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The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson
By the New York Times bestselling author of Showtime—the source for HBO’s Winning Time—the definitive biography of mythic multi-sport star Bo Jackson.
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America’s most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth.
Then, almost overnight, he was gone.
He was Bo Jackson.
Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, New York Times bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University’s transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball and ubiquitous “Bo Knows” Nike pitchman. Did Bo really jump over a parked Volkswagen? (Yes.) Did he actually run a 4.13 40? (Yes.) During the 1991 flight that nearly killed every member of the Chicago White Sox, was he in the cockpit trying to help? (Oddly, yes. Or no. Or … maybe.)
Bo Jackson isn’t Jim Thorpe.
He’s not Deion Sanders, either.
No, Bo Jackson is Paul Bunyan.
The Last Folk Hero is the true tale of Bo Jackson that only “master storyteller” (NPR) Jeff Pearlman could tell.
From the mid-1980s into the early 1990s, the greatest athlete of all time streaked across American sports and popular culture. Stadiums struggled to contain him. Clocks failed to capture his speed. His strength was legendary. His power unmatched. Video game makers turned him into an invincible character—and they were dead-on. He climbed (and walked across) walls, splintered baseball bats over his knee, turned oncoming tacklers into ground meat. He became the first person to simultaneously star in two major professional sports, and overtook Michael Jordan as America’s most recognizable pitchman. He was on our televisions, in our magazines, plastered across billboards. He was half man, half myth.
Then, almost overnight, he was gone.
He was Bo Jackson.
Drawing on an astonishing 720 original interviews, New York Times bestselling sportswriter Jeff Pearlman captures as never before the elusive truth about Jackson, Auburn University’s transcendent Heisman Trophy winner, superstar of both the NFL and Major League Baseball and ubiquitous “Bo Knows” Nike pitchman. Did Bo really jump over a parked Volkswagen? (Yes.) Did he actually run a 4.13 40? (Yes.) During the 1991 flight that nearly killed every member of the Chicago White Sox, was he in the cockpit trying to help? (Oddly, yes. Or no. Or … maybe.)
Bo Jackson isn’t Jim Thorpe.
He’s not Deion Sanders, either.
No, Bo Jackson is Paul Bunyan.
The Last Folk Hero is the true tale of Bo Jackson that only “master storyteller” (NPR) Jeff Pearlman could tell.
496 pages, Hardcover
First published October 25, 2022
623 people are currently reading
5232 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Pearlman
17 books525 followersJeff Pearlman is an American sportswriter. He has written nine books that have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list: four about football, three on baseball and two about basketball. He authored the 1999 John Rocker interview in Sports Illustrated.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 361 reviews
December 13, 2022
I have long believed that baseball is America’s unique brand of mythology. After reading Pearlman’s volume on Bo Jackson, that belief is only intensified. Bo Jackson was one of the best athletes of my childhood and even starred in a cartoon alongside Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky. Those three epitomized American team sports in the late 1980s and were rightly named the Toon Stars, super hero athletes who came to the rescue at the drop of a hat. In a blink of an eye, Jackson’s career was done, felled by a hip injury on the football field. He would never accrue the statistics or merit the accolades that his costars Jordan or Gretzky did; but, he was Bo Jackson. That is the feeling that Jeff Pearlman hoped to create here by bringing Bo Jackson’s career back to life. I was treated to one wild ride where I really did view his career as mythological. He also was made out to be a decent person off the playing field, one I wouldn’t mind having as a neighbor. My one regret is that Jackson’s main playing days came before I watched much football to appreciate his exploits. Even without Jackson’s participation on this project, The Last Folk Hero was a refreshing take on an extraordinary athlete.
⚾️ 4 stars 🏈
⚾️ 4 stars 🏈
June 27, 2023
Pearlman is a consummate reporter and researcher who digs up wonderful detail and depth on his subjects. He also picks fascinating subjects. His writing is blasé, but the work he puts into the storytelling makes for a really interesting and enjoyable read.
July 10, 2023
For two amazing years, Bo Jackson was an All-Star caliber Major League Baseball player and an All-Pro caliber football player in the NFL. I can’t get over how amazing that is.
Before that, he left a trail of accomplishments at Auburn University and his High School in baseball, football, and track and field. The last of these is often overlooked, but he was world class at sprinting, jumping, and events that involved throwing things really far. In High School he was the state champion at the Decathlon (he would typically have the goal of wrapping up a victory after the 9th event so he didn’t have to do the 1500 meter run, as he hated distance running).
The title and subtitle of this book refers to how Bo wasn’t just an athlete, he was a legend. He did things that stunned and amazed people, and stories of what people saw would get passed down through generations. Jeff Pearlman does a great job capturing this feel and tells some great stories along the way.
Pearlman also describes his rough childhood, where his family lived in poverty and without a father. Bo had a lot of issues. He had a stutter that embarrassed him. He had a sadistic streak and was a self-described bully. There is a weird story that he would physically fight and kill pigs on local farmers lands. Thankfully he seems to have grown out of this, as he didn’t seem to act like this after his middle school years.
His personality in his high school and college years comes across as boring to us outsiders. He didn’t say much, both because of his insecurity about his stutter and because he didn’t trust people enough to open up to them. Reporters would have a hard time getting him to say anything interesting. Though there was one time when his personal life was very weird and interesting – around the time he won the Heisman, he seems to have had two fiancées. I think it’s still a mystery what exactly the deal with that was, but he married one of them, and is still married to her, so I guess it all worked out.
One of the key moments of his life was getting help with his stutter. He learned how speaking slowly worked to remove his stutter. He also became known as a great teammate and there are some nice stories about him helping people out that were greatly appreciated. Earlier in his career, he wasn't well liked by his teammates and was sometimes labeled as "selfish", so it's a nice story that he was able to communicate a different side of him.
The “legend” portion of Bo Jackson’s career ended suddenly on January 13th, 1991. During an NFL playoff game against the Bengals, he was tackled awkwardly after a 34-yard run, injured his hip, and that was it. He would never play another NFL game. He focused on baseball, but even in baseball he missed almost the entirety of the next two seasons. But he came back and was a solid 4th outfielder and DH in the 1993 and 1994 seasons – no longer an All-Star, but a productive player, which is a great story considering how devastating the injury was.
What would Bo have achieved if he focused on one sport?
