Link: ESPN 30 for 30: You don't know Bo

BAMAFAN IN NY

Hall of Fame
Jan 2, 2007
5,699
22
62
48
Watertown, NY
www.myspace.com
I believe every single player that has ever played at Auburn was paid.. Every one except Bo Jackson! Lol

I was 8 yrs old and a big Bo Jackson fan. He was like superman. It's hard to let go of childhood heroes.
 

257WBY

Suspended
Aug 20, 2011
2,077
1
0
My cardiologist is a very well-known bow hunter, international style. In fact, he's probably the only nationally-known cardiologist who also happens to be a bow hunter and black to boot... :D
I know who you're talking about. Raised in Arkansas and has had a wonderful career in Alabama. Seems like we've heard that before!
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
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You realize, of course, that Bo was at Auburn from 1982 thru 1985. His freshman year Iron Bowl was against Coach Bryant while the other three were against Ray Perkins.
Yes, I do, but it was in response to the claim that Donahue was fired because of Bo Jackson. They were together in 1983 and 1984, and the two on the same staff were 1-1 against Bo, so why Perkins would fire Donahue over Jackson is puzzling.
 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,735
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I remember that now. We gained more than 500 yards in that game and still lost.
I lived in Germany and we didn't get it that year, but Auburn only had 132 yards of offense entering the fourth quarter. That was - literally - the best game the Tide played that year other than Penn State - at least up until the end. There was also a thing Bryant blamed himself for. In the third quarter we kicked a field goal to go up 19-14. There was a penalty that would have given us another play up close on I believe a third down - but Bryant didn't want to take the points off the board. Afterward, he blamed himself rather harshly for that one (understandable) decision.
 

Bamabww

3rd Team
Oct 26, 2005
234
0
35
70
Moulton, Alabama
community.webshots.com
My favorite memory of Bo is the 1985 Iron Bowl. The game was played on Bo's birthday and the awbarn student section sang happy birthday to him during warmup. After the game, after Tiffin kicked the field goal, the Bama student section sang happy birthday to him. Loved it.

Back then the two schools split the tickets down the middle, more or less, so the stadium was half Bama and half awbarn. Both bands would be on the field at the same time. While the awbarn band was playing their alma mater, the Bama students sang "Ole McDonald had a farm." One of my favorite games of all time.
 

AgentAntiOrange

1st Team
Dec 30, 2009
888
0
0
Norman, OK
Bo Jackson is, to my knowledge, a good and selfless man. Amazing athlete and a better man. I am proud of him as a fellow Alabamian. And I don't think giving a good man his props is the same as a lovefest. Just my .02.
 

pnhs1311

BamaNation Citizen
Aug 5, 2007
33
0
0
Top 3-4 athlete of all time. No doubt. He and Herschel were the most physically talented college RB's ever.

Bo knows how the pay system worked/works down on the plains.
Bo knows how to 'keep it down home cuz'
Bo knows how to keep his mouth shut.

I don't hate the guy for it, but I don't really care for him either.

Do you think
Bo knows who the bagman is?
 

rizolltizide

Hall of Fame
Jan 4, 2003
14,825
19
157
57
st pete, fl
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!"
No you di'int...
 

bamaslammer

All-American
Jan 8, 2003
4,440
1,102
282
Argo, AL, St Clair
www.kirkwoodhouse.com
I'll give credit to Bo as being one of the best running backs I ever saw, but he's not the best. There are two guys who stick out to me, one Marcus Dupree was almost 30 pounds heavier and almost as fast. Dupress ran a LAGIT 4.4 40 yard dash. Dupree was at full speed in 3 steps. At OU in 1982 the guy averaged 8.5 yards a carry. Bo and Hershell were never in that zip code. The other is Barry Sanders, from a purely skill point of view he stands alone.

I saw Dupree play on TV several times and every single time he touched the ball it was just one shoe string from a touchdown. If you're linebackers didn't get a good handle on him it was six. DB's had no chance what so ever of getting that guy down, most couldn't even catch him but even if they did he outweighed the biggest safeties by 50 pounds. He was a true north-south runner too. No dancing around, he was coming through the hole weather it was there or not. I hate that his career ended so early.
 

mittman

All-American
Jun 19, 2009
3,942
0
0
I'll add my one in person baseball memory of Bo to this. I was in Huntsville watching a Memphis Chicks/Hunstville Stars game. Bo charged a line drive and let the ball skip under his glove. He chased the ball down turned and threw the guy out at second.

