Two-sport star Bo Jackson shares life lessons during VCU visit

By Haley Tenore

Bo Jackson remembers not having shoes as a child - and taking baths on the back porch because his Alabama home had no hot water. He remembers the speech impediment that made him terrified of reading aloud in school.

Most of Jackson's audience on Oct. 20 remembered him as a two-sport standout, the all-star professional football and baseball player - and "Bo Knows" Nike pitchman - who became a household name in the 1980s. But in his address at the Altria Theatre - an "Uncommon Conversations, Bright Futures" forum, sponsored by Mastercard and the Virginia Credit Union, in conjunction with Virginia Commonwealth University's Developing Men of Color program - Jackson connected the dots of his journey, imparting wisdom to students about leadership, career growth and life in general.

"You have to carve out your niche, set your goals at the top of the mountain - and climb. And when you think you've reached that goal, guess what? Knock down those barriers and climb another mountain," Jackson said. "If you don't want to get it, you won't have it."

At Auburn University, Jackson said, he made a pact with his friends to always go to class. He surrounded himself with others who were equally dedicated to their studies, in part to maintain a positive image amid media coverage of his athletic talent.

"I made sure that I didn't hang out with the wrong crowd. I made sure my mother was able to get up on Sunday, go to church and not have to worry about somebody whispering when she walked by about her son getting into trouble at school," said Jackson, who won the Heisman Trophy in 1985. "So, it's not just you that you're looking out for. It's your family. It's your family name. You have to protect that at all costs."

Now 63, Jackson said family and health remain priorities. He has three children, two grandsons and one granddaughter on the way, and he encouraged the young men in his audience to take their health seriously. Jackson has survived cancer twice.

"We, as young men, think we're invincible. … One thing that we as men don't do is talk about our health" enough, Jackson said, emphasizing the importance of medical relationships. "I'm all about being here so I can watch my grandkids grow up."

As a public speaker, Jackson is reminded of challenges he has overcome, from recent years battling chronic hiccups to his earlier years with a speech impediment.

"When I was in elementary school, junior high, high school, freshman year in college, I was terrified to read in class. Terrified to answer a question, and I would always get sent to the principal's office because I wouldn't read. Because if I read and started struggling, the kids laughed at me," Jackson said.

But as a college athlete who regularly spoke with the media, he said, his confidence grew, in part by practicing answers to interview questions in his dorm bathroom mirror.

The commitment, and the results, reflected what Jackson said was his larger message to students: that life is what they make of it.

"Nobody's gonna give you anything," he said. "You're gonna go out and take it."