After months of documenting, cataloging and planning, the Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction — including the iconic Florida State coach’s Killearn Estates home — is now open for bids.
The highly anticipated two-week auction, managed by Wiregrass Auction Group of Thomasville, Georgia, began Tuesday, March 3, at 8 a.m. and runs through mid-March.
FSU fans, college football enthusiasts and sports memorabilia collectors can now browse the extensive collection online. Bidding on the home Bowden and his wife, Ann, purchased in 1976 concludes March 17 at 2 p.m., while memorabilia bidding wraps up March 17 at 6 p.m. and March 18 at 6 p.m., with more than 1,500 items divided across two days.
“This auction represents far more than memorabilia,” Wiregrass Auction Group owner Mark Manley said in a company release.
“It reflects a lifetime of faith, family, and football — and offers fans and collectors a meaningful opportunity to own a piece of Coach Bobby Bowden’s legacy. Our commitment has been to handle every aspect of this process with dignity, professionalism, and deep respect for the Bowden family.”
Bowden, who coached the Seminoles for 34 seasons and won two national championships, died in 2021 at the age of 91. Ann Bowden celebrated her 93rd birthday last September and has since moved to Alabama to live with family.
Here’s what bidders need to know about Bowden Legacy Auction
The auction will be anchored by two dedicated online landing pages — one for the personal property and memorabilia and another for the real estate — each serving as a central hub for dates, terms and bidder registration.
Bidders must register online with a credit card, a step Manley said is designed to protect both buyers and sellers while keeping the process straightforward.
Bidding will be available through the Wiregrass Auction Group website at WiregrassAuctionGroup.com, as well as the company’s mobile bidding app, available on the App Store and Google Play, allowing participants to bid from a phone, tablet or computer.
For an estate with this much interest, the online format allows fans and collectors from anywhere in the world to participate on equal footing, Manley said.
How to bid on the Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction
Each item in the Bowden Legacy Auction will open at a modest starting bid, a strategy Manley said is meant to invite broad participation while allowing the market – not preset pricing – to determine value.
Manley also noted that in most online auctions, the majority of bidding activity occurs in the final hours and minutes before an item is scheduled to close. To ensure fairness during that period, the Bowden auction will use a “soft close” system.
If a bid is placed near the end of an item’s closing time, the clock automatically extends, giving other bidders a chance to respond.
To create your account for the Bowden Legacy Auction, visit Wiregrass Auction Group here.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Bobby Bowden home, FSU memorabilia auction opens: Here’s how to bid
Reporting by Jim Henry, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
