Reagan Hobbs wasn’t planning to buy Bobby Bowden’s house — until his affection for Florida State, Seminole football and Bowden himself took over.

Hobbs, 52, was sitting in a local hospital Tuesday, March 17, with his mother and brother as his father recovered from surgery when the bidding intensified on Bowden’s longtime Killearn Estates home.

A Florida State alumnus and Tallahassee real estate investor, Hobbs had promised himself he would stay disciplined.

That didn’t last long.

“I was getting nostalgic,” Hobbs told the Tallahassee Democrat. “It’s such a historic place, and it’s special to my family. I finally said, ‘OK, I’ll bid on it.’”

Almost immediately, Hobbs found himself locked in a bidding war with another buyer.

“I started thinking, ‘Should I keep going?’” said Hobbs, whose initial intention was to stop bidding when the price reached $600,000. “Maybe this person lives in Europe or somewhere and has no connection to Tallahassee or FSU football. And I thought, ‘I can’t lose to this person.’”

So Hobbs kept bidding.

“Next thing you know,” he said, “I ended up winning it.”

Hobbs emerged as the winning bidder at $670,000 as the real estate portion of the Bobby Bowden Legacy Auction closed Tuesday night. With a 10% buyer’s premium, the final sale price totaled $737,000.

The two-week auction was managed by Wiregrass Auction Group of Thomasville, Georgia. Memorabilia bidding on more than 1,500 pieces was divided into two lots - bidding on the initial lot ended Tuesday March 17 and bidding on the second lot is scheduled to end Wednesday March 18 at 6 p.m.

Bowden and wife Ann purchased the Killearn Estates home in 1976, when Bowden was hired at FSU from West Virginia. He coached 34 years, won a pair of national championships and died in 2021 at the age of 91. Ann recently moved to Alabama to live with family.

“It was pretty cool,” Hobbs said of his winning bid. “The thing is, I have no idea what I’m going to do with it yet — but it’s such a neat, historical piece.”

Bowden’s legacy is deeply intertwined with Hobbs’ own family history.

His parents were close to the legendary coach, and his father, Ronald Hobbs, served as a national chairman of the Seminole Boosters in the late 1990s. Hobbs, who graduated from FSU in 1995 with a degree in marketing communications met his wife, Stacey, at FSU, and all three of their children — Clayton, Hailey and Carson — are FSU graduates.

Despite driving past the property countless times over the years, Hobbs has never actually been inside the home.

That leap of faith wasn’t entirely unfamiliar. Hobbs previously purchased memorabilia connected to another iconic FSU figure — Burt Reynolds — including items from Reynolds’ personal office. This purchase, however, may require a bit more explaining at home.

“I texted my wife and told her I bought Bowden’s house,” said Hobbs, a former owner of the Golf Club of Summerbrooke. “She said, ‘No, you didn’t. You can’t even get rid of the Burt Reynolds stuff.’ So it’s a joke in the family. My kids are diehard ’Noles, and my son said, ‘Dad, I knew you were going to do something like this. I had a feeling.’”

For now, the future of the property remains undecided. But Hobbs is content knowing it’s in the hands of someone who understands what it represents.

“It could have been another local bidder,” he said, “but I didn’t want to take the chance that someone would tear it down and sell the land. I just couldn’t let that happen.”

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Winning bid: Local FSU alum lands Bobby Bowden's Killearn Estates home