In response to a number of posters here regarding numerous things:
1) The late Ken Donahue has ADMITTED that he made NO PROMISES to Bo Jackson, for the simple reason that neither he nor Coach Bryant made promises they could not keep. A number of folks here have probably posted at
TI, and this story was told years ago over there.
2) Auburn sort of fell into Bo Jackson scholarship-wise by accident. They were actually higher on a guy named Alan Evans. In fact, had it been just a bit earlier when Auburn was serving sanctions, they would have chosen Evans and not signed Bo.
3) As far as the allegation of payments - it is one thing to say "Auburn has paid players." That can be substantiated quite easily even if we don't consider Cam Newton. But it does not follow that therefore Bo Jackson was paid to come to Auburn. During the Ramsey scandal, Jackson was specifically asked whether or not he was paid and denied it. That, of course, does not mean he's telling the truth, but unless you have some sort of evidence to substantiate the charge, it might be best to not make it.
4) Bo Jackson was a truly awesome athlete. No, he would not have made the professional Hall of Fame of EITHER baseball OR football - but I DO think he would have if he had concentrated on just one sport.
5) Whether or not Bo made it over the top or not is largely irrelevant. The refs called it a TD, and it will go down in history as a TD. That said - Bo nearly became the biggest goat in the game. Auburn got the ball back and needed to just run out the clock. On a short play, they called again for "Bo Over The Top." He FUMBLED the ball, and we recovered it needing only a FG to win. Unfortunately, we didn't do it, and as Tide graduate (and author Scot Brown said in "The Uncivil War") it "unleashed a decade of Pat Dye acting childish in the face of success."
Bo was a truly great athlete. Didn't see the show, but he even went hunting and caught some huge deer that made "The Sporting News" during the whole "Bo Knows" thing. I did love Wayne Gretzky: "No!"