“Get your head in the game!” is a now trendy slogan made popular by Disney’s highly successful “High School Musical” movie. When it comes to playing sports, for fun or professionally, pure talent no longer is a guarantee of sports stardom and success. Focus is the key, and those that have the skills for the game and the focus to keep their head in it, will come out stars.

One such believer may be heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. As a young, up and coming fighter, Mr. Tyson used sports hypnosis to become the heavyweight champion of the world. He certainly had the skills to be a fighter, but many believe it was his drive and focus that made him a champion. If you studied any of his early bouts, you would see the determination and concentration he had.

Many sports stars use hypnosis, especially when they need to get out of a slump. But waiting until you are in a slump may not be the best choice. More than a few medalists in both Olympic Games have successfully used sports hypnosis to keep their focus and attention on the prize, they do not get second chances! Sports hypnosis has become so popular, that hypnotists have been hired by entire Olympic teams to make sure they bring home the gold.

Hypnosis works for enhancing your game, no matter what the sport. Is it a miracle worker? Will it take a person who can’t throw a baseball more than 20 miles per hour and 15 feet into a baseball star? No, absolutely not. Obviously, you need the skills before hypnosis can work its wonders. However, it can take a mediocre player and make him or her good or possibly great with practice.

How does hypnosis work and what happens during a session? The answer for that question really depends on the hypnotist or psychologist that works with you. There are many techniques and theories and can vary dramatically. Some techniques are as simple as visualization.

Imagine you are a basketball player and you need to practice free throws. When you practice, you make the shots sometimes, but also miss many times. So you are practicing to miss, not practicing to make it. Of course one needs to practice but visualizing yourself making the shot every time builds confidence and esteem. It also sets the mind in motion to know what it needs to do.

It has been proven that this type of visualization technique increases shot percentage. Try it yourself if you can. Stand on the foul line and take some shots counting your baskets and misses. Then close your eyes and go through the motions of making the shot (but do not actually shoot, don’t even hold the ball). Feel the motion of your arms, go through the shot and visualize, actually see the ball go in the basket. Do this numerous times until you feel you have the motion down. Then open your eyes, take the ball, relax, take a deep breath and shoot.

Take the same number of shots as before relaxing prior each shot. Remember to keep track of your hits and misses. You should see a vast improvement. This can work with most any sport, for example, gymnasts should visualize their complete routine, over and over in their minds, never missing, always landing each move perfectly.

Again, there are many techniques and the example above was a simple one using pure visualization and did not include hypnosis. This alone as part of a sports psychology session can be helpful and learning to do these techniques on your own is invaluable. But to get the full potential, hypnosis can intensify the effects of the visualization.

Do not be afraid of hypnosis. Be assured that you will not act like a chicken (unless of course you don’t mind, your sport is dancing, and your routine is the chicken dance) and you will not do anything you are not willing to do. Yes, one should always check the references of whoever you choose to work with and make sure you feel comfortable with the person.

So, whatever your sport, goal, or hobby; use hypnosis to increase your potential and get your head in the game.

Wilt Chamberlain is best known by sports fans as one of the most dominant basketball players of all time. To people less familiar with sports and basketball specifically the name Wilt Chamberlain might have a familiar sound because of his much publicized personal life. What many people do not realize is that before basketball became the focus of his life the first sport that Wilt fell in love with was track and field.

Chamberlain was born on August 21, 1936 and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he had eight brothers and sisters that all came from the same parents of father William and mother Olivia. As a youth growing up in eastern Pennsylvania Wilt famously stated that his first reaction to the game of basketball was that he considered it to be “a game for sissies.” The sport that the young Wilt Chamberlain was exponentially more passionate about was track and field.

