A former FSU linebacker has launched a petition to rename the school’s football stadium.
Kendrick Scott, who played for the ‘Noles from 1991-94, started the online petition last Friday to rename Bobby Bowden Field at Doak S. Campbell Stadium.
Campbell served as the school’s president during its transition from an all-female campus. He was also involved in getting the football stadium. However, Campbell’s pro-segregationist views are also well-documented.
Scott states in the petition that Campbell’s “non-inclusive views of blacks as a segregationist is divisive, therefore his name should be removed from a stadium that has been home to many black football players helping to build the school and the tradition to what it has become today: a national treasure.”
At least one other former Florida State player, Freddie Stevenson, agrees. He shared his thoughts on the issue Thursday on Twitter.
Time to change the name of Doak Campbell Stadium. We can find way better representation than this! pic.twitter.com/1UkrclwspG
— freddie stevenson (@strugglemade105) June 18, 2020
Scott thinks the stadium should be named after longtime former FSU coach Bobby Bowden, who helped propel the Seminoles into a national power, winning two national championships and 12 Atlantic Coast Conference titles under his wactch.
Although the field was dedicated in Bowden’s name in 2004, Scott called for the field to be renamed after former quarterback Charlie Ward, who was the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner.
The petition already had more than 1,200 signatures as of Saturday morning.