Bo Jackson is a former professional baseball and football player and is considered to be one of the greatest athletes of all time due to his achievements in multiple sports. He is the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both the MLB and NFL. In this article, we’ll take a look at Bo Jackson’s net worth in 2021.
| Net Worth | $25 million |
| Age | 59 |
| Salary | Retired |
| Sponsors | Nike, Gatorade, Pepsi, AT&T, Mountain Dew |
| Sports | American Football / Baseball |
Bo Jackson’s Net Worth in 2021 (estimate): $25 million
Bo Jackson’s net worth in 2021 is valued at $25 million. This is according to multiple reputable resources such as Celebrity Net Worth.
Before we tackle his athletic prowess in the major leagues, let’s take a journey through Bo Jackson’s early life.
Vincent Edward “Bo” Jackson was born on November 30, 1962, in Bessemer, Alabama. He was the eighth of ten children and was named after Vince Edwards, her mother’s favorite actor.
Bo Jackson was a freak athlete at high school. In his senior year, he rushed for 1,175 yards as a running back for the school’s football team. Additionally, he hit 20 home runs in 25 games for their baseball team in the same year.
He was also a two-time decathlon state champion. In both of his decathlon state championships, he accumulated a commanding lead in points before the 1500 meters that he never had to compete for the event. Aside from that, he set state school records for high jump (6’9”) and triple jump (48’8”).
In June 1982, he was drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1982 Major League Baseball Draft. However, Jackson chose to attend Auburn University on a football scholarship as he promised his mother that he would be the first in the family to go to a major college. He proved to be an incredible athlete for Auburn their baseball and football programs.
Bo Jackson played for four years for the Auburn Tigers football team. He ran for 4,303 career yards, which was the fourth-best performance in Southeastern Conference history. He totaled 4,575 yards and 45 total touchdowns.
In his freshman season, the Auburn Tigers were in a heated battle against Alabama in the Iron Bowl. On 4th down with 2:26 left in the game, Jackson convinced his coach to let him go over the top of the offensive and defensive lines because of his abilities as a high jumper in high school and the opponents will not expect the move.
Jackson completed the jump to score a one-yard touchdown and Auburn eventually won the game with a score of 23-22.
Bo Jackson’s Collegiate Football Achievements:
- 3x First-team All-SEC (1982, 1983, 1985)
- 2x Consensus All-American (1983, 1985)
- 1985 UPI Player of the Year
- 1985 Sporting News Player of the Year
- 1985 Walter Camp Award
- 1985 Heisman Trophy Winner
On October 31, 1992, Jackson’s No. 34 was officially retired in a halftime ceremony. He joins 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Pat Sullivan and Terry Beasley as the only three players who had their number retired at Auburn. In 2007, Bo Jackson was ranked No. 8 on ESPN’s list of Top 25 Players in College Football History.
As for his collegiate baseball career, he only played a total of 90 games as he was injured in his sophomore year and was limited to 22 games in his senior year after being ruled ineligible by the NCAA following a visit by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This led to him claiming that picking “would be a waste of a draft pick” and saying that he would never play for the Buccaneers.
In the 1986 NFL Draft, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected Bo Jackson with the 1st overall pick. However, Jackson stayed true to his statements and turned down Tampa Bay’s five-year $7.6 million offer. He instead signed with the MLB’s Kansas City Royals for a three-year contract worth $1.07 million.
The Buccaneers forfeited his draft rights prior to the 1987 NFL Draft, and that led him to be picked with the 183rd pick of the draft by the Los Angeles Raiders. Jackson initially said that he would focus on baseball and not sign with the Raiders. However, he eventually learned that Raiders owner Al Davis was a fan of Jackson and was open to the idea of him playing baseball and football at the same time.
He then signed a five-year $7.4 million contract with the agreement that he can play the entire baseball season with the Royals and would join the Raiders once MLB season concluded. In addition to that, Jackson was given the highest salary of any non-quarterback player in NFL history at that time and he would be receiving a $500,000 signing bonus as well as an additional $500,000 if he returned the following year.
Jackson only played 7 games, and started 5, in his rookie season. He made 4 touchdowns in 554 rushing yards with a league-leading 91-yard run in a game.