For baseball, I don’t think he would have been much better. He had terrible strike zone judgment. Every year he racked up tons of strikeouts and not many walks. That’s a skill that is hard to learn, and Bo Jackson wasn’t a great student of the game. Even if he focused on baseball, it’s unlikely he would have been a great player. He was a good player - as long as he had incredible athletic skills to offset his poor baseball instincts. But that would be hard to maintain as he aged, even without a devastating injury.
For football, he might have been able to have a Hall of Fame career, as he was certainly that kind of talent. But if he would have played more football games, with more carries, that also would have increased the injury risk and the overall wear and tear on his body. NFL running backs have short careers that could get wiped out at any moment.
It’s probably best to just appreciate Bo for what he did accomplish. No one else has ever been able to succeed in two sports like Bo did. It’s almost unfathomably incredible to be able to play a whole baseball season at All-Star caliber, then go and play 10 NFL football games as a running back, making incredible plays and being a highlight reel in both sports.
Before that, he left a trail of accomplishments at Auburn University and his High School in baseball, football, and track and field. The last of these is often overlooked, but he was world class at sprinting, jumping, and events that involved throwing things really far. In High School he was the state champion at the Decathlon (he would typically have the goal of wrapping up a victory after the 9th event so he didn’t have to do the 1500 meter run, as he hated distance running).
The title and subtitle of this book refers to how Bo wasn’t just an athlete, he was a legend. He did things that stunned and amazed people, and stories of what people saw would get passed down through generations. Jeff Pearlman does a great job capturing this feel and tells some great stories along the way.
Pearlman also describes his rough childhood, where his family lived in poverty and without a father. Bo had a lot of issues. He had a stutter that embarrassed him. He had a sadistic streak and was a self-described bully. There is a weird story that he would physically fight and kill pigs on local farmers lands. Thankfully he seems to have grown out of this, as he didn’t seem to act like this after his middle school years.
His personality in his high school and college years comes across as boring to us outsiders. He didn’t say much, both because of his insecurity about his stutter and because he didn’t trust people enough to open up to them. Reporters would have a hard time getting him to say anything interesting. Though there was one time when his personal life was very weird and interesting – around the time he won the Heisman, he seems to have had two fiancées. I think it’s still a mystery what exactly the deal with that was, but he married one of them, and is still married to her, so I guess it all worked out.
One of the key moments of his life was getting help with his stutter. He learned how speaking slowly worked to remove his stutter. He also became known as a great teammate and there are some nice stories about him helping people out that were greatly appreciated. Earlier in his career, he wasn't well liked by his teammates and was sometimes labeled as "selfish", so it's a nice story that he was able to communicate a different side of him.
The “legend” portion of Bo Jackson’s career ended suddenly on January 13th, 1991. During an NFL playoff game against the Bengals, he was tackled awkwardly after a 34-yard run, injured his hip, and that was it. He would never play another NFL game. He focused on baseball, but even in baseball he missed almost the entirety of the next two seasons. But he came back and was a solid 4th outfielder and DH in the 1993 and 1994 seasons – no longer an All-Star, but a productive player, which is a great story considering how devastating the injury was.
What would Bo have achieved if he focused on one sport?
For baseball, I don’t think he would have been much better. He had terrible strike zone judgment. Every year he racked up tons of strikeouts and not many walks. That’s a skill that is hard to learn, and Bo Jackson wasn’t a great student of the game. Even if he focused on baseball, it’s unlikely he would have been a great player. He was a good player - as long as he had incredible athletic skills to offset his poor baseball instincts. But that would be hard to maintain as he aged, even without a devastating injury.
For football, he might have been able to have a Hall of Fame career, as he was certainly that kind of talent. But if he would have played more football games, with more carries, that also would have increased the injury risk and the overall wear and tear on his body. NFL running backs have short careers that could get wiped out at any moment.
It’s probably best to just appreciate Bo for what he did accomplish. No one else has ever been able to succeed in two sports like Bo did. It’s almost unfathomably incredible to be able to play a whole baseball season at All-Star caliber, then go and play 10 NFL football games as a running back, making incredible plays and being a highlight reel in both sports.
February 21, 2023
Having been in high school and played varsity sports during the pinnacle of Bo Jackson’s years of excelling at both baseball and football, I admired Bo’s athletic prowess and I clearly remember the Bo mania because I watched it in real time. Pearlman’s definitive biography of the incomparable Bo Jackson was a joy for me to re-experience my fond memories of awing over Bo as inspiration and motivation as I played multiple sports in high school.
Pearlman brings drama, suspense, and humor to his splendid chronicle of the legendary natural athletic talents of Jackson while he also balances the narrative with a fascinating investigation of the complex son, man, husband, and father apart from the mythical accomplishments he performed on the track field, the baseball diamond, and the football gridiron. What makes Bo’s achievements so compelling is that, as Pearlman explains, Bo was indeed the last superman-like athlete to pull off his feats before the era of unlimited technology and endless cameras captured every angle of every play from little league to the Big Leagues.
I love how Pearlman uncovered the complexity of Bo. He examines a hard life that gives us glimpses of Bo from childhood through his playing days as wild, reckless, cruel, mercurial, standoffish, defiant, selfish, and even at times frightening. He also examines a remarkable life that gives us portraits of Bo from childhood through his playing days as shy, sweet, kind, loving, undaunted, empathetic, compassionate, heroic, and selfless. In charting Bo’s career as a sports icon, Pearlman offers us both the superhumanness and humanness of Bo Jackson from his years of Herculean athleticism to his days as a humbled, fading star.
Pearlman’s fluid prose and electrifying narrative capture Bo’s life like an unputdownable work of fiction—indeed like a myth carried on in the folk tradition of word-of-mouth stories. From Bo’s poverty-stricken childhood in Bessemer, Alabama with ten siblings in a small house with no father, to his talents at Auburn where he earned the prestigious Heisman Trophy, to his legendary performances before a hip injury shortened his career in the NFL and MLB, I immersed in every page of this riveting biography. Pearlman had me gripped to the challenges of Bo’s life the same way he had me reliving with delight the mesmerizing play-by-play spectacle of Bo’s unmatched talents of athleticism.
