How long did bo jackson play football ? Raiders running back Bo Jackson only played in the NFL from 1987-1990. For those, like myself, who are old enough to have seen Jackson run the football, talk about how amazing of an athlete and football player he truly was.
A dual-sport athlete, Jackson was initially drafted in 1986 by the Buccaneers as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft, but refused to play for them.
Instead, Jackson signed a baseball contract with the Kansas City Royals and passed up what would have been his rookie season in the NFL.
Then, during the 1987 NFL Draft, the Raiders decided to give Jackson another shot, and picked him in the seventh round since his rights with the Bucs had expired.
That was the beginning of a short, but amazing professional football career.
When he wasn’t on gridiron, Bo was a baseball superhero
Bo Jackson, as thrilling a football player as he was before a hip injury changed his history in two sports, never made it to the Super Bowl when he was a running back with the Los Angeles Raiders. The one postseason game he played came in January 1991, the AFC Divisional Round against the Bengals in L.A.
He was injured late in that 20-10 win over Cincinnati, then the Bills crushed the Raiders, 51-3, the following week in the AFC Championship Game, and that was as close as Bo ever came to Super Bowl Sunday. A year later, he was out of the National Football League for good.
Even though he won a Heisman Trophy at Auburn, and even though he once ran a 40-yard dash in 4.12 seconds for scouts while weighing nearly 230 pounds, he was more memorable for the eight seasons he played in baseball, not for the four he played in the NFL. It was in baseball that Jackson occasionally channeled a comic book superhero.
There was the All-Star Game in 1989, for which he was voted MVP. He made a great running catch early in the game to save a couple of runs. Then, leading off the bottom of the first, he hit a monstrous 448-foot home run off Rick Reuschel. When the ball was in the air, the great Vin Scully said, “Look at that one! Bo Jackson says hello!”
And there was the night at Yankee Stadium when he hit three home runs his first three times up before injuring his shoulder in the outfield trying to make a diving catch on a ball hit by Deion Sanders. Deion turned it into an inside-the-park home run when the ball rolled all the way to the wall.
The Life And Career Of Bo Jackson (Story)
Jackson had arrived in the professional sports world from Auburn University where he was a highly successful running back, baseball player, and track star.
On the gridiron, his 6’1”, 230-pound frame was devastating to would-be tacklers leading Jackson to win the 1985 Heisman Trophy.
Jackson’s athleticism allowed him to become a two-sport star as a pro, playing baseball for the Kansas City Royals while also playing football for the Los Angeles Raiders.
His legacy and ability to play two professional sports served as an inspiration to athletes who came after him.
That’s what the public was told in a popular advertising campaign in the late 1980s.
The campaign highlighted the many athletic talents of Bo Jackson.
Jackson had arrived in the professional sports world from Auburn University where he was a highly successful running back, baseball player, and track star.
On the gridiron, his 6’1”, 230-pound frame was devastating to would-be tacklers leading Jackson to win the 1985 Heisman Trophy.
Jackson’s athleticism allowed him to become a two-sport star as a pro, playing baseball for the Kansas City Royals while also playing football for the Los Angeles Raiders.
His legacy and ability to play two professional sports served as an inspiration to athletes who came after him.
This is the story of Bo Jackson.
Born to Compete
Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson was born on November 30, 1962 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jackson was the eighth of ten kids to an essentially single mother.
His athletic ability was not so much borne on a ball field as it was a means of survival.
“We never had enough food. But at least I could beat on other kids and steal their lunch money and buy myself something to eat. But I couldn’t steal a father. I couldn’t steal a father’s hug when I needed one. I couldn’t steal a father’s whipping when I needed one,” said Jackson in his book, Bo Knows Bo.
Jackson was known to the locals and his family as a bit of a handful, and he got his nickname, “Bo,” for being as wild as a boar hog.
Bo didn’t slow down much in high school when he used his outstanding athleticism on the gridiron, baseball diamond, and track at McAdory High School in McCalla, Alabama.
The Life And Career Of Bo Jackson (Story)
That’s what the public was told in a popular advertising campaign in the late 1980s.
The campaign highlighted the many athletic talents of Bo Jackson.
Jackson had arrived in the professional sports world from Auburn University where he was a highly successful running back, baseball player, and track star.
On the gridiron, his 6’1”, 230-pound frame was devastating to would-be tacklers leading Jackson to win the 1985 Heisman Trophy.
Jackson’s athleticism allowed him to become a two-sport star as a pro, playing baseball for the Kansas City Royals while also playing football for the Los Angeles Raiders.