Before even reaching high school age the freakishly athletic Wilt Chamberlain is reported to have high jumped 6’6″ which is a mark that would win most high school varsity track meets. Around the same time Wilt was also putting up ridiculously impressive broad jump numbers that are understood to be as far as 22 feet. For comparison purposes almost all high school track athletes can not reach 22 feet in a running long jump and Wit is reported to have reached that length from a stationary standing broad jump position. The high jumping and broad jumping talents are perhaps to be expected considering what the public now knows about his success on the basketball court, however the track and field prowess that Wilt showed was not confined to jumping events.

Thanks to the long strides and powerful running style that Chamberlain employed he was a miraculous middle distance runner as his preteen times of 49 seconds in the 440 yard race (once around a standard track) and under two minutes in the 880 yard distance (twice around a standard track) are exceptional numbers for even a college athlete. Chamberlain excelled at every aspect of track and field including running, jumping, and throwing. He is reported to have tossed a shot put over 53 feet in his youth.

Chamberlain matured very quickly and continued to grow at a rapid pace. At the age of 10 the young man was already 6′ tall and when he started high school he was an astounding 6’11”. As a 7’2″ college freshmen playing basketball at the University of Kansas (commonly referred to as KU) the 240 pound Chamberlain could reach 9’6″ into the air just standing flat footed (no tip toes).

Wilt took up his first love of track and field at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas while also playing basketball there. The 7’2″ goliath ran a sub 11 second 100 yard dash and also threw the shot put 56 feet. Despite competing and excelling in both sprinting and throwing his best events were not surprisingly the jumping events as Chamberlain triple jumped in excess of 50 feet and successfully won the Big 8 Conference high jumping competition three years in a row. In the world of track and field it is an extraordinarily rare athlete that can compete at the highest level in the shortest sprints, all the jumping events, and the throwing events. This dynamic collection of talents is so rare in fact that Wilt might be the only man ever to possess this unique skill set.

Stars known by three names accounted for all of the answers in a category of a popular game show last week, and I correctly identified three of them. David Lee Roth of Van Halen was the musical answer, while Billy Bob Thornton and Joe Don Baker were the two actors I recognized.

For some reason I had anticipated that the category would include a sports figure who fit the description, but the other two answers were not athletes. Upon reflection I understood why no sports stars appeared, for I could think of only a handful who go by three names.

Here are the best examples from baseball, enough to fill out a lineup.

First Base, Willie Mays Aikens

The slugger with the famous name helped propel the Kansas City Royals to a pennant and several playoff appearances.

Second Base, Billy Jo Robidoux

Primarily a left fielder, Robidoux would be asked to fill in at second for our three name team.

Shortstop, Chin Leng Hu

Because he spent most of his career with the Dodgers, this infielder gave broadcaster Vin Scully to declare Hu’s on first when he reached base.

Third Base, Jim Ray Hart

Pounding over a hundred home runs in his career, Hart was one of the power hitters for the San Francisco Giants of the Sixties.

Left Field, Wily Mo Pena

He broke into the Big Leagues with Cincinnati, who a few years later traded the underachieving slugger to the New York Yankees.

Center Field, Shin Soo Choo

After several great seasons in both Cleveland and Cincinnati, Choo signed a lucrative free agent contract to play for his current team the Texas Rangers.

Right Field, John Ford Griffin

With a sweet left handed swing, Griffin hit over .300 in two different stints with the Toronto Blue Jays in the early 2000s.

Catcher, John Ryan Murphy

He backed up Joe Mauer for a season with the Minnesota Twins, who several years later sent him to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Starting Pitcher, John Henry Johnson

Over a span of ten years the left handed spent time with Boston, Texas, and Milwaukee, but his best season was when he earned eleven wins for the Oakland athletics.

Relief Pitcher, Ryan Rowland Smith

Seattle relied on this guy to be the lefty specialist out of the Mariners bullpen for four years, and he returned in 2014 to enjoy a comeback year with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

With the advent of UFC championship in 1993, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu also emerged as the famous combat sports in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) with Royce Gracie dictating the tournament utilizing the BJJ combat techniques and movements for grappling and ground fighting to pacify other UFC fighters.