Pearlman brings drama, suspense, and humor to his splendid chronicle of the legendary natural athletic talents of Jackson while he also balances the narrative with a fascinating investigation of the complex son, man, husband, and father apart from the mythical accomplishments he performed on the track field, the baseball diamond, and the football gridiron. What makes Bo’s achievements so compelling is that, as Pearlman explains, Bo was indeed the last superman-like athlete to pull off his feats before the era of unlimited technology and endless cameras captured every angle of every play from little league to the Big Leagues.
I love how Pearlman uncovered the complexity of Bo. He examines a hard life that gives us glimpses of Bo from childhood through his playing days as wild, reckless, cruel, mercurial, standoffish, defiant, selfish, and even at times frightening. He also examines a remarkable life that gives us portraits of Bo from childhood through his playing days as shy, sweet, kind, loving, undaunted, empathetic, compassionate, heroic, and selfless. In charting Bo’s career as a sports icon, Pearlman offers us both the superhumanness and humanness of Bo Jackson from his years of Herculean athleticism to his days as a humbled, fading star.
Pearlman’s fluid prose and electrifying narrative capture Bo’s life like an unputdownable work of fiction—indeed like a myth carried on in the folk tradition of word-of-mouth stories. From Bo’s poverty-stricken childhood in Bessemer, Alabama with ten siblings in a small house with no father, to his talents at Auburn where he earned the prestigious Heisman Trophy, to his legendary performances before a hip injury shortened his career in the NFL and MLB, I immersed in every page of this riveting biography. Pearlman had me gripped to the challenges of Bo’s life the same way he had me reliving with delight the mesmerizing play-by-play spectacle of Bo’s unmatched talents of athleticism.
November 3, 2022
Jeff Pearlman is undoubtedly one of the top sports biographers in history, and this largely stands as his best research work.
I’m a Raiders fan, and I know Bo Jackson as a mystical figure who once wore 34 for the silver and black. Now, I understand he was more of a baseball player who also played football. Really, he was neither. Bo was Bo. He was an athlete in the purest sense, and had he not been injured, could’ve achieved greatness likely unseen in either sport.
I’m a Raiders fan, and I know Bo Jackson as a mystical figure who once wore 34 for the silver and black. Now, I understand he was more of a baseball player who also played football. Really, he was neither. Bo was Bo. He was an athlete in the purest sense, and had he not been injured, could’ve achieved greatness likely unseen in either sport.
October 31, 2022
Whenever an athlete can compete at the highest level in two (or more) sports, it is a very noteworthy accomplishment. When that athlete can do certain feats that even most stars in that particular sport only dream of accomplishing, that is when stories of incredible feats are told and passed down through the years. Vincent “Bo” Jackson is one of those athletes in which this was accomplished, and his story is told in this excellent book by Jeff Pearlman.
Pearlman has made a very good career on writing sports biographies of famous athletes who may have a flaw or two, but has had either outstanding success in their sport, some great stories to share, a compelling story on the way to fame or, in Jackson’s case, a bit of all three traits. The “great stories” are feats of amazing athleticism by Jackson shared by those who have claimed to have seen them. This goes from his youth to high school sports (track and field as well as baseball and football) to college sports at Auburn (again, all three, although his fame there was for football) to the professional ranks. Because many of these stories have a “you have to see it to believe it” aura, that was the inspiration for the title which is very appropriate.
The book also does an excellent job of portraying Jackson’s life and personality without the benefit of input directly from him. Pearlman does write that he did contact Jackson about the project and certainly wanted to talk to him, but Jackson declined. However, he did not give Pearlman any objections to writing the book, so the author went ahead and between his research and over 700 interviews, he ended up with a very entertaining and detailed book.
Among these details are plenty of discussion about Jackson’s accomplishments at Auburn, the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders and in major league baseball, primarily with the Kansas City Royals, but he also spent some time with the Chicago White Sox and California Angels. He suffered a devastating hip injury that required a hip replacement and given the medical knowledge at the time, it was considered a near-miracle that he was able to resume his baseball career (his football career was not resurrected) with the White Sox. Mainly because his football career, especially with the Raiders, was shortened due to the injury, more of the sports accomplishments described are in baseball. That doesn’t diminish either the writing about nor the stories telling about Jackson’s feats in that sport as well as track and field.
There is plenty of text about Bo off the field as well. Of course, the “Bo Knows” campaign by Nike is covered and that is quite entertaining as well as informative. The feeling of Bo being used for business purposes is not unique to him, but his views (as told by others such as teammates or friends) about team owners such as Hugh Culverhouse of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Ewing Kaufman of the Royals was very interesting. Jackson’s personality also makes for interesting reading. The easiest way to describe it would be complex as many people of all types of relationships with him have stories to share and they range from him getting very angry at people for seemingly minor issue to being very generous to strangers with his time, money or both. Something that is very consistent, however, is his dedication to family. This is true for both his mother and later with his wife and children. He vowed to ensure that his children did not grow up with an absent father like he did and he is keeping that promise, at least according to those who spoke to Pearlman.
This is a complete book on the man that is all the more remarkable when one considers none of this information came from Jackson himself. Any reader who “knows Bo”, no matter if it is from sports, TV commercials or some other means, will find this book one that will be hard to put down and well worth the time to read.
I wish to thank Mariner Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
Pearlman has made a very good career on writing sports biographies of famous athletes who may have a flaw or two, but has had either outstanding success in their sport, some great stories to share, a compelling story on the way to fame or, in Jackson’s case, a bit of all three traits. The “great stories” are feats of amazing athleticism by Jackson shared by those who have claimed to have seen them. This goes from his youth to high school sports (track and field as well as baseball and football) to college sports at Auburn (again, all three, although his fame there was for football) to the professional ranks. Because many of these stories have a “you have to see it to believe it” aura, that was the inspiration for the title which is very appropriate.
The book also does an excellent job of portraying Jackson’s life and personality without the benefit of input directly from him. Pearlman does write that he did contact Jackson about the project and certainly wanted to talk to him, but Jackson declined. However, he did not give Pearlman any objections to writing the book, so the author went ahead and between his research and over 700 interviews, he ended up with a very entertaining and detailed book.
Among these details are plenty of discussion about Jackson’s accomplishments at Auburn, the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders and in major league baseball, primarily with the Kansas City Royals, but he also spent some time with the Chicago White Sox and California Angels. He suffered a devastating hip injury that required a hip replacement and given the medical knowledge at the time, it was considered a near-miracle that he was able to resume his baseball career (his football career was not resurrected) with the White Sox. Mainly because his football career, especially with the Raiders, was shortened due to the injury, more of the sports accomplishments described are in baseball. That doesn’t diminish either the writing about nor the stories telling about Jackson’s feats in that sport as well as track and field.
