Know Bo, and Never Forget
When Vincent Edward Jackson was born on November 20, 1962, the sporting world received a rare and precious gift. He was destined for greatness. Bo Jackson was going to be a big, lightning fast, extremely powerful, physically talented, and very passionate athlete. Besides these attributes and more, he was going to be simply incredible to watch.
As early as high school, he was dominating in multiple sports. Not only did he run for 1,173 yards on only 108 carries his senior year, he also managed to compile 20 homers in just 25 games on the baseball field. As if that was not enough, he found the time and energy to win two state decathlon championships in his high school athletic career. By winning the decathlon, he won a contest testing a large variety of physical elements including speed, stamina, strength, endurance, and courage. To most, this would be impossible to fathom, but for Bo, diversity was normality.
Though he was a prolific high school athlete, he would not hit the national spotlight until he began running the ball for the Auburn football team in Alabama. Though he left school after his junior year and did not accumulate enough credits to graduate, he managed to run for 4,303 yards throughout his career. In 1985 alone, he rushed for 1,786 yards and ran for 200 yards in four different games. This season was prolific enough to earn him the Heisman Trophy, the most coveted amateur athletic award. This trophy is awarded to the best player in Division 1 college football.
Besides excelling in football, Bo starred as a power hitting center-fielder on Auburn's baseball team. He hit over .400 his junior year, belted out 17 home runs, and drove in 43 runs in only 42 games. He impressed major league scouts with his tools of speed, power, and a rocket arm.
When eligible for the draft after leaving Auburn, two professional sports franchises drafted Bo in 1986. The Kansas City Royals drafted him in the fourth round of the 1986 draft and signed him to a minor-league contract. That is a respectable round in a baseball draft, but at the time, he was known more as the most dangerous offensive weapon available in the 1986 NFL draft. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers made Bo Jackson the first selection in the entire draft. Though flattering in its meaning and implications of greatness, he rejected Tampa Bay's offers to focus on baseball, his true passion.
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