While Royce Gracie and Dan Severn dominating the pay-per-view events in the late 90’s, the wrestling era was slowly taken over by Tito Ortiz, and now the likes of Conor McGregor, Stephen Thompson and Ronda Rousey are ruling over the hearts of MMA fans. However, MMA fighting have undergone a renaissance of sorts in terms of BJJ professional attracting considerable MMA fight news with fighters like Mackenzie Dern and Kron Gracie bringing back the BJJ trend in MMA.

Nate Diaz vs. Dillon Daniel- The Expected MMA Showdown

The recent upsurge in MMA fight scene was created when Nate Diaz, 31, called out Conor McGregor’s BJJ training partner Dillon Danis exclaiming that he is next on his ‘hit list’. The 23 years old BJJ star was quick to respond and accepted the Diaz’s challenge.

In a recent interview, Danis also shed lights on his plans for a MMA career and declared his interest in fighting an MMA bout against Nate Diaz. Although fighting against an opponent who is yet to make his MMA debut might provide Diaz with an experiential edge, Danis does not think so. Incidentally, Danis is a black belt in BJJ under Marcelo Garcia in New York, and is looking forward to win the IBJJF championship but said that he could skip it and combat Diaz in a MMA fight ‘tomorrow’.

Michelle Nicolini’s ONE FC Title Dream

Michelle Nicolini, the eight-time BJJ Champion, after securing a comfortable victory over Mona Samir in her ONE Championship debut match last month, has her eyes all fixed on winning the MMA organization’s inaugural women’s flyweight championship. Michelle, 34, appears to be determined on winning her first ONE FC title, calling it her “biggest dream at the moment”.

However, her dreams might be shattered by the 33 year old Russian stand-up specialist, Irina Mazepa, who is high on confidence after beating both Ana Julatan and Ann Osman. Michelle is also keeping an eye on her potential title match opponent assessing “gaps in her games”.

While she will look to utilize those gaps against her match with Mazepa, the only thing on Michelle’s mind right now is to win the ONE title and continue her successful BJJ run in MMA fighting as well.

Nonetheless, it is evident that BJJ stars are attracting considerable MMA fight news but it will be interesting to see how both Dillon Danis and Michelle Nicolini will adapt to MMA fighting plans.

In 1908, Marquis Mills Converse opened the Converse Rubber Shoe Company in Malden Massachusetts producing footwear for women, men and children. With continuing success and rising sales of Converse shoes, the company continued to grow and by 1917 had introduced to the world the Converse All Star basketball shoe that we know today.

Influenced by NBA star Chuck Taylor who complained about painful feet when playing his sport, the canvas basketball shoe was invented. Even though this shoe was created with comfort in mind rather than style, today the appeal of Converse trainers for being comfortable and providing the wearer with effortless style can perhaps help to describe how it has lasted in today’s sports footwear market.

Converse shoes are still popular and regarded as a firm favourite of the fashion world. Adorning the feet of millions worldwide since its launch in 1917, it still is the number one choice for celebrities and everyday people in need of easy fashion.

The basketball style of the Converse trainers makes it adaptable and instantly recognisable as the Converse Al Stars brand. It has undoubtedly moved on since its early years when they were only worn by sports stars such as legendary NBA star Chuck Taylor.

Taylor decided to go against sporting convention and wore the shoes outside playing basketball for a whole season. This made the fashion world react by consequently launching the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star shoe and making it a fashion must have.

Despite competition from other companies, the shoe has continued to grow in popularity and has over the year had a number of nicknames such as Cons, Connies, Convics and Verses.

Also known as The Chucks, Converse shoes have gone on to become iconic with the likes of Keira Knightley and Naomi Watts waving the flag for the American brand. People of all ages and all backgrounds can grab a piece of the action as it is easily affordable and readily available in retailers all over the world.