There is plenty of text about Bo off the field as well. Of course, the “Bo Knows” campaign by Nike is covered and that is quite entertaining as well as informative. The feeling of Bo being used for business purposes is not unique to him, but his views (as told by others such as teammates or friends) about team owners such as Hugh Culverhouse of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Ewing Kaufman of the Royals was very interesting. Jackson’s personality also makes for interesting reading. The easiest way to describe it would be complex as many people of all types of relationships with him have stories to share and they range from him getting very angry at people for seemingly minor issue to being very generous to strangers with his time, money or both. Something that is very consistent, however, is his dedication to family. This is true for both his mother and later with his wife and children. He vowed to ensure that his children did not grow up with an absent father like he did and he is keeping that promise, at least according to those who spoke to Pearlman.
This is a complete book on the man that is all the more remarkable when one considers none of this information came from Jackson himself. Any reader who “knows Bo”, no matter if it is from sports, TV commercials or some other means, will find this book one that will be hard to put down and well worth the time to read.
I wish to thank Mariner Books for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
https://sportsbookguy.blogspot.com/20...
June 17, 2025
4 stars
Bo Jackson is probably the greatest athlete who ever lived. I have mourned his short athletic career most of my adult life.
Then I read this book.
For every story about his Herculean feats, and the occasional selfless act, there in an underlying gruff, bullying, horrible human being.
It's fun to imagine being gifted with raw athleticism like his. On the other hand, it's difficult to imagine the pressure and adulation he received because of it.
Aside from his short time with the White Sox – a bit of hard work and humility after his horrific hip injury – Bo Jackson was a prima donna.
I was shocked by his attitude toward teammates; refusing to sign autographs for most of his career, forcing some friends and colleagues to pay for them after he retired.
I'm sure Bo Jackson is a complex person. I'm sure he's a relatively decent human, especially now that he's older and out of the spotlight.
Still, there's no part of me that feels sorry for him anymore. He brought on most of his problems himself.
Bo Jackson is probably the greatest athlete who ever lived. I have mourned his short athletic career most of my adult life.
Then I read this book.
For every story about his Herculean feats, and the occasional selfless act, there in an underlying gruff, bullying, horrible human being.
It's fun to imagine being gifted with raw athleticism like his. On the other hand, it's difficult to imagine the pressure and adulation he received because of it.
Aside from his short time with the White Sox – a bit of hard work and humility after his horrific hip injury – Bo Jackson was a prima donna.
I was shocked by his attitude toward teammates; refusing to sign autographs for most of his career, forcing some friends and colleagues to pay for them after he retired.
I'm sure Bo Jackson is a complex person. I'm sure he's a relatively decent human, especially now that he's older and out of the spotlight.
Still, there's no part of me that feels sorry for him anymore. He brought on most of his problems himself.
December 6, 2022
Americans love our tall tales, and especially our mythic beings imbued with powers far beyond the realm of mortal mankind. From Paul Bunyan to Luke Skywalker, pop culture abounds with tales of heroes who were gifted far more than any of us could ever be, but in real life "heroes" often seem just out of reach, unrealistic and fantastical. But a few real-life titans walk among us, and when I was a kid I knew of the best athlete to ever come around, a man who played two sports and could've played so much more (at least according to the Nike ads). He went down with a freak injury in the early days of 1991, and was never the same after. But his legend still resonates with those who were there, as well as subsequent generations who heard of him after the fact, who could've never seen him in action at the time but who can thanks to the internet. His name, of course, is Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson.
Jeff Pearlman's "The Last Folk Hero" is a biography, to be sure, but it's also a recounting of Bo Jackson's legendary and ephemeral career, a period in time made all the more mythic by its fleeting nature. In less than a decade, Jackson went from the gridiron at Auburn to both the MLB and NFL playing fields, in a move that was unprecedented at the time and which remains so in many ways today. Had injury not come for him as it does for all sports immortals, could Jackson have been the best that ever was, in two sports? Impossible to say, but for the time that he was active, Bo was a force to be reckoned with.
Pearlman, a legend in his own right in terms of his sportswriting, recounts the ups and downs of Jackson's impoverished upbringing at the hands of a single mother in Alabama, where being Black and poor meant that your options in life were limited. With minimal effort, Jackson managed to be a star in two different sports in high school, and when he arrived at Auburn University in the early Eighties, he continued to play both baseball (his passion) and football (which he was good at, but which never held his affections in quite the same way). After upsetting expectations by not taking the (NFL) money and running, he went to the Kansas City Royals and managed to be a name worth knowing during his brief heyday as a two-sports phenom. The numbers might not have matched up with the legend, but the legend was of a pure athlete who couldn't be contained by mere stats alone; Jackson was a force of nature no matter what he was doing.
Pearlman goes over Jackson's brief moment in the spotlight with a fine-toothed comb, seeking out stories that seem too good to be true but also too good to ignore. In that way, he turns what could be a run-of-the-mill sports biography into an examination of our need for myths, and the costs when those myths come face to face with reality. For a moment in time, "Bo Knows" was the slogan of the era. But just as soon as he came into being as the legendary figure of myth, an injury on the football field decimated his left hip and caused his career to come to a slow, grinding halt. He'd hang up his football cleats after the injury, and spend a brief time in baseball before stepping away in the aftermath of the 1994 player's strike.
Bo Jackson is rendered here in all his contradictions, all his faults and skills, and Pearlman is unfailingly honest about Jackson's personality (the harsh, bully-like tactics he used sometimes mixed with the moments of genuine warmth towards a teammate or heartbreak over a sick child's passing). Bo Jackson is, in many ways, one of the last mythic beings of American life, someone whose actions had to be seen to be believed, and even then you might not believe what you just saw. Jeff Pearlman has written, arguably, one of the best sports biographies in recent memory, and all about a man who had a short career playing two sports. But had Bo stayed healthy...well, that's a myth for another time.
Jeff Pearlman's "The Last Folk Hero" is a biography, to be sure, but it's also a recounting of Bo Jackson's legendary and ephemeral career, a period in time made all the more mythic by its fleeting nature. In less than a decade, Jackson went from the gridiron at Auburn to both the MLB and NFL playing fields, in a move that was unprecedented at the time and which remains so in many ways today. Had injury not come for him as it does for all sports immortals, could Jackson have been the best that ever was, in two sports? Impossible to say, but for the time that he was active, Bo was a force to be reckoned with.
