Gov. Ron DeSantis announced the designation of Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport in honor of former Florida State (FSU) football coach Bobby Bowden as part of a sweeping transportation bill while speaking in Tallahassee this week.
“Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport is now official,” Governor DeSantis said. “Coach Bowden was a college football legend, and it is fitting that we honor his legacy in a way that will be seen by all who travel to and from our capital city.”
Bowden coached FSU from 1976 to 2009, winning 316 games, including 12 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships and two NCAA national championships in 1993 and 1999.
The Seminoles 1999 football title was part of a record 14 consecutive top-five finishes from 1987 to 2000. The University of Southern California is the next closest with seven top-five finishes from 2002 to 2008.
Bowden's 377 career victories are the second-most in FBS [Football Bowl Subdivision] history. He also coached at West Virginia University from 1970 to 1975.
“I spoke with my mother this past weekend, and while she is unable to attend the ceremony this afternoon, she asked me to relay her deepest appreciation for this great honor,” said State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden.
“Daddy spent so many hours in the terminals of the Tallahassee airport over his 46 years in this great city, so it feels appropriate that it now bears his name. On behalf of my mother and the entire Bowden family, I want to thank Governor DeSantis for his leadership and service to the Free State of Florida, and for leading the initiative to honor our father, your Coach Bobby Bowden, in this way," Madden added.
Bowden was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He passed away at the age of 91 in 2021.
In addition, the bill (SB 628) renames State Road 80, a 124-mile stretch between Palm Beach County and Lee County, as "President Donald J. Trump Highway." A similar four-mile stretch of Southern Boulevard in Palm Beach County was named after Trump earlier this year.
The bill also designates "Warrior Sacrifice Way" in Escambia County to three U.S. servicemembers killed in the 2019 terrorist attack at Naval Air Station Pensacola and a portion of College Avenue in Tallahassee as "President John Thrasher Memorial Boulevard" after former John Thrasher, who served as FSU's president from 2014 to 2021.
Thrasher was also Speaker of the Florida House from 1998 to 2000, State Senator from 2009 to 2014, and Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida from 2010 to 2011.
Along with the dedications, Gov. DeSantis announced the first phase of a Florida Department of Transportation $63.5 million project expanding State Road 263 (Capital Circle) from Springhill Road to Orange Avenue would open next month, a year ahead of schedule.
Specifically, the Capital Circle project widens the road to six lanes for four miles. A second phase, part of Gov. DeSantis' Moving Florida Forward Infrastructure Initiative, is set to widen 2.2 miles of Capital Circle Southwest to six lanes, with expected completion in the mid 2030s.
