Royals History: Remembering Bo Jackson 30 Years Later

Bo Jackson Refuses To Sign With Yankees

Bo Jackson’s athletic talent jumped out at McDory High in Alabama played football, baseball, and tranck and field. He hit 20 home runs in 25 games in baseball. He rushed for 1,173 yards in 108 carries (10,9 ypc) with 17 touchdowns. In track and field, he won two state decathlon championships.

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The Yankees had taken Jackson in the second round of the 1982 draft. The New York Yankee’s scout couldn’t even get inside Bo Jackson’s house, largely because he had promised his mother that he would go to college (the only one of his family of eight children). George Steinbrenner fired him.

Kansas City Royals scout Kenny Gonzalez had developed a relationship with Bo Jackson’s mother, who was a maid at Ramada Inn at the time. He regularly stopped in to have coffee with her during breaks when he was in the area, and she had informed him that Bo was going to college. Even so, Gonzalez maintained the relationship over the years, even after Jackson was starring at Auburn University in the same three sports that he had in high school:

Next: Bo Jackson At Auburn