Bo Jackson

High school

McAdory High School

College

Auburn University

Pro team(s)

Kansas City Royals, Oakland Raiders, Chicago White Sox, California Angels

Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson was born on November 30, 1962, in Bessemer, Alabama, and attended McAdory High School in McCalla (Jefferson County), where he was a multi-sport star in football, baseball, and track. He chose Auburn University over a contract offer from the New York Yankees, and at Auburn he won the 1985 Heisman Trophy as the best player in college football. What followed was a professional career unlike anything American sports had ever seen: Bo Jackson became the only athlete in history to be selected to the Pro Bowl in the NFL and the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. As an outfielder for the Kansas City Royals, he combined 100-mph throws, home-run power, and sprinter's speed in a package that made scouts describe him in terms usually reserved for once-in-a-generation athletes. As a running back for the Oakland Raiders, he was simply frightening — his famous Monday Night Football run against the Seattle Seahawks in 1987, in which he ran over Brian Bosworth and sprinted 91 yards for a touchdown, announced to the NFL that it was dealing with something it had never seen before. His combination of speed, power, and athleticism was so extraordinary that the concept of comparison broke down: coaches, players, and analysts simply ran out of analogies. A hip injury sustained in the 1991 AFC Wild Card playoff game ended his football career, and a hip replacement in 1992 ended his baseball career prematurely. The Nike "Bo Knows" campaign — one of the most iconic in sports marketing history — captured what everyone who watched him felt: that Bo Jackson knew things about athletics that other human beings simply did not. Born and raised in Bessemer, Alabama.