It Happens

By Phil Williams

"It Happens"

(#4 in the Bobby Bowden 'tribute series')As I mentioned in my last post, part of what made Coach so special was the fact that he was so…’human’.

I believe it was my sophomore year that it happened, though I do not remember which game. It was at Doak Campbell Stadium, a night game, and I was standing by Coach Bowden’s side while our offense was running a play out on the field. Wide receivers frequently served as the carrier pigeons back in those days, relaying the plays from Coach Bowden to our quarterbacks, so I stood close by waiting for the current play to end so that Coach could give me the next one to run in.

The ball was snapped, and if I recall, we had a pretty good gain on the play, so Coach Bowden hurried down the sideline to be in closer proximity to our offensive huddle. That’s when it happened.

The headset that he wore had a line running back toward the bench somewhere, and I believe an equipment manager would be assigned to make sure it didn’t get snagged up or kicked or stepped on or whatever else might cause a problem. But things happen, and as I moved down the sideline next to him I saw that headset fly off of his head and onto the ground behind him, jerked off of his head by who knows what.

Well, you would have thought his little brother had whacked him from behind with a damp towel. He threw his head around and shouted out some of those very words that he forbid us players from using. If he had a protocol manual back in his office, complete with his NO SWEARING decree, I’m pretty sure it self-combusted at that very second! I might have even learned a new word or two. His eyes were firing out darts in every direction in search of the dastardly culprit.

“Who did that?!?!” he scowled, through about three or six of those unprintable words.

There were no volunteers.

The manager had by then snatched the headset up off the ground and somewhat meekly handed it to Coach Bowden, and then it hit Coach that a play needed to be called, so he mumbled something into my ear, and I dutifully ran it in.

Here’s the thing. We’ve all got our triggers, our areas of imperfection. Especially when things are tense, right? And Coach Bobby Bowden was no different. We just didn’t see his too much.

In the locker room after the game (which we won), while addressing the team, he paused and looked around.

“Men,” he said. “I want to apologize. I lost my cool and said a couple of things I regret out there tonight when my headset got knocked off. I’ll try not to let that happen again.”

And as far as I can remember, it never did (but I ain’t gonna ‘swear’ to it, haha).

He’d broken his own rules in the heat of the moment. If anybody understood, it was me. I smiled, and perhaps it was me who started the next round of cheers celebrating our victory.

So what if he had a moment of weakness. Don’t we all?

Like I said, he was human.

And I loved him all the more for it.