Ginger Bowden Madden has always loved exploring her family’s history — paging through photos, memorabilia and stories. She was also glad Florida State football fans had the opportunity to participate in the recently concluded Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction and own a part of their parents’ legacy.
“I really think it was appreciated that we allowed so many of Dad’s things to go to them,” said Madden, one of six Bowden children and the Panhandle-area State Attorney. “I hope that at the end of the day, that’s how they felt. It sure felt that way.”
By the time the two-week auction ended March 18, nearly 1,925 registered bidders had participated, placing more than 33,000 bids across 1,568 items, with only seven lots failing to receive a single bid.
Additionally, Tallahassee resident and FSU alum Reagan Hobbs also emerged as the winning bidder at $670,000 for Bowden’s Killearn Estates home. With a 10% buyer’s premium, the final sale price totaled $737,000.
Hobbs is scheduled to close on the property today, Friday, April 17.
Bobby Bowden Legacy auction a success
Even as her parents, Bobby and Ann Bowden, became inseparably linked to FSU football, Madden cherished how their keepsakes inside the Bowden’s home evoked memories beyond the game, too. And while the Bowden family secured important items it wanted before the auction, there were others Madden saw for the first time in years.
The memories were so moving that it spurred Madden to become a bidder herself.
She was eyeing a photograph of her mother being crowned the winner of a beauty pageant in 1958 — elegant, smiling, and already the mother of four children at the time.
“She was just beautiful,” Bowden said.
Another keepsake tied to that moment: a silver platter from the pageant. Ginger laughs now at the memory of buying what she thought was the platter, only to later realize she’d purchased the wrong one.
She also was the winning bidder on a wooden band paddle that was given to Bowden by The Marching Chiefs. The paddle, which she plans to give back to the Chiefs, reflected her father’s lifelong love of music and his connection to the Chiefs and national fraternity for band members.
“I’m the family historian,” she said. “So for me, it was exciting and very meaningful. It was awesome.”
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Auction winner set to close on Bobby Bowden’s home as family reflects
Reporting by Jim Henry, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