His legacy and ability to play two professional sports served as an inspiration to athletes who came after him.
This is the story of Bo Jackson.
Born to Compete
Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson was born on November 30, 1962 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Jackson was the eighth of ten kids to an essentially single mother.
His athletic ability was not so much borne on a ball field as it was a means of survival.
“We never had enough food. But at least I could beat on other kids and steal their lunch money and buy myself something to eat. But I couldn’t steal a father. I couldn’t steal a father’s hug when I needed one. I couldn’t steal a father’s whipping when I needed one,” said Jackson in his book, Bo Knows Bo.
Jackson was known to the locals and his family as a bit of a handful, and he got his nickname, “Bo,” for being as wild as a boar hog.
Bo didn’t slow down much in high school when he used his outstanding athleticism on the gridiron, baseball diamond, and track at McAdory High School in McCalla, Alabama.
His accomplishments were legendary.
In addition to two state championships in the decathlon, Jackson also had 21 home runs his senior year along with 1,173 rushing yards for the McAdory football team.
Just for the fun of it, Jackson also set Alabama high school records in the triple and high jumps.
Recruiting War
By the time Jackson was a junior in high school, both Alabama and Auburn knew who he was.
Conventional wisdom at the time said that Jackson would play for the Tide given the tradition of the program and the fact that the campus was located less than an hour from Jackson’s home.
There was also the fact that Jackson was an Alabama and Bear Bryant fan.
However, new Auburn coach Pat Dye was not going to allow his cross-state rival to get one of the biggest recruits in the state.
How Bo Jackson became a Raider
It has been well-documented that **Bo Jackson** was a late-round draft steal for the Raiders. How the Silver and Black came to acquire the mercurial two-sport star is a story in and of itself. He came to the Raiders in the middle of the 1987 season on the heels of a players strike. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact.
Jackson, a football and baseball star and an accomplished sprinter, played his final collegiate football game on Jan. 1, 1986, a 36-16 loss to Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Jackson was named the game’s most outstanding offensive player in a losing effort.
Jackson did not attend the 1986 NFL Scouting Combine in New Orleans but did run a blistering 4.13 40-yard dash for scouts at what amounted to a regional combine at Auburn.
“I did not go because I was already picked to be the first person to go in the Draft,” Jackson said. “If you’re going to be the first person to go in the Draft, why should you go to a combine and do all of that? It wasn’t built up like it is now, now it’s a TV production, it’s a whole show.”
Jackson was selected with the first overall pick in the 1986 NFL Draft by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers but turned down their reported five-year, $5 million-offer.
The following year, his name went back in the pool for the NFL Draft. The Los Angeles Raiders selected him in the seventh round, No. 183 overall. The NFL Draft was a 12-round affair back then.
Jackson played in 25 games for the Kansas City Royals in 1986. In 1987, he appeared in 116 games and hit .235 with 22 home runs and 53 runs batted in.
In early July, the Orange County Register reported that Jackson may not play professional football, but by July 15, Jackson had agreed to play half seasons for the Raiders when Royals’ baseball seasons were complete.
Due to a 24-day players’ strike, Jackson’s Raiders’ debut would have to wait. USA Today reported on Sept. 29 that Bo Jackson would not cross the picket line during the players’ strike.
Jackson eventually made his Raiders debut Nov. 1, against the New England Patriots, but a playoff run for the 1987 Raiders was not in the cards as the team finished 5-10. He did set a then-team record for most yards rushing in a single game with a 221-yard performance against the Seahawks in Seattle on Monday Night Football on Nov. 30, during a much-hyped match-up with rookie linebacker Brian Bosworth. He played in seven games with five starts in 1987 and carried the ball 81 times for 554 yards and four touchdowns. He also caught 16 passes for 136 yards and two scores.
In 1990, he was named to the Pro Bowl despite playing in just 10 games. He helped lead the Raiders to a 12-4 record and the AFC Western Division title. Unfortunately, Jackson suffered a career-ending hip injury in the AFC Divisional playoffs against the Cincinnati Bengals. He had 77 yards on just six carries when he went down.
In all, Jackson played in 38 games with 23 starts for the Raiders and rushed for 2,782 yards on 515 carries with 16 touchdowns. He recorded two of the top-five longest runs in team history.
Although he played in parts of just four seasons for the Raiders, Jackson made an indelible impression on professional football and sports marketing. He will forever be known as one of the greatest draft steals in NFL history.
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