Bo Jackson
Admittedly, it’s somewhat painful to include him, but Bo Jackson definitely has to be on the Alabama Sports Mount Rushmore.
The two-sport “freak athlete” is beyond legend in the state of Alabama. Vincent “Bo” Jackson was born in the small city of Bessemer in 1962 and began his amazing athletic career at McAdory High School, where he played baseball, football, and track.
He gained a ton of interest from the New York Yankees and was drafted in the 1982 MLB Draft but choose to attend Auburn University instead. It’s important to note that he wanted to attend Alabama but was told he wouldn’t play freshman year and couldn’t play two sports.
Bo became legend at Auburn, breaking off crazy touchdown runs and hitting home runs that are probably still flying around space somewhere. He was drafted by the Buccaneers in 1986 as number one overall choice, but chose not to sign and instead signed a deal with the Kansas City Royals in the MLB, and also started playing for the LA Raiders during both seasons.
Jackson’s amazing football career came to a sad end when he suffered a serious hip injury in 1991, however, he made a comeback to baseball with the White Sox in1993. Bo even made ESPN’s 1999 list of most amazing athletes in North America.
Next: Baseball Great Willie Mays