SN Archive (1985): How good was Bo Jackson? The absurd Auburn tall tales behind the GOAT two-sport prospect originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Bo Jackson went No. 1 overall in the 1986 NFL Draft— and then never played a snap for the team who drafted him. 40 years later, we revisit Auburn's two-sport wunderkind as he was covered in the moment. This feature, "Everybody's No. 1" by Paul Attner, ran as the cover story for the August 26, 1985 issue of The Sporting News.
AUBURN, Ala.—If the 1986 National Football League draft was conducted today, what player would be selected first?
“Probably Bo Jackson,” said Bobby Beathard, general manager of the Washington Redskins, without hesitation.
If baseball's next free-agent draft was conducted today, what player would be selected first? “Off the ratings everyone put together this past draft, it would be Bo Jackson,” said Larry Himes, director of scouting and player development for the California Angels, without hesitation.
Your ears aren't playing tricks. The man who could be the best college football player in the nation also is the best amateur baseball player. Bo Jackson.
SN ARCHIVES:Access every SN issue since 1886, for free
But let's take it a step further. How good might Jackson be as a NFL star? “Maybe the best ever,” said Beathard, a well-respected talent judge who doesn't gush over prospects that often. “He's like O.J. (Simpson). Only bigger and stronger. Gosh, it's hard to imagine how much he could do.”
And how good might Jackson be in a major league baseball uniform? “A No. 3-4-5 hitter with power to hit 40 home runs,” said Himes. And is he fast enough to steal 40 bases in the same season? “Certainly,” said Himes. But no one in the history of baseball has ever hit 40 homers and stolen 40 bases in the same season. “I know."
No wonder an Atlanta newspaper decided to pose Jackson in a Superman outfit for its annual football preview issue. But instead of an “S” on his mighty chest, Jackson sported an “A.” That stands for Auburn University, where as a freshman three years ago, he became the Southeastern Conference's first three-sport letterman (baseball, football, track) in 20 years.
With scouts searching for the most appropriate superlatives to describe him, it's no exaggeration to portray Bo Jackson as the nation's most talented amateur athlete.
The fact he is a leading candidate for this year's Heisman Trophy and the key player on the No. I rated team in The Sporting News preseason college football rankings already puts him into an elite category. And Himes believes that if you lined up all current major league players and compared them with Jackson, he would emerge as the most physically blessed of the bunch.
In Jackson, we have a rare chance to see an athletic gem emerging and developing before our eyes. This is a man with storybook talents. Humans just aren't supposed to be this good at one sport, much less at everything Jackson can dominate.
Try to think of even one athlete within memory who could boast, “I am the best (amateur) football and baseball player in the country.” There simply haven't been any.
“I think,” Jackson said, “that if I wanted to lose 30 pounds (he weighs 222) and become a sprinter and beat Carl Lewis, I could do it.”
Why should he believe otherwise? At his current weight, he can run 40 yards in 4.2 seconds and 100 meters in 10.39 seconds, which makes him nearly a world-class track star without training very hard. Olympic sprinter Harvey Glance told one of his coaches at Auburn that, for the first 10 yards out of the blocks, Jackson is the most dominating runner he has faced. Jackson twice won the Alabama high school decathlon championship despite not running the mile either time.
He despises weight-lifting but can walk in off the street and bench press 400-plus pounds.
Stories about his athletic prowess are so numerous that he has become the Paul Bunyan of Auburn.
One time, before an Auburn game in the Superdome in New Orleans, Auburn punters were trying to kick a football off the overhanging scoreboard. Jackson walked over, without warming up, picked up a ball and bounced a throw off the board on his first attempt.
“I've seen him throw the football 80 yards without a warm-up,” said Jack Crowe, Auburn's offensive coordinator. “I've heard he can throw it 100 yards, but after 80, everything else is overkill. He could become our quarterback with three days' work.”