A Sea Of Red

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- It was 1988, and Liberty University's football recruiting closer at the time was Jerry Falwell, the school's founder and an American evangelical Christian pastor.

Falwell was on the telephone with the family of Casey Weldon, a hometown star here at a small Christian school. The conversation focused on spiritual learning, guidance and football, and Weldon-to-Liberty appeared to be a done deal.

That is, until Weldon received word from a higher calling the following evening: Bobby Bowden.

Not sure if many of you knew about this, but I found this pretty interesting...

http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/1 ... e-warrior/

One other Bowden / Liberty connection (and it's probably apocryphal)...

A young, prominent Christian high school athlete was seriously considering Liberty University. Bobby Bowden stepped in, said that the young man could have more influence as a Christian on a secular campus, and so the young man chose Florida State.

Four years later, Charlie Ward won the Heisman and went on to guide the Seminoles to the national championship.

That's the story I remember. I knew there was a connection but the first guy didn't sound familiar.


On side note, I personally would have no idea that Charlie Ward was a Christian except for this story. So much for Bowden's theory

LUconn wrote:That's the story I remember. I knew there was a connection but the first guy didn't sound familiar.


On side note, I personally would have no idea that Charlie Ward was a Christian except for this story. So much for Bowden's theory

I think it was a well-known fact that Ward was a Christian. It was mentioned a lot while he was at FSU and he always thanked God in his interviews.

That being said, I think Bowden would have said anything to get a top recruit in the door.

The casey Weldon deal was well documented. I remember the buzz around campus that arguably the nation's top QB was coming to LU .. until BK Bobby snared him from us.

Charlie was very vocal about his Christianity and remains so today here in Houston.

Sly Fox wrote:The casey Weldon deal was well documented. I remember the buzz around campus that arguably the nation's top QB was coming to LU .. until BK Bobby snared him from us.

Charlie was very vocal about his Christianity and remains so today here in Houston.

Maybe it was Weldon. You know how these rumors start. A dozen years from now, you'll probably hear future Flame Faners saying things like "yeah, Bobby Bowden almost coached the Flames."

Casey had a long career in the pros. Not much success but he sure held on for several years.

Liberty4Life wrote:

Sly Fox wrote:The casey Weldon deal was well documented. I remember the buzz around campus that arguably the nation's top QB was coming to LU .. until BK Bobby snared him from us.

Charlie was very vocal about his Christianity and remains so today here in Houston.

Maybe it was Weldon. You know how these rumors start. A dozen years from now, you'll probably hear future Flame Faners saying things like "yeah, Bobby Bowden almost coached the Flames."

I've already seen/heard people saying he was on campus today to interview to be coach. Seriously.

Hypothetically if we were looking for a coach, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Bowden or two on the list. Thankfully that is not an issue right now.

ToTheLeft wrote:I've already seen/heard people saying he was on campus today to interview to be coach. Seriously.

and they heard it from someone that was reading FF....it's an endless loop

SumItUp wrote:

ToTheLeft wrote:I've already seen/heard people saying he was on campus today to interview to be coach. Seriously.

and they heard it from someone that was reading FF....it's an endless loop

Bowden's son was on the short-list of candidates before we hired Rocco, as I recall.

The least interesting son ...

you have a problem with Terry?

It was Jeff under discussion last time around.