Constantly reinventing itself with bright colours and styles such as high heels, converse trainers still have an appeal for millions of consumers worldwide. It is street style at its greatest, with the ability to dress up or dress down a simple outfit.

Stars like Lilly Allen has worn them on the red carpet but Converse shoes will always have a place in the every man’s wardrobe for cool, sophisticated and effortless style.

As a young man growing up in the North East, I had the opportunity to do a lot of fishing. The lake my parents lived on offered a wide variety of fish to choose from. What I didn’t realize was the shear volume of snapping turtles that also inhabited this body of water.

I was sitting in our backyard on a lazy summer day, catching a few catfish on night crawlers, a favorite of most catfish. Soon, a couple of old timers came outside from the house next door. They meandered over and asked how the fishing was. My reply was “Not too bad,” as I proudly held up a stringer of nice cats. They seemed to be fairly impressed and inquired as to what kind of bait I was using. I told them that I was using night crawlers and they asked if I had ever used Wheatie balls. Well, honestly, I had no idea what they were talking about. One of them asked if I had Wheaties cereal in the house. My reply was a happy and resounding yes. They chimed in together and told me how to mix up a batch of dough balls made from crushed Wheaties. They said to add just enough water to make it stay together. So I went about making up a batch of this new bait, thinking “Wow, I’ll never be out of bait now”. We always seemed to have a big box of Wheaties in the house, hoping to grow up to be just like whatever sports star happened to be on the front of the box this time!

Finally, I had a batch ready to go. They instructed me on how to mold the bait to the hook, and kind of lob it out there, in an attempt to not throw off the bait. I did my best and sure enough, my bait went one way and my line, hook, and sinker another. They looked at each other smiled and shook their heads. Try again they said, so I did, but a little easier this time.

The afternoon just seemed to drag on and on with no bites. One of these gentlemen suddenly stood up and set the hook on what I was sure was a snag; to me it looked like he had hooked the plug to the lake. Whatever he hooked on started peeling out line like there was no tomorrow. To my surprise and delight he pulled in about a fourteen pound carp. What a monster! I was so excited by his fish that I forgot to keep an eye on my own pole,which was still in the water. Fortunately, it was still there. The fish this man just caught was a fine specimen; I wanted to catch a fish like that! They told me when using Wheatie balls that you want to hang on to your pole, never set it down unless you had a foot on it, and how they had lost many fishing poles to these bottom feeders.

Well it wasn’t long before I had a huge strike; I mean it was like trying to stop a determined runaway train. It wasn’t long before both old timers were over there giving me advice on how to play my fish, “Not too fast, keep a bend in your pole, let him run,let him wear himself out before you try to bring him in.” After a good long fight in which I was sure I was going to break my line, I got my fish landed. Mine was about ten or eleven pounds, not quite as big as the one caught earlier, but still nothing to thumb your nose at.

These two gray haired gentlemen went on to tell me about how good these carp feed at night. I couldn’t wait for night fall. Since I had some time to kill until it got dark, I fired up the old computer and read an article that said in England the carp is considered to be a game fish. It went on to also say that it was considered by many to be the hardest fighting freshwater fish in the world. I was blown away; I had access to this legend right here in my back yard. Needless to say, I could not wait for night fall!

The man who was founder and chairman of Steiner Sports Marketing was called nothing overlooking a sports marketing guru. He was not an athlete, but is indeed a sports collectibles expert. An all-star authority on the company of sports and one of the most influential figures, Brandon Steiner is an intelligent and complex personal in his own right. He designed a partnership with the New York Yankees and the New York Mets and formed a relationship with hundreds of athletes.

Steiner Sports became a full service sports marketing and occasions company. It is well known for handling much more than sports memorabilia, but this only helps to make sure that it is a respected and respected company in the area of sports memorabilia. There are more than 10,000 collectible items provided, guaranteed authenticity, signature witnessing, tamper resistant seals, and credentials provided.

