College football Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden will be speaking at an event in Brookhaven, Mississippi Thursday.
The second all-time winningest Division one-FBS coach will be sharing his testament as part of a fundraiser for the Lincoln County Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Bowden began his football career with Florida State as an assistant coach in 1962. He would leave the Seminoles in 1965 to be an assistant coach at West Virginia. In 1969, Bowden took over the head coaching position and lead the Mountaineers to a 42-26 record in his tenure.
In 1979, Bowden would be named the head coach at FSU and lead the team for the next 34 years. Bowden retired with two national championships and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles.
Speaking alongside Bowden will be Florida State University Hall of Fame player Sammie Smith.
Smith was a college football standout and the 9th overall pick in the 1989 NFL draft. He would go on to play four seasons in the NFL for the Dolphins and Denver Broncos.
In 1996, Smith was convicted for the distribution of cocaine and possession. He would spend the next seven years in prison.
“The choices I made were not my character. It wasn’t how I was raised, it wasn’t how I grew up,” said Smith.
Smith now works for FCA and said that students need to understand that when bad things happen, you can learn from it.
“When you’re turned the wrong way or you make a bad choice, if you don’t seek to learn from this, what is God trying to show me from this? Then it’s tough to pick yourself up,” said Smith.
The event will begin at 6:30 Thursday night at the Easthaven Baptist Church.