Pearlman, a legend in his own right in terms of his sportswriting, recounts the ups and downs of Jackson's impoverished upbringing at the hands of a single mother in Alabama, where being Black and poor meant that your options in life were limited. With minimal effort, Jackson managed to be a star in two different sports in high school, and when he arrived at Auburn University in the early Eighties, he continued to play both baseball (his passion) and football (which he was good at, but which never held his affections in quite the same way). After upsetting expectations by not taking the (NFL) money and running, he went to the Kansas City Royals and managed to be a name worth knowing during his brief heyday as a two-sports phenom. The numbers might not have matched up with the legend, but the legend was of a pure athlete who couldn't be contained by mere stats alone; Jackson was a force of nature no matter what he was doing.
Pearlman goes over Jackson's brief moment in the spotlight with a fine-toothed comb, seeking out stories that seem too good to be true but also too good to ignore. In that way, he turns what could be a run-of-the-mill sports biography into an examination of our need for myths, and the costs when those myths come face to face with reality. For a moment in time, "Bo Knows" was the slogan of the era. But just as soon as he came into being as the legendary figure of myth, an injury on the football field decimated his left hip and caused his career to come to a slow, grinding halt. He'd hang up his football cleats after the injury, and spend a brief time in baseball before stepping away in the aftermath of the 1994 player's strike.
Bo Jackson is rendered here in all his contradictions, all his faults and skills, and Pearlman is unfailingly honest about Jackson's personality (the harsh, bully-like tactics he used sometimes mixed with the moments of genuine warmth towards a teammate or heartbreak over a sick child's passing). Bo Jackson is, in many ways, one of the last mythic beings of American life, someone whose actions had to be seen to be believed, and even then you might not believe what you just saw. Jeff Pearlman has written, arguably, one of the best sports biographies in recent memory, and all about a man who had a short career playing two sports. But had Bo stayed healthy...well, that's a myth for another time.
May 19, 2023
I was a graduate student at Auburn University when Coach Pat Dye and Bo Jackson were both there. It was an amazing time! Bo was an outstanding athlete and played several sports at the highest level. So, I was excited to read The Last Folk Hero. The research and writing were top notch (hence the four stars). However, Bo Jackson has been permanently knocked off of the heroes pedestal for me. I found his behavior as a boy and as a man abhorrent. It is inexcusable no matter where or how you grew up. If you want to learn more about Bo Jackson's amazing athletic feats, then this is the book for you. If you don't want to be disappointed in the man then this will be a tough read.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.
February 26, 2023
Had high expectations yet the granular detail and being a few years too young to remember Bo Jackson’s career led to me always progress watching on the kindle. Enjoyed notes from his college days and day with the Royals but in the end reading felt too much like a chore.
December 19, 2022
When I was a kid, we used to go to my grandparents' house every Saturday. My grandpa always had a ballgame on, and I used to sit and watch the Royals with him and read his back issues of Baseball Digest and The Sporting News and became a huge Royals fan. The Royals of my youth were a fun team to watch, mostly, and no one was more fun than Bo Jackson, though I was too young to appreciate just how special an athlete he was.
Pearlman's biography of Jackson highlights just how special Jackson was as an athlete--it is filled with famous athletes with long careers describing some Jackson feat like, "I never saw anything like that before", "I will always remember that", "No one else could even come close", and "I still can't believe it." Unfortunately, due to injury, we only got to glimpse a few years of that potential.
Jackson did not agree to be interviewed for the biography and is a relatively private person, so we don't get as much insight into him as a person--especially during and after the injury cut short his career. Much of what is here is from his childhood and early career--how we was raised by a single mother, struggled with a stutter, became a childhood bully, juggled two fiances (!), and his many accopmlishments in baseball, football, and track. At times, Jackson could be very generous and kind, at others prickly and mean-spirited, and mostly private and standoffish. So, I guess, human.
This biography is best read with YouTube open, ready to watch highlights from Jackson's career.
I had a lot of fun watching everything from Auburn football plays to The Throw, to scaling walls and mammoth homeruns, to Nike commercials and even his TecmoBowl dominance!
A side note: Pearlman attributes the title to Joe Posnanski, who called Jackson the last folk hero because so many of his legendary accomplishments took place before replays were ubiquitous and shared on the internet (and many taking place in practices or pre-games and not televised at all). Though I have no complaints with how Pearlman told Jackson's story, I can't help but wish we had Posnanski's bio of Bo, instead.
Pearlman's biography of Jackson highlights just how special Jackson was as an athlete--it is filled with famous athletes with long careers describing some Jackson feat like, "I never saw anything like that before", "I will always remember that", "No one else could even come close", and "I still can't believe it." Unfortunately, due to injury, we only got to glimpse a few years of that potential.
Jackson did not agree to be interviewed for the biography and is a relatively private person, so we don't get as much insight into him as a person--especially during and after the injury cut short his career. Much of what is here is from his childhood and early career--how we was raised by a single mother, struggled with a stutter, became a childhood bully, juggled two fiances (!), and his many accopmlishments in baseball, football, and track. At times, Jackson could be very generous and kind, at others prickly and mean-spirited, and mostly private and standoffish. So, I guess, human.
This biography is best read with YouTube open, ready to watch highlights from Jackson's career.
I had a lot of fun watching everything from Auburn football plays to The Throw, to scaling walls and mammoth homeruns, to Nike commercials and even his TecmoBowl dominance!
A side note: Pearlman attributes the title to Joe Posnanski, who called Jackson the last folk hero because so many of his legendary accomplishments took place before replays were ubiquitous and shared on the internet (and many taking place in practices or pre-games and not televised at all). Though I have no complaints with how Pearlman told Jackson's story, I can't help but wish we had Posnanski's bio of Bo, instead.
March 14, 2023
This one was disappointing for me. I have been a fan of Bo Jackson's for a long time and was interested in his life story, but this was a miss for me. It took months to get through this book. It felt very tedious and long, like never ending long. The first half of the book felt like a literal play by play of every college game he ever had. I really lost interest and didn't get a feel for who he was as a person. The book was well researched, but it didn't capture the personality of Bo. It was just a regurgitation of fact after fact, stat after stat. There are plenty of good reviews on this one though, so check those out before basing you decision on my experience. This one was just not for me.