Mr. Steiner began his own radio show involving interviews with athletes, which included a weekly call-in about memorabilia. The show broadcast out of a Sirius studio. He sold the sports marketing business to Omnicom Group Inc. in the fall of 2000. The honorable former owner of Steiner Sports was dedicated to charity families of several sorts. He had community involvement with the boys’ home ‘Jerome Wagner Youth Residence for Boys’. He was also a component of Hillside Food Outreach, the Twin Tower Fund (raising about $300,000), the Turn 2 Foundation (motivating youth to turn from drugs and alcohol), the PS 55 group (speaking at schools and colleges on his own struggles and successes), and Camp Sussex (being invested in rebuilding positive encouragement and giving personal attention to kids with limited financial means so they could leave the city for the summer months and gain social skills, become creative, and be in a nurturing environment). These types of values alone should endear him to the hearts of sports collectors owing to the character of the man who built about the most successful businesses founded on sports related things.

Distributors connected to Steiner Sports include Athlon Sports Collectibles, Hall of Heroes Stores, Pro Sports Memorabilia, Sports Images, and Rich Sports & DJP – Signature Collectibles, Inc.

Free shipping for orders over $200 is offered. A very few of the sports memorabilia provided includes a $600 basketball, $250 baseballs, pictures at $130 and $150, trading cards at $100, and items for kids. Some of these include banners, teddy bears, bat, glove and ball rack, trading card packages, chessboards, dart boards, footballs, mini helmets, and a Brandon Steiner playbook at $20.

The focus appears to be on the sports of baseball, football, basketball, hockey, tennis, boxing, and the Olympics.

Perhaps a true sports fan would wish to include collectibles related to Brandon Steiner himself! Sure to be long-remembered for his own personable connections in the sports world, he has created it feasible for 1,000’s of fans to be assured of an honest connection to their zest for memorabilia. Generations will carry on enjoy memories of items bought and shared foreign sources to come because of one man’s passion in the sports world.

You’ve just completed an exhausting 20-25 game schedule complete with a few rain make-up games at inopportune times. The season had everything including controversies among other teams, your own parents, league board members, and other headaches. Your reward for coping with all of this, and leading your team to the league championship, is to coach the 11-12 year old All Star team. Think your phone rang a lot during the season? You haven’t seen, or heard, anything yet. Your first duty as coach is to inform your spouse that your long awaited vacation will have to be postponed because your league needs you. You also discuss putting off the repair of your washer machine because, with All Stars, the laundry room is now on call 24 hours a day.

Picking your league All Star team can be an incredibly emotional time that may result in hurt feelings that extend beyond the season, and sometimes for years. Some leagues have incorporated having the players vote for part of the All Star team. Many leagues have the coaches decide in a meeting run by the league commissioner (or player agent). The first priority is to decide the number of players to draft on the team. If your league charter defines this number, then this is what you have to follow. Otherwise this decision has to be made at this meeting. Issues need to be discussed, such as: is it required by the league charter to have everyone play; and how much are they required to play? This issue can become a headache, as the substituting of players will sometimes be a distraction for the coach in charge during the game. Usually, prior to this meeting, the head coach has his assistant coaches assigned by the league. This can be a problem because sometimes coaches would rather take their regular season assistants than two other assigned head coaches that they have never worked with before. I would prefer the latter even though you are discussing strategies with two other people you might have learned to detest during the season. During All Stars, the coaches on the bench who were adversaries during the year always seem to get along as long as the team keeps playing.

Once the coaches and team are made, it is imperative that the head coach (or manager) hold a parents meeting. This meeting is even more important then your regular season team parents meeting. The meeting should be a requirement and not last more than 10 or 15 minutes. The key points for the coach to stress to the parents are that because your child is an All Star, he is expected to play any position on the field (except maybe pitcher & catcher). The point of this is that many of the players were their team’s shortstops during the season and they are asked to play the outfield. You need to assure parents (and even the players) that it is imperative that all nine positions are equally important. Other points that should be discussed should be about playing time. I always told parents that I won’t be popular as a coach at the conclusion of All Stars for every family but that the league entrusted me to use my judgment whether they think it is right or wrong. I always stress that I can only guarantee the minimum required playing time and that you should consider this if you are going to cancel vacation plans for these All Star games.

