Inside Bobby Bowden's home on the auction block: Video and photo tour

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Bobby Bowden’s senior yearbook from Woodlawn High School.

Ann Bowden’s cheerleader sweater from Howard College.

Tuesday, Jan. 6, brought more surprises for Mark Manley of Wiregrass Auction Group, which is overseeing the Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction.

Tentatively scheduled for March 2026, the auction will showcase an extraordinary collection of memorabilia from the legendary Florida State coach’s estate – including his Killearn Estates home and everything inside.

Manley and his team, including his wife Sheri, spent the day at the Bowden home continuing the process of cataloging items. He invited the Tallahassee Democrat to tag along to take photos and video.

Hundreds of items, including memorabilia and family heirlooms, will be available for bidding.

“We’re in what we call the deconstruction phase,” Manley said.

“We’re going through cabinets and boxes, sorting everything to prepare for inventory and cataloging. We’re still very early in the process.

"It's such a treasure hunt."

How to bid in the Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction

The Wiregrass Auction Group team has already spent days working onsite at the Bowden home, sorting, inventorying, cataloging and photographing items in preparation for listing them on the auction platform well in advance of bidding.

The goal, Manley said, is to give bidders ample time to browse and learn the stories behind the items before bidding ever opens. For an estate with national interest, the online format allows fans and collectors from anywhere in the world to participate on equal footing.

Bidders will register online with a credit card, a step Manley said is intended to protect both buyers and sellers while keeping the process straightforward. Bidding can be done on the Wiregrass Auction Group website at www.WiregrassAuctionGroup.com or through the Wiregrass Auction Group mobile bidding app, available on the App Store and Google Play, allowing participants to bid from a phone, tablet, or computer.

Each item in the Bowden Legacy Auction will open at a modest starting bid, a strategy meant to invite broad participation while allowing the market – not preset pricing – to determine value.

Rather than a single auction day, bidding will take place over an extended 14-day online period. This approach allows bidders to participate on their own schedule, without the pressure of being present at a specific time or location.

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.

“That’s important in a legacy auction,” Manley said. “It ensures no one wins simply because they clicked faster at the last second. Everyone has a fair opportunity.”

The Wiregrass Auction Group has been sharing select items from the Bowden collection on its official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WiregrassAuctionGroup and across all the Wiregrass Social platforms as preparations continue.

Email Tallahassee Democrat sports editor Jim Henry at jjhenry@tallahassee.com.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Video, photo tour of Bobby Bowden estate ahead of auction

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