Vincent Edward Jackson was born on November 30, 1962, in Bessemer, Alabama.
There's two men... Bo Jackson, and the great Jim Thorpe, who, for me, are the greatest athletes since 1900.
Thorpe is the greatest athlete, for me, but, of course, we got to see Bo on TV, and what we saw was as perfect an athletic specimen that was ever put on this earth.
I've always been a fan of Bo...mainly because as a young Navy guy I told several of my fellow shipmates that Bo was going to play baseball, and not football...they told me I was crazy.
It was with great delight when I read the sports news that day in 1986 when I learned that Bo had signed with the Kansas City Royals, spurning the NFL and the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers, reporting to the minor league Memphis Chicks of the Double-A Southern League.
I had tried to tell my fellow sports fans on the ship that I had read numerous magazine and newspaper articles that Bo wanted no part of playing for the Bucs, and that he'd most likely sign to play professional baseball with the Royals.
That's the reason that I liked Bo so much, because, although he played at Auburn, won the Heisman Trophy as tge best player in college football in 1985, he chose to play baseball, my favorite sport, over the pigskin.
Watching Ken Burns Baseball last week I got to see this again...
...hitting a home run on the first pitch you see in your first All-Star Game is something that just doesn't happen...unless, that is, if your name is Bo!
Happy Baseball Birthday! Bo Jackson!
Play Ball
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