Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 5, 1995 TAG: 9504080018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Bo, however, is not about to disappear.
Jackson said Tuesday he is interested in becoming an actor, a real one on the big screen, not just the Bo who performed athletic feats for TV commercials.
``I'm very serious about this,'' he said of his desire to learn the stagecraft of Hollywood. ``I'll never just play `Bo Jackson' ... I've been playing `Bo Jackson' for 32 years.''
Now on the William Morris agency roster, with pilots and possible movie projects in the works, he said he might play an ex-athlete, but ``I want to get as far away from the sports spectrum as I can.''
The end of his dazzling sports career - Heisman Trophy winner, baseball and NFL star - came with little fanfare. He was at his Chicago home Tuesday taking calls, fielding questions on the phone while welcoming his six-year-old back from gymnastics class.
Home, with his wife and three children, is where he wants to be now, something he learned during the nearly eight months baseball players were on strike.
``After eight months I've really gotten to know my family,'' he said. ``That is the big thing behind it.''
Jackson said he also will be pursuing business interests. Among his various investments in his native Alabama, he and Charles Barkley own a restaurant at Auburn. He also works with the HealthSouth sports medicine company in Birmingham and he is marketed by Bo Jackson Enterprises in Mobile.
``Yes, Bo Jackson is on a budget,'' he said, describing how financial planning helps make sure his family will always be secure.
Jackson, 32, became something of a marketing icon a decade ago when he combined near-Olympic sprinter's speed with the bruising power of a Jim Brown in football or a Frank Thomas in the batter's box. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1985 as a tailback at Auburn University, then it was on to even bigger things in the pros.
It was as a two-sport professional - at one point an All-Star with the Kansas City Royals and a Los Angeles Raider back given to dazzling touchdown runs - that put him on the mass marketing map.
Bo knows football. Bo knows baseball. And tennis. And hockey.
And on and on.
``It was very unusual. He was the first athlete to excel in two sports at the same time, and Nike was masterful in its handling of Bo's athletic accomplishments,'' said Bob Williams of Chicago, president of Burns Sports, which specializes in lining up sports figures for ad agencies. ``In his prime, he and Michael Jordan were a pair.''
The words ``Bo knows,'' he said, came to be a signature phrase in the marketing world.
But Bo also knew the downside of sports. Injuries plagued him. When he played out the baseball season with the California Angeles last year, it was mostly as a designated hitter, not the would-be superstar of his early years.
Jackson said Tuesday he was never bothered by a powerful desire to set records.
``I'm not a statistician,'' he said. ``I played for the love of the game
``Some players want to be the next Babe Ruth. They want to be the next Ty Cobb. ... They want to get to the Hall of Fame. They never think any further, as far as what they're going to do after sports,'' he said. `` ... Then they end up in debt ... people who worked for them stole their money.''
Jackson said he oversees his own finances.
His pro career was cut short by injuries. The worst blow - a crushed hip that led to replacement surgery - ended his football career after the 1990 season and eventually brought down his baseball talent.
Despite being the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, he chose baseball, drawing crowds on the Southern League circuit a la Michael Jordan. He began with the Royals in 1986 and spent four-plus seasons there.
He played in the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders from 1987 to 1990, ripping off some touchdown runs made for highlight reels.
But after the hip injury, he was released by the Royals in March, 1991. Jackson then signed with the White Sox soon after, spending time in the minors before returning to the majors on Sept. 2, 1991.
by CNB