How can one person play both professional baseball and football at the same time?

Bo Knows!

Vincent Edward Jackson was born in Bessemer, Alabama on November 30, 1962. He was number eight of ten children in the Jackson family. As a youngster he was a bit hard to handle. He was, as family once recalled, as wild as a boarhog. In time it got shortened to Bo.

By the time Bo reached high school he had found a few passions. One was baseball, another football, the last being education. However it was in sports that Bo first brought attention to himself. It started off as local attention, then state, and finally national. State records are meant to be broke, and Bo did his best to oblige them. Baseball started the Bo Jackson ball rolling. In high school he consistently batted over .450 and had 90 base steals in 91 attempts. By hitting 20 homers in 25 games he tied the National High School record.

At the end of high school Bo was offered a contract with the Yankee Organization. A contract he turned down. Not an easy thing to do but Bo had options. He chose instead to take a football scholarship to Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. A move that won him a Heisman trophy in 1985, and a pro contract with Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1986. An offer that he turned down much to the surprise of football fans everywhere. It seems Mr. Jackson only considered football an enjoyable hobby. His real interest was baseball. Later in 1986 he signed with the Kansas City Royals. Bo knew what he wanted.

It turned out he wanted it all.

While Jackson may have considered football a fun diversion football league owners did not. One team in particular was willing to share the gridiron with the diamond field. In 1987 the Los Angeles Raiders also signed him. While some thought he was a part time player of football and baseball with a full time paycheck Bo thought different.

In 1989 he became the Most Valuable Player in the Baseball All-Star Game. Overall in professional baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter he managed 141 homeruns and 415 runs batted in during 2,393 at bats. One hundred and seven of those home runs came during the same time he played football. For relaxation, during the off season as a running back with the Raiders, he went 2,782 yards on 515 carries. Also during the same time he played baseball he scored 18 touchdowns between 1987 and 1990. Two of them were rushing touchdowns of ninety yards or more.

He played in a professional football’s All-Star game. Making him the first person ever to play in an All-Star game of two sports. He also, as we all remember, did a lot of commercials.

A hip injury in 1991 changed things. Football was now over for Mr. Jackson, baseball was to follow. Once waved by the Royals he was signed by the Chicago White Sox. Surgery kept him from playing in 1992. At the end of 1993 the White Sox let him go. He gave it one more try in 1994 with the California Angles, and decided golf might be in his future. From professional sports he retired. From life he did not.

Mr. Vincent Edward Jackson is the father of three children and resides in a suburb of Chicago, Ill. In 1998 he was placed in the College Football Hall of Fame. Along the way he opened and owns a motorcycle repair shop in the Chicago area. Not forgetting his roots he joined fellow Auburn alumni, Charles Barkley of basketball fame, in opening a restaurant in Alabama. At one time he held a 51 per cent stake in promoting an energy candy bar called "Better Bar". He also in 1995 decided to get his degree from Auburn. It was a Bachelor of Science Degree in family and child development.

Today he is frequently found given motivational talks not only as a former athlete but also as President of the Sports Medicine Council. A non-profit youth outreach organization that is part of the Health South Corporation.

So even today he is still hitting home runs, and making touchdowns. The fields may be different, but his heart is still there.