Practices should be run a couple of ways. You will probably have in your mind the batting order and fielding positions. I would urge all coaches to mix things up in the practices and try players at different positions. There will be some minor unexpected absentees and you should be ready for this as coach.

The All Star games themselves can be some of the highest pressured tension in youth sports. Neighboring leagues will be in attendance and players will have expected nervousness. You can cut your regular warm ups short and take the team in the outfield and play any silly type of game you can think of. I have always used a game where I divide the team in half, and with a hard ball for each team, the teammates must pass the ball to each other using only their neck. This meaningless sounding game helps to relax the players, and for 11 and 12 year olds, this might be the best warm up for them.

All Stars are the highlights for some players and leagues. Aside from all of the potential problems and arguing, if your All Star team ends up going on a nice winning streak, there is nothing like it. Getting far into any tournament will require some luck. If your team gets eliminated, this is where, as a coach, you have to give them the “ultimate” pep talk. Now some teams continue to play in other local tournaments, which is great way to end the season.

What do you do when the season is over? When snow at last lies thick on the local football field and the last Bowl games are decided does that mean that you’ve got to spend the rest of your winter weekends actually cleaning the garage or sweeping out the attic? No…Not if you’re lucky enough to own an Atari Home Computer and a neat little program from Game star, Inc. called STARBOWL FOOTBALL (SF). Limber up your throwing arm, football fans, it’s STILL football time!

SF is a sports program which was released in 1982 but which has only recently received attention from the media. The general lack of good sports games for the Atari makes this program particularly attractive, because it is one of the best football programs for the Atari currently on the market. Although many types of computer games can afford to be visually abstract, we expect a sports game to reflect reality as closely as possible. In this regard, SF fits the bill very nicely. It is visually full of nice touches such as a green, one hundred yard field that is marked off in ten, five and one-yard intervals with proper end zones, goal posts and yard markers.

The football players themselves are reasonably well-designed and are quite nicely animated. Sounds include a couple of rousing college fight songs, a bit of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” referees’ whistles, crowd roar and even the sound of the ball being kicked.

Overall, the graphics rate an above-average evaluation and, I suspect will be pleasantly satisfying even for us hard-to-please Atarians. Okay, so the game looks good. But what about the game-play? First of all, SF is easy to play. Even though it claims to have 196 different combinations of plays to choose from, it really only offers a choice of four pass plays and three running plays on Offense, and the same number of counter-plays on Defence. While this may not seem like a lot, it serves to keep the game moving along at a brisk pace. Thus, after only a few minutes study of the easily understood game instructions, you’ll be managing your team like John Madden, himself. Nevertheless, the game is not easily mastered.

It requires a combination of strategy and timing in order to score big. In this, you’ll be more successful against a human opponent than against the computer, since the computer opponent is much too formidable to be of much use, even for practice. (For instance, in a typical game against the computer, a friend of mine threw in the towel after the score had reached 100 to 0. However, the game designers claim that the computer CAN be beaten, so maybe it’s a matter of persistence).

Besides the one or two-player play mode, you can select from two different skill levels College or Pro. I would suggest the College level at first, but the Pro level offers the most fun once you have mastered the basics of the game. In SF, the action takes place on a horizontal football field of which only about 35 yards are visible at any one time. The television screen automatically scrolls the length of the field to keep up with play as the teams move up and down the gridiron.

As in real football, the object in SF is to’ out score your opponent with touchdowns, field goals or safeties. While trying to accomplish this, you must learn to contend with the game clock, the 30-second clock, interceptions, fumbles and penalties. The entire contest is controlled with the joystick, including play selection. There are six men on each team, only one of which you control the ball carrier on Offense, and the Free Safety on Defence. The computer controls the movements of the other men. However, you get to program the pass patterns for each Receiver and the blocking assignments for the Offensive line, as well as the pass coverage for the Corner backs and the rushing assignments for the Defensive line.

