TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Tuesday renaming the Tallahassee International Airport after Florida State University’s legendary head football coach Bobby Bowden, calling it a fitting tribute to one of the most celebrated figures in Florida sports history.
The airport will officially be known as Bobby Bowden Tallahassee International Airport.
“I could think of no better person from this community that people have looked up to for decades to name the Tallahassee International Airport after than our renowned head coach of Florida State University for all those years, Bobby Bowden,” DeSantis said.
Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said FDOT crews were dispatched immediately following the ceremony to update road signs leading to the airport.
“As soon as we get done with this ceremony, you’re going to see FDOT crews out there on the road updating every single sign leading to the Tallahassee International Airport, and it will now have Bobby Bowden on the sign,” Perdue said.
Bowden’s legacy at FSU
Bowden, who served as FSU’s head football coach for decades, built one of the most dominant programs in college football history.
From 1987 to 2000, his teams finished in the top five of the final national rankings for 14 consecutive seasons — a streak DeSantis called “unprecedented.”
“That’s an unprecedented run of sustained success and particularly in this era, may never be matched,” DeSantis said.
Bowden also delivered FSU’s first national championship. ⚠️ Verify: DeSantis noted that under a modern playoff format, Bowden likely would have won even more titles given the program’s consistent dominance in the 1980s and ’90s.
‘More than a coach’
State Sen. Corey Simon, a former FSU national championship player under Bowden, offered a personal tribute to the coach he described as far more than a football strategist.
“This is less about Coach Bobby Bowden and more about Bobby Bowden, because coaching was what he did part time,” Simon said.
“I tell folks all the time I talk more with Coach Bowden about life and Christ than I ever did about football,” he added.
Simon said Bowden’s vision for his players extended well beyond the field — including an expectation that every young man he recruited would graduate and go on to serve their communities.
Ginger Bowden Madden, Bobby Bowden’s daughter and the state attorney for the Panhandle, represented the Bowden family at the ceremony.
“Anyone who was privileged and honored enough by God to have Bobby Bowden as a father has a definite advantage in life,” she said. “He taught me my temperament, kindness, patience, hard work.”
Bowden Madden recalled fond memories of the airport itself, describing how fans would line the roads and pack the terminals in the late hours to welcome the team home after away games during the 1980s and ’90s.
“Those of you who’ve been around long enough will remember those days when you would fly in, the team would fly in at 1, 2, 3 o’clock in the morning back in the ’80s and the ’90s, and this road would be lined up on left and right side with cars welcoming the team,” she said.