Source Image: Davide Costanzo, "Bo Jackson", 2012, 
Via www.flickr.com/photos/badswan/8282722328

Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson is an American former professional baseball and football player. While he was in high school he played football and baseball. Although he also was a two time state championship in the decathlon where he did indoor high jump and triple jump.

In 1982, he was selected by the New York Yankees in the second round but he chose to attend Auburn University with a football scholarship. During college, he did football, baseball as well as track and field.

After college, he was picked first overall in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he refused to play for them. However, he did go for the Kansas City Royals, who drafted him in the fourth round in the 1986 Major League Baseball draft. They released him just five years later. 16 days after he was released from the Royals, the Chicago White Sox offered him a three-year deal. In 1994, he signed a one-year deal with the California Angels. After that season, he decided to retire from baseball at the age of 32.

Now in the middle of playing baseball, he was also playing football and was part of the 1987 NFL Draft, where he was selected in the seventh round by the Los Angeles Raiders. He had originally chosen to focus on baseball and didn’t want to sign, however, his interest piqued when he learned the owner of the Raiders was a fan of his. He joined the Raiders just in time for their Week 8 matchup against the New England Patriots. He suffered a career-ending injury and had to retire in 1991.

He had suffered an injury to his left hip. It was dislocated by a tackle during a football game. Apparently he popped his hip back into the socket, which damaged the blood vessels supplying blood to the hip. However, doctors did not find proof that Jackson reset his hip and they did discover that there was a fracture in one of his hip bones. He also suffered necrosis to the bone tissue. This forced his retirement from football and caused him to have a hip replacement in 1992.

After he had to end his career, he went on to get a Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Children Development at the same university he went to back in 1982. Throughout the 90s, he also dabbled in acting. He’s also done a lot of brand deals since. He had become a popular figure for his athleticism in multiple sports throughout the 80s and 90s, one ad campaign that he did for Nike was called “Bo Knows”.

He was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in March 2024.