Former Clemson coach Bowden to speak at breakfast

Published 10:35 pm Thursday, February 11, 2016

Former Clemson football coach Tommy Bowden will serve as the guest speaker at a breakfast All in Sports Outreach, Inc. will host March 18 at the St. James Hotel.

The free breakfast will start at 7 a.m. and is for local coaches from the Selma area.

“We feel like coaches have a huge impact on kids throughout the area, so it’s just a way to reach out to them, encourage them and create a partnership where we’re working together,” said Stewart Hardy, a co-founder of All in Sports Outreach, Inc.

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All In Sports Outreach is an organization that exists to share the message of Jesus Christ and promote unity through sports. Over the past year, the group has held a basketball camp and has partnered with the city of Selma to hold baseball and softball camps.

“Sports is the universal language to bringing people together,” Hardy said.

Bowden is the son of Florida State legend Bobby Bowden and served as the head coach at Clemson from 1999-2008. He was in born in Birmingham and has held coaching positions at both Auburn University and the University of Alabama.

He has a 90-49 coaching record and has been named the ACC coach of the year twice. Hardy said Bowden has always been one of his coaching idols.

“I contacted him and told him what we’re doing in Selma and he agreed to come,” Hardy said.

“I just asked him to talk about how sports and community come together.”

Rand Smith, who also helped co-found All in Sports Outreach, Inc., said the breakfast is simply a way to thank coaches for the time they spend with Selma’s youth.

“It’s a chance for us to reach out and say thank you and to make a connection between us and them,” Smith said.

The group is also in the midst of planning another basketball camp for the end of June. For more information and to stay up to date on what the organization has upcoming, follow the group’s Facebook page named All in Sports Outreach.

For more information on the upcoming breakfast, contact All in Sports by email at info@allinsportsoutreach.org.