Once the ball is hiked, the quarter- back has the option of running with the ball, or passing it to a receiver assuming that you have previously (in secret) designated one as eligible. The free safety may blitz the QB or hang back and try for an interception or to tackle the runner. To complete a pass, you must hit the trigger the instant the ball arrives at the receiver.

Becoming proficient at this takes some practice, so be patient! (Even then, if the receiver is closely covered, the pass may fall incomplete). Running into anyone while carrying the ball, even your own man, can result in a tackle, which sometimes can turn into a fumble an automatic turnover. However, score a touchdown and your man does a little victory dance in the end zone a fitting “in-your-face” to a successful drive! Anyone looking for a reasonably accurate and visually enjoyable simulation of the game of football is sure to be pleased with SF. The major deficiencies lie with the discouragingly and unrealistically tough computer play and perhaps in the overemphasis of the pass as opposed to the run. All in all, however, I would recommend this game to anyone with a friend who is looking for an excuse not to have to clean the garage next weekend.

Bo Jackson is probably the best athlete to come out of Auburn University and is arguably one of the greatest athletes of the twentieth century. Were it not for a horrific January, 1991 hip injury the Heisman Trophy winner with world class sprinter speed who was an All-Star in both the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) might have gone on to truly rewrite the definition of an all-around athlete. As an aside few people realize Jackson was also a state champion decathlete in his youth.

The Alabama native born Vincent Edward Jackson was described as a restless child with qualities not unlike those of a wild boar with an abundance of energy. Over time the comparison to a wild boar stuck and as Jackson aged the nickname was shorted simply to Bo. Growing up in McCalla, Alabama Bo excelled at sports with perhaps his most notable prep level accomplishment being that in his senior baseball season he hit an astounding 20 home runs in 25 games. Projected over a 162 game major league baseball season that rate would produce a mind blowing 130 home runs (roughly doubling the current record).

Despite being a second round draft pick by the New York Yankees right out of high school Bo Jackson instead chose to attend Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama located about 120 miles west of his McCalla home. During his stint at Auburn University from 1982 to 1985 Bo not only excelled at baseball (batting.400) and football (winning the Heisman Trophy) but even gave thought to becoming a member of the US Olympic track team when his times in the 100 meter dash indicated that he could have a promising career as a world class sprinter. Ultimately the notion of pursuing sprinting was dropped because it did not offer the same type of financial incentives as football or baseball.

After serving as an exceptional athlete at Auburn during the first half of the 1980s Bo Jackson would go on to take the professional sports world by storm throughout the remainder of the decade while playing baseball for the Kansas City Royals as an outfielder and football for the Oakland Raiders as a running back. The year 1989 was the pinnacle of the sports career of Bo Jackson when he was selected to the MLB all-star game (where he won the all-star game MVP award) and the NFL pro bowl in recognition of his accomplishments on the grid iron during the 1989 football season. Sadly a NFL playoff game hip injury on January 13, 1991 eventually resulted in the need for a hip replacement and although Bo made a short comeback in baseball for all intents and purposes the injury ushered in the end of what might have otherwise been the most prolific athletic career in history. Due to his career shortening injury Bo Jackson is often only a footnote in sports history but when considering his collegiate and dual sport professional success it is fair to say Bo Jackson was the American athlete of the 1980s just as Michael Jordan was of the 1990s and Tom Brady or Tiger Woods arguably were of the 2000s.

In May of 2009, twenty years after his illustrious 1989 sports year when Nike “Bo Knows” advertisements were everywhere, the Alabama son came home to Auburn to pass along the lessons he learned during his lifetime to a new generation by giving the commencement speech to the 2009 graduating class at Auburn University.