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Ex-Sox
player and football
great finds niche in business
BY TOM COYNE
Bo Jackson no longer hears crowds roar celebrating
his White Sox feats, or, earlier, from fans wowed by his skills
on the football field. Doesn't matter, he says: "I've moved
on from being an employee to being an employer." Now 46,
Jackson still lives in the Chicago area, as a part owner of the
Burr Ridge Bank & Trust and the Bo Jackson Elite Sports Complex
in Lockport. Jackson says he finds being a businessman
just as rewarding and challenging as being an athlete. "I'm
learning something new every day," he says. "I'm also
learning that if you don't watch yourself, you can be taken advantage
of quickly in the business world. The thing I try to do is surround
myself with smart, astute business people, and that seems to help
out a great deal." Last week, Jackson entertained a crowd
of about 300 people attending a College Football Hall of Fame
luncheon in South Bend.
The 1985 Heisman Trophy winner says that people
often tell him how sorry they are that his football and baseball
careers were cut short by a hip injury he suffered in 1991. "Don't
be sorry for me," he says. "It was a blessing in disguise.
We, as humans, have to realize that God puts speed bumps in our
road of life. My speed bump was me injuring myself. I've gotten
over that." Jackson - who says his name is short for "Boar
Hog," a nickname neighborhood kids gave him because
he was so tough - says he always had extra motivation to play
well against the New York Yankees because he believed team owner
George Streinbrenner had told people that he had accepted a payoff
to attend Auburn after passing up a $250,000 signing bonus with
the Yankees. "He said in print the reason Vincent Jackson
didn't sign with the Yankees was because, since he signed with
Auburn University, he and his brothers and sisters
are all driving nice cars, and his mother just became owner of
a chain of 7-Eleven stores," Jackson says. "I'm thinking,
'How can he say that?' And if it's true, where's the Porsche I'm
supposed to be driving?" Jackson says he chose college because
he wanted to be the first in his family to go to a four-year school.
It took a little longer than originally planned, but in 1995 he
earned his degree in family and child development from
Auburn.
Jackson surprised the sports world back in 1986 when he was picked
No. 1 in the NFL draft and spurned a $7 million offer
from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, he signed to play baseball
with the Kansas City Royals. Eventually, he came back to football
with the Los Angeles Raiders. He made the "Bo Knows"
commercial in which Michael Jordan, Kirk
Gibson, Jim Everett and other sports stars attest that
Bo knows their sport, then Wayne Gretzky skates up and says, "No."
The commercial ends with Jackson trying to play a guitar on stage
along with Bo Diddley. Jackson says his mother, uncles and aunts,
all big fans of Diddley, wouldn't believe he was with the famous
musician until they saw the commercial. "That's part of what
makes my life so unique," he says. "I've gotten to do
things, go places, see people, that I never dreamed of."
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