to thank you for those letters and if y'all think i came back up here tonight to get beat tomorrow you're crazy coach said man you could have heard a pin drop he said there was a tear in every eye could see a certain jut to their jaws it was different i could see a different glint in their eyes and normally where i have to tell them all right man it's ten o'clock y'all get up go to bed by nine o'clock each one of them had drifted off to their room and coach always went by their rooms before he went to bed just to be sure everybody's okay he said as he went by each room the boys were laying on their bunk staring at the ceiling or staring at the wall or but he said boys they were a different looking group of guys you know and so that next day what happened they went out there and knocked off the university of michigan beat them about three touchdowns to one one of the biggest upsets ever recorded in college football history you know and uh but but here's the here's a question behind that story this illinois team that had not won a game is that the same team at beat michigan is that the same team that beat the number one football team in the nation on an 18-game losing streak well they wear the same pants they wear the same helmets they got the same set of muscles but it's not the same team it's not the same team you know because the issues of life come from where you've been listening to me the heart hey y'all be good you

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 26,742

Keywords: Liberty University (Organization), Bobby Bowden (American Football Player), Convocation, liberty university convocation, liberty university, liberty university convo, liberty convo, FSU coach Bobby Bowden

Id: G7DJ2nX8AlI

Length: 29min 56sec (1796 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 17 2013