Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday signed a law designating the Tallahassee airport as Bobby Bowden-Tallahassee International Airport, honoring the late Florida State University football coach.
“And just think, when Florida plays in Tallahassee at Florida State, every gator fan is going to have to fly in to Bobby Bowden International Airport,” DeSantis said during a news conference across the road from Tallahassee’s airport.
DeSantis was flanked by Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue, Sen. Corey Simon, R-Tallahassee, and Bowden’s daughter, state attorney Ginger Bowden Madden.
“I know many of you know that Coach Bowden lived by the moniker, ‘faith, family, and football.’ Well, as of today, we can add another F to the moniker and that’s flights,” Simon, who played under Bowden at FSU, said.
Bowden coached at FSU from 1976 to 2009 and amassed 304 wins and 97 losses, winning two national championships. DeSantis awarded Bowden the Florida Medal of Freedom in 2021, months before he died.
“I think that logo is going to be great, and it’s going to be very recognizable for many years to come,” DeSantis said, looking at the signs to be put up in Tallahassee.
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More honorary designations
The law also renames a 124-mile portion of road after President Donald Trump, although DeSantis didn’t mention this part of the package, nor the rest of it.
A four-mile stretch designated for Trump last year was expanded by this law, spanning all of State Road 80 from Palm Beach County to Lee County.
The law designates a section of highway in Escambia County as Warrior Sacrifice Way, honoring the three service members killed in a 2019 mass shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Their names were Kaleb Watson, Mohammed Haitham, and Scott Walters.
Sen. Don Gaetz, a Republican from Crestview, sponsored the legislation, SB 628, which originally solely honored the service members killed in Pensacola. Late-session amendments added the rest of the names. It passed the House mostly on party lines, 81-22, and the Senate, 31-4.
Also relating to FSU, the law designates part of College Avenue in Tallahassee that leads to the Westcott Fountain as President John Thrasher Memorial Boulevard. Thrasher, a former speaker of the Florida House, died last year.
Dickey Betts, founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, is honored by the law, which designates a portion of road in Sarasota County after the musician.
The law honors additional statewide and local figures, listed here.
The law directs the Florida Department of Transportation to create markers for the designations.