He was by far the most gifted all around athlete I have ever seen. Him saying that he was gifted the way he says it gives all the credit to God and not anything he did via work or practice (although he obviously worked very hard). I will always be a Bo fan.

That said, until someone better comes along (Trent has a chance), I will always be of the opinion that Earl Campbell is the best pro running back ever with a very close second to Emmitt Smith. Bo could have been a great pro, but I don't think he would have reached their status with me.
 

bamafaninOhiO

All-American
May 11, 2010
2,114
0
0
Dayton, Ohio
I'll give credit to Bo as being one of the best running backs I ever saw, but he's not the best. There are two guys who stick out to me, one Marcus Dupree was almost 30 pounds heavier and almost as fast. Dupress ran a LAGIT 4.4 40 yard dash. Dupree was at full speed in 3 steps. At OU in 1982 the guy averaged 8.5 yards a carry. Bo and Hershell were never in that zip code. The other is Barry Sanders, from a purely skill point of view he stands alone.

I saw Dupree play on TV several times and every single time he touched the ball it was just one shoe string from a touchdown. If you're linebackers didn't get a good handle on him it was six. DB's had no chance what so ever of getting that guy down, most couldn't even catch him but even if they did he outweighed the biggest safeties by 50 pounds. He was a true north-south runner too. No dancing around, he was coming through the hole weather it was there or not. I hate that his career ended so early.
Did dupree also crush some of the longest moonshots in professional baseball?

there are many athletes in both sports that you can bring up, but his combination of talent and pure skill to be his size was impressive...in two professional sports.

to be able to compete in both football and baseball, and to be able to perform at what could have been hall of fame levels in both is just amazing...
 

imaloyalone

Super Moderator
Jan 9, 2005
3,344
6
132
Northport, AL
I'll give credit to Bo as being one of the best running backs I ever saw, but he's not the best. There are two guys who stick out to me, one Marcus Dupree was almost 30 pounds heavier and almost as fast. Dupress ran a LAGIT 4.4 40 yard dash. Dupree was at full speed in 3 steps. At OU in 1982 the guy averaged 8.5 yards a carry. Bo and Hershell were never in that zip code. The other is Barry Sanders, from a purely skill point of view he stands alone.

I saw Dupree play on TV several times and every single time he touched the ball it was just one shoe string from a touchdown. If you're linebackers didn't get a good handle on him it was six. DB's had no chance what so ever of getting that guy down, most couldn't even catch him but even if they did he outweighed the biggest safeties by 50 pounds. He was a true north-south runner too. No dancing around, he was coming through the hole weather it was there or not. I hate that his career ended so early.
I personally believe Bo had the potential to be better than any guy on this list (or any other)... had he been used properly and devoted his talents solely to football. Had he been utilized like Herschel, I believe most would consider him the greatest RB in the history of college football. In three years, Walker had 1,083 carries for 5,596 yards. In four years, Bo had 735 carries for 4,714 yards. If you gave Bo the same number of carries per year that Walker had (361), he would have amassed a total of 2,315 yards per season if he maintained his YPC average (which is debatable that he could do)... translating into 9,261 yards in his career - easily the NCAA career leader.

For the 1st two years at Auburn, Bo shared carries with three other guys because the team ran the wishbone. Had Dye been smart and featured Bo from day one as a true tailback, there's no telling what he could have done. Because of his sharing the backfield with Marcus Allen with the Raiders, playing partial seasons, and having his career end prematurely, it's hard to say what his history in the NFL could have shown. Got to be considered (at least) as one of the three greatest RB in NCAA history in terms of pure ability and potential (not actual numbers).
 

fralo4tide

1st Team
Jun 4, 2009
930
24
37
Pensacola, FL
While vacationing in Busch Gardens last year, I met a guy who said he beat Bo in the forty in high school. He gave lots of details but don't know if he was being truthful or not. Can't remember his name; otherwise, I would google it.
 

Bama1985

1st Team
Jan 18, 2006
794
126
62
61
Calhoun County
I wasn't alive yet but if it hadn't been for a bad PI call on Jermiah Castile after he made an INT, then "Bo over the top" would of never happened.
That was a terrible call. The interception would have given Alabama the win that day. I thought it was Tommy Wilcox that intercepted the ball.
 

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