In total, Jackson started 23 games in 38 games played for the Raiders. He rushed for 2,782 yards and scored 16 rushing touchdowns. He was also named to his one and only Pro Bowl selection during the 1990 season.
Unfortunately, Bo Jackson’s career was severely affected after he suffered a dislocated hip during a playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals in January 1991. He was later diagnosed with avascular necrosis of the hip joint which forced him to retire from football.
As for his professional baseball career, he first played with the Kansas City Royals’ Class AA minor league affiliate Memphis Chicks before being called up to the major leagues in September 1986. In the 1987 season, Bo Jackson was included in Kansas City’s roster and he finished the year with 22 home runs, 53 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases as a left fielder.
In 1989, he was voted to start the American League All-Star team and was named the All-Star game MVP. He finished the season with 32 home runs, 105 RBIs, 26 stolen bases, and a league-leading 172 strikeouts.
On July 11, 1990, Bo Jackson performed his famous “wall run” during their game against the Baltimore Orioles wherein he caught the ball and ran three steps along the wall to avoid impact and the risk of injury.
Unfortunately, he was released by the Royals following the hip injury that he suffered from the Raiders of the NFL. A few days after he was cut, the Chicago White Sox offered him a three-year deal worth $700,000 per season. White Sox co-owner Jerry Reinsdorf said that they did not expect him to play all of the seasons as he rehabilitates his hip injury.
He played 23 games for the White Sox during the 1991 season and 85 games during the 1993 season. Jackson was included in the White Sox’s disabled roster for the 1992 season due to his hip replacement surgery earlier that year.
In the 1994 season, Jackson signed with the California Angels and played 75 games for the team before the season was cut short by the 1994-1995 baseball strike. He then decided to retire at the age of 32.
Bo Jackson’s MLB Achievements:
- 1989 AL All-Star
- 1989 All-Star Game MVP
- 1993 AL Comeback Player of the Year Award
- One-time 30-Home Run Seasons (1989)
- Four-time 20-Home Run Seasons (1987-1990)
- Two-time 20-Stolen Base Seasons (1988-1989)
- One-time 100 RBI Seasons (1989)
Bo Jackson totaled 141 home runs, 415 RBIs, and had a .250 career batting average in his eight-year MLB career.
During the height of his career, Bo Jackson was endorsed by Nike and was involved in the popular marketing campaign called “Bo Knows” which was a campaign for the new Nike Air Trainer I, a cross-training shoe and the first of its kind.
Jackson was also featured in multiple video games, starting with the Tecmo Bowl in 1989 for the NES system where fans called his digital counterpart “Tecmo Bo” as he was untacklable in the game. He also had his own game called “Bo Jackson’s Hit and Run” for the original game boy. The game featured both baseball and football.
Jackson was then made as an unlockable player in ESPN NFL Football. He then made an appearance in NFL Street 2 as well as Madden 15, Madden 16, and Madden NFL 20.
In 1995, Jackson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Family and Child Development at Auburn, fulfilling his promise to his mother.
Bo also dabbled in acting as he appeared in episodes of famous TV shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Moesha, Married… with Children, and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman where he played basketball with Clark Kent/Superman.
He also had multiple successful business ventures that came from the success that he had from sports. In 2007, he partnered with John Calengosi to build the Bo Jackson Elite Sports Complex, an 88,000-square foot multi-sport dome facility in Lockport, Illinois.
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In 2021, he started Promise Nutraceuticals which offers a line of CBD products called “Hero Brand CBD”.
In April 2012, Bo Jackson created and joined Bo Bikes Bama, a five-day 300-mile long-distance road cycling event in support of the victims of the tornado outbreak in Alabama. The five-day Gran Fondo was a one-time event, but the Bo Bikes Bama became an annual single-day long ride of approximately 62 miles aiming to raise money for the Governor’s Emergency Relief Fund.
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Bo Jackson is known for being an elite multi-sport athlete, but he has also leveraged the success that he got to his post-playing career.
With all of that being said, were you surprised with Bo Jackson’s net worth in 2021? Considering all of his business ventures, should it be more?
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