Bo Jackson quotes: ’cause Bo knows quotes.
“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.”
“It’s all about the attitude, gut, heart and determination to go out and give 120% every time.”
“I always believed that if you don’t believe in yourself, and stand for what you believe is right, who else is going to have faith in you?”
“The thing I shared with the kids was, don’t get into a routine of doing things the same way every day. Step outside the box. Do something different. The world around you is changing every day. Change with it.”
“I am a firm believer in if you can’t get it the old-fashioned way, you don’t need it.”
“I guarantee you that’s what Jeff Gordon does. He uses everything the fans throw at him to stoke his fire and it drives him to be better at what he does.”
“When I was a kid, everybody in the neighborhood picked me to be the one in jail or be in the cemetery by the time I was 20.”
“Growing up without a father was not easy. We never had enough food. But at least I could beat on other kids and steal their lunch money and buy myself something to eat. But I couldn’t steal a father. I couldn’t steal a father’s hug when I needed one. I couldn’t steal a father’s whipping when I needed one. Being the 8th out of 10 kids, and being the one that stayed in trouble, I sort of became a momma’s boy. I wanted to stay close enough so mom could see me play – where I could go home if I needed to.”
“First of all, I really never imagined myself being a professional athlete.”
“My confidence and drive to go play came when I realized how gifted I was at such a young age and how much bigger my build was than the kids my age.”
“I always had it in my mind, even in college, I wanted to do both sports, even at the pro level.”
“Rule number one: do not force Bo Jackson to do anything. I turned down the largest contract given to a rookie in NFL history, but my decision was simple. My first love is baseball, and it has always been a dream of mine to be a major league player.”
“Rule number two: do not insult Bo Jackson. There were highlights… many highlights.”
“Rule number three: don’t ever tell Bo Jackson what he can’t do. Ever. I was awarded the Tony Conigliaro Award – given to a player who best overcomes an obstacle and adversity through the attributes of spirit, determination, and courage. For me, it was overcoming hip replacement surgery.”
“I had one more goal to accomplish – to fulfill a promise I made to my mother when I was in college – to complete my degree. In December of 1995, I graduated from Auburn University with a Bachelor of Science degree in family and child development.”
“I made it a point to learn as much as I could in college, especially because it was free. I have nine siblings. We grew up dirt-poor. My mother raised us in a 675-square-foot house – three rooms, outdoor plumbing. Going to college was unheard of. My mother didn’t have the money. When somebody said, ‘If we give you a scholarship, you could come to our university, compete in football, baseball and track, and we will pay for your education… would you come?’ I said, ‘Hell, yeah.'”
“I was only the second non-faculty person to give a commencement speech. That was a delight. I loved it. Talk to any of my brothers and sisters. They would say the last person they thought would be doing public speaking was me. Growing up, I stuttered. I was real quiet – well, I still am. No one thought I would get up in front of thousands of people onstage, with a microphone, and feel as comfortable as I would if I was on the football field.”
“God works in mysterious ways. The way I look at it, I dislocated my hip so I didn’t have to retire. I don’t look