Hall of Fame coach Bobby Bowden (purple shirt) playing a round of golf at Castle Pines Country Club in Gardendale last Thursday. 

Hall of Fame college football coach Bobby Bowden came through Gardendale on Thursday for a round of golf at Castle Pines Country Club.

Bowden, a native of Birmingham, shook a few hands and sank a few practice puts before finding the fairway off the hole No. 1 tee box.

“I come up every summer in June to stay 10 days out in Trussville,” said Bowden, who finished a 34-year run as head coach at Florida State in 2009. “I just come up to be with a lot of the folks I was raised with; we play golf and go to church and have a banquet.”

Bowden spoke at Gardendale First Baptist Church last Father’s Day, but jokingly mentioned that he had not been invited back this year. However, that would not stop him from pulling out his Nike golf attire for the annual trip through Castle Pines’ 6,439 yards of play.

“I don’t know how many years we’ve played out here, maybe six or seven years every year,” said Bowden. “Dewey (Barber) takes care of us and we have a real good time.”

The Hall of Fame coach, now 86, started his coaching career at Samford as an offensive coordinator in 1954 before landing his first major college football head coaching job at West Virginia in 1970. He led the Mountaineers to a 42-26 record in six seasons.

He is most known for his golden years at Florida State (1976-2009), where he eventually retired with a 377-129 career record as a head coach. Bowden brought two national and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference championships to Tallahassee.

He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

Erik Harris is the Sports Editor of The North Jefferson News. Email him at njnsports@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jeharris2.