December 25, 2023
Long, informative, and interesting audiobook! A great listen for an Auburn fan (obviously I enjoyed Bo’s childhood and college stories full of names of people and places I know well) and plenty of great stories for any sports fan about one of the greatest athletes. Great research and funny quips!
July 6, 2022
Pearlman always writes an entertaining sports biography and this is no exception. Bo Jackson is a legend and Mr. Pearlman does him justice. Lots of nuggets, revelations, insights and stories.
September 15, 2022
I really couldn’t put this one down.
January 2, 2023
A delight. Should be considered the definitive Bo Jackson biography.
February 13, 2023
Well researched and well written biography of a "Folk Hero". A lot of things I knew about Bo, but a ton I didn't were included. I think even non-sports people that enjoy biographies would get something out of this. Shame that Bo didn't want to be involved, but that doesn't take away from Pearlman's work.
April 2, 2023
I strongly considered docking it a star since the author refers to Ken 'The Hawk' Harrelson as "one of the game's great announcers." But I resisted.
December 4, 2022
3.5 stars, but I'm rounding down because Pearlman's writing often bugged me in this book.
I've read several of Pearlman's sports book and usually liked - sometimes really liked them. And you can see traces of what made those books so effective in this one. Pearlman has done plenty of research, and talked to seemingly everyone he could get his hands on. He tells the familiar stories while also telling some lesser known ones as well.
But it didn't work as well for me here.
In part, it often sounded over the top. Yeah, Bo Jackson did many remarkable and incredible things. But lordy, does Pearlman go out of his way to make every impressive thing Jackson ever did seem like The Most Impressive Thing Anyone Has Ever Done. It gets a little wearying.
Also, Bo Jackson the man himself never really comes into focus. There are stretches where Bo Jackson comes off like an insufferable asshole then sections where he comes off like a really nice person then back to an asshole, then back to warm person then back to ...... Look, it's fine for a person to be multifaceted and have different sides. It's fine to show the different areas of a person's life. (Pearlman did an effective job doing that with Walter Payton in "Sweetness" for instance). But it feels like the book can't make up its mind. In the parts where Pearlman is telling Bo-is-an-asshole stories, the book seems to think he's an asshole. In the nice stories, the book thinks he's a nice guy. It's like the book was written by two co-authors not communicating with each other. I think what happened is this: Pearlman fell into court reporter mode. He does all these interviews, gets all their stories, and then transcribes them for us, not really filtering it through much of a point of view - just reporting. So the book doesn't quite come together, nor does Bo himself.
Beyond that, Pearlman does come off like a prick himself sometimes, with some needless swipes at various figures. For example, there's two paragarphs on ex-White Sox star Frank Thomas where Pearlman churlishly calls him a prick and ... it just comes off petty. In and of itself, it's not a big deal - just two paragraphs - but it's part of a background trend in the book.
You learn about the life and times of Bo Jackson in this book. But you don't really get a sense of Bo himself. I got a better sense of Pearlman than of Jackson, and I didn't much care for what I saw of Pearlman.
I've read several of Pearlman's sports book and usually liked - sometimes really liked them. And you can see traces of what made those books so effective in this one. Pearlman has done plenty of research, and talked to seemingly everyone he could get his hands on. He tells the familiar stories while also telling some lesser known ones as well.
But it didn't work as well for me here.
In part, it often sounded over the top. Yeah, Bo Jackson did many remarkable and incredible things. But lordy, does Pearlman go out of his way to make every impressive thing Jackson ever did seem like The Most Impressive Thing Anyone Has Ever Done. It gets a little wearying.
Also, Bo Jackson the man himself never really comes into focus. There are stretches where Bo Jackson comes off like an insufferable asshole then sections where he comes off like a really nice person then back to an asshole, then back to warm person then back to ...... Look, it's fine for a person to be multifaceted and have different sides. It's fine to show the different areas of a person's life. (Pearlman did an effective job doing that with Walter Payton in "Sweetness" for instance). But it feels like the book can't make up its mind. In the parts where Pearlman is telling Bo-is-an-asshole stories, the book seems to think he's an asshole. In the nice stories, the book thinks he's a nice guy. It's like the book was written by two co-authors not communicating with each other. I think what happened is this: Pearlman fell into court reporter mode. He does all these interviews, gets all their stories, and then transcribes them for us, not really filtering it through much of a point of view - just reporting. So the book doesn't quite come together, nor does Bo himself.
Beyond that, Pearlman does come off like a prick himself sometimes, with some needless swipes at various figures. For example, there's two paragarphs on ex-White Sox star Frank Thomas where Pearlman churlishly calls him a prick and ... it just comes off petty. In and of itself, it's not a big deal - just two paragraphs - but it's part of a background trend in the book.
You learn about the life and times of Bo Jackson in this book. But you don't really get a sense of Bo himself. I got a better sense of Pearlman than of Jackson, and I didn't much care for what I saw of Pearlman.
March 2, 2023
I don't know if any of us will ever see an athlete like Vincent Edward Jackson in our lifetimes again. He was, however, so much more. His stuttering problem kept him from talking to people much, he got close to so few people. He could be an out and out asshole to people who asked for his autograph. (You better have 50.00 cash on you if you do) He was mean to the media and to an extent, hated by a lot of his teammates. He also is, a happily married man of 35 years, father of 3, grandfather of 1 who gives so much to charity and loves to fish. He never watches sports other than golf and seems to happy being out of the spotlight. Something he craved so much in his prime. There are times where he is hard to like, but more where he is hard to hate.
A-
A-
June 15, 2023
Not as good as it could have been — Bo didn’t participate, alas — but as good as it could be under the circumstances, since Pearlman had access to all the Bo Knows Bo tapes and notes. The ARC I read had a number of typos, which I hope were fixed, as well as a number of lame, joke-y lines for which 90s and 00s sportswriters were famous (Bill Simmons, my sometimes-boss, pioneered this style), which I assume were not. Still, this is a definitive biography. Pearlman did more work here than with any of his previous solid and readable (but not great) efforts, and it’ll keep you turning pages because of the Bunyanesque subject.
December 3, 2022
Pearlman has written some of the greatest sports books of the last 30 years. This was excellent as expected. However, the challenge here is that Bo is not quite as interesting off the field when compared to his legendary exploits. Well done, but the myths are much more entertaining than the reality.
November 26, 2022
Another fabulous piece of work by the great Jeff Pearlman. What a legend Bo Jackson was.
January 9, 2023
This was long, but really dug into almost every aspect of his career, both good and ugly!
January 17, 2023
Fun story. The author was very enthusiastic about his subject.
August 3, 2025
Bo Jackson was an asshole. At least at the pro level, he rarely got along with his teammates, hated the press, and tolerated the fans. And despite his incredible physical talents, his teams rarely won playoff games, let alone championships. He choked one teammate to the point of unconsciousness because he, um, cut ahead of Bo at the batting cage. The author finally has to admit, 2/3s of the way through the book, that Bo "was a difficult man to like." That's about as mild as you could state it. And we'll just ignore how he was engaged to two women simultaneously in college.
And yet... Because Bo genuinely didn't care what people thought about him, he: walked away from the Yankees who drafted him in high school, turned down repeated baseball contracts in order to finish college, told a professional football team that drafted him number 1 overall to take a hike, got called up to the majors, not because of his progress, but because he was done with triple A ball, and signed a contract to play professional football in the middle of the professional baseball season.
Let's just say that a LOT of people had reasons to be mad at him. I remember thinking at the time that he was making a major mistake walking away from football. Sure, he might be a good baseball player, but he would have been a great football player. See? I had a strong opinion about that decision, and yet I knew next to nothing about the man.
What struck me about the book was how mad people were at him when he agreed to play for the Raiders once baseball was done for the year. The owner of the Royals was mad. His Royals teammates were mad. His Raider teammates were mad. NO ONE was happy for him! Only Bo had the guts to face them all down. Do his job, draw his paycheck, go home, and not care what people thought. Why wasn't anyone rooting for him? After all, it was just crazy good that someone could play both professional sports. It was an awesome story! I predict there will never be as great a marketing campaign as the "Bo knows..." campaign.
Which makes me wonder: was Bo really that great an athlete? It's been 30+ years since he walked off the gridiron for the last time. Why hasn't anyone been able to replicate his accomplishments? I've come to believe, after reading this book, it's because no one else has the guts to tick everyone off by playing two sports. Everyone else cares too much about what people think about them to make such an unconventional move to reach their full potential. So, in the end, maybe everyone else was just as much an asshole as Bo Jackson was.
So read the book. I have a lot more comments, but this is probably enough for one review.
And yet... Because Bo genuinely didn't care what people thought about him, he: walked away from the Yankees who drafted him in high school, turned down repeated baseball contracts in order to finish college, told a professional football team that drafted him number 1 overall to take a hike, got called up to the majors, not because of his progress, but because he was done with triple A ball, and signed a contract to play professional football in the middle of the professional baseball season.
Let's just say that a LOT of people had reasons to be mad at him. I remember thinking at the time that he was making a major mistake walking away from football. Sure, he might be a good baseball player, but he would have been a great football player. See? I had a strong opinion about that decision, and yet I knew next to nothing about the man.
What struck me about the book was how mad people were at him when he agreed to play for the Raiders once baseball was done for the year. The owner of the Royals was mad. His Royals teammates were mad. His Raider teammates were mad. NO ONE was happy for him! Only Bo had the guts to face them all down. Do his job, draw his paycheck, go home, and not care what people thought. Why wasn't anyone rooting for him? After all, it was just crazy good that someone could play both professional sports. It was an awesome story! I predict there will never be as great a marketing campaign as the "Bo knows..." campaign.
Which makes me wonder: was Bo really that great an athlete? It's been 30+ years since he walked off the gridiron for the last time. Why hasn't anyone been able to replicate his accomplishments? I've come to believe, after reading this book, it's because no one else has the guts to tick everyone off by playing two sports. Everyone else cares too much about what people think about them to make such an unconventional move to reach their full potential. So, in the end, maybe everyone else was just as much an asshole as Bo Jackson was.
So read the book. I have a lot more comments, but this is probably enough for one review.
August 17, 2023
Full disclosure, I am not/was not a Bo Jackson fan. I vividly remember an interview with him in his early years in which he came across as arrogant and illiterate and yet someone who had "attended" a fairly well known university. I was VERY against what seemed to be the norm in the 80's and 90's of athletes getting a free pass because they played a sport, rather than an education.
So this book... do you want a pretty detailed play by play of various baseball and football games? Then you might enjoy. You want to wax poetic about Bo Jackson's physical prowess or his looks? Again, you might enjoy. It seems to me that Pearlman is very admiring of Jackson's physique as often as it's mentioned in glowing and near mythical terms. I get it, he was built and attractive... but it was overly stated.
I knew Jackson had a rough childhood, but I did not know he was an animal abuser (that was sort of mentioned and dismissed as if all kids tortured dogs or stoned hogs to death and that as just "boys will be boys" in Alabama.) I did not know about his stutter and that made tons of sense why he was quiet and not overly verbose in interviews (though it sounds as if it's something he was able to significantly overcome), so I did feel a bit bad for being judge-y.
Jackson seems to be very much a Jekyll and Hyde. One minute it's about his empathy and charity and the next about his arrogance, dislike for people and well, just being a bully because he's big and can.
All of it is probably accurate.
Did Jackson have some amazing feats? Yes, he was a big man who was extremely fast and not just fast for his size. But he seems to be a superhero of individual feats taken as one offs. He didn't have a great baseball or football stats outside of the super far home run hits or some super fast runs and yet the "Bo Know..." Nike campaign really made him a legend as one of the few athletes who played multiple sports professionally.
Was he a folk hero? Not to me, but the book is a decent read if again, you want game details. It does come across as Pearlman as a very much Jackson fanboy who tries to humanize the hero.
Bo Jackson did not cooperate in the writing of the book, though apparently he also didn't object.
So this book... do you want a pretty detailed play by play of various baseball and football games? Then you might enjoy. You want to wax poetic about Bo Jackson's physical prowess or his looks? Again, you might enjoy. It seems to me that Pearlman is very admiring of Jackson's physique as often as it's mentioned in glowing and near mythical terms. I get it, he was built and attractive... but it was overly stated.
I knew Jackson had a rough childhood, but I did not know he was an animal abuser (that was sort of mentioned and dismissed as if all kids tortured dogs or stoned hogs to death and that as just "boys will be boys" in Alabama.) I did not know about his stutter and that made tons of sense why he was quiet and not overly verbose in interviews (though it sounds as if it's something he was able to significantly overcome), so I did feel a bit bad for being judge-y.
Jackson seems to be very much a Jekyll and Hyde. One minute it's about his empathy and charity and the next about his arrogance, dislike for people and well, just being a bully because he's big and can.
All of it is probably accurate.
Did Jackson have some amazing feats? Yes, he was a big man who was extremely fast and not just fast for his size. But he seems to be a superhero of individual feats taken as one offs. He didn't have a great baseball or football stats outside of the super far home run hits or some super fast runs and yet the "Bo Know..." Nike campaign really made him a legend as one of the few athletes who played multiple sports professionally.
Was he a folk hero? Not to me, but the book is a decent read if again, you want game details. It does come across as Pearlman as a very much Jackson fanboy who tries to humanize the hero.
Bo Jackson did not cooperate in the writing of the book, though apparently he also didn't object.
February 3, 2023
I've read and enjoyed other books by Jeff Pearlman, and found him to be a solid sports writer. But unfortunately this one on Bo Jackson is off. Tonally it's kind of a mess. He spends way too much time in the beginning trying to make some point about how Bo is a legend, but also human. It gets old fast. And then there's the major problem, namely, that Pearlman doesn't interview Bo for the book, instead relying on interviews with (many) people who know and had experiences with Bo, and transcripts of decades-old interviews with the subject. When Bo declined to be interviewed for the book, that should've been the end of this project. Especially because Pearlman seems to have some sort of unspoken beef with Bo, which comes through in his snide attitude toward the subject. There are some nice passages, such as the bit about Bo's character in Super Tecmo Bowl, but there are simply too many moments where he seems to want to cut Bo down, or to show how he was occasionally kind, but often an asshole who was disliked by his teammates. Which may have been true, but he focuses on the negative too much, instead of having any type of insight into where Bo's gruff personality may have originated. Pearlman makes obnoxious references to Bo's penis on multiple occasions. Come on, there's no need to put that type of stuff in here. I mean, Bo is alive and well, so you can't exactly create a definitive biography on a subject who won't give you an interview. Pearlman's apparent disdain for the subject ends up making this bio very uneven. It left me with a sour taste.
December 22, 2022
I loved this book. The author follows the life of Bo Jackson from his early childhood to present day.
Remember "Bo Knows"? I sure do. Bo was the first modern day athlete to play two professional sports within the same year. What I didn't know was that Bo was also an excellent track and field athlete, who participated and won the decathlon. Bo was not a distance runner, but his amazing speed in the sprint events and his tremendous jumping ability in those events, led him to being able to avoid the distance events while still giving him an opportunity to win.
It was fun to read all of the "he did what?" moments throughout Bo's career. The book also provides solid insight into Bo the person who would as easily kick your ass for making fun of him to visiting a sick child in the hospital or organizing a bike a thon to raise money for families in Alabama after a terrible hurricane devastated that state. Hard on the outside, Bo was also super soft on the inside. He also didn't really care that much about sports. He just showed up and did his thing with little effort or time invested in training. Bo Jackson was truly the last folk hero of sports, and he did it (like everything else in his life) his way.
If you like sports or have an interest in Bo Jackson, this book will entertain you and teach you a few things along the way. I highly recommend this book.
Remember "Bo Knows"? I sure do. Bo was the first modern day athlete to play two professional sports within the same year. What I didn't know was that Bo was also an excellent track and field athlete, who participated and won the decathlon. Bo was not a distance runner, but his amazing speed in the sprint events and his tremendous jumping ability in those events, led him to being able to avoid the distance events while still giving him an opportunity to win.
It was fun to read all of the "he did what?" moments throughout Bo's career. The book also provides solid insight into Bo the person who would as easily kick your ass for making fun of him to visiting a sick child in the hospital or organizing a bike a thon to raise money for families in Alabama after a terrible hurricane devastated that state. Hard on the outside, Bo was also super soft on the inside. He also didn't really care that much about sports. He just showed up and did his thing with little effort or time invested in training. Bo Jackson was truly the last folk hero of sports, and he did it (like everything else in his life) his way.
If you like sports or have an interest in Bo Jackson, this book will entertain you and teach you a few things along the way. I highly recommend this book.
read-audiobooks
February 20, 2023“Bo Jackson was better than us. That’s it, that’s all, no debate.”
Have you ever heard of Bo Jackson? He is one of the greatest multi-sport athletes of all time. But he was also kind-of an asshole.
He was a womanizer in college, and those parts were hard to listen to. But I respect him settling down when he found out (one of) his girlfriends was pregnant. And they’re still married today - wow!
I hate to say it, but his career-ending injury (in football, at least) humbled him. He wasn’t the best teammate, and never seemed to want to put in the effort off the field (because he didn’t need to). Then when you have to go to PT or your career is most definitely over, you make changes.
The injury details and physical therapy aspects were my favorite part of the book. Sorry, it’s the athletic trainer in me. I can’t help but think of how much would be different if he was playing today instead of in the early 1990’s.
I’m so glad I saw this one advertised on television while I was working out at the gym, because I knew I had to have it. And I’m glad I read it. I learned so much about the man, the myth, the legend Bo Jackson!
———
CW: racism, absent parent, infidelity, animal cruelty, injury detail
Have you ever heard of Bo Jackson? He is one of the greatest multi-sport athletes of all time. But he was also kind-of an asshole.
He was a womanizer in college, and those parts were hard to listen to. But I respect him settling down when he found out (one of) his girlfriends was pregnant. And they’re still married today - wow!
I hate to say it, but his career-ending injury (in football, at least) humbled him. He wasn’t the best teammate, and never seemed to want to put in the effort off the field (because he didn’t need to). Then when you have to go to PT or your career is most definitely over, you make changes.
The injury details and physical therapy aspects were my favorite part of the book. Sorry, it’s the athletic trainer in me. I can’t help but think of how much would be different if he was playing today instead of in the early 1990’s.
I’m so glad I saw this one advertised on television while I was working out at the gym, because I knew I had to have it. And I’m glad I read it. I learned so much about the man, the myth, the legend Bo Jackson!
———
CW: racism, absent parent, infidelity, animal cruelty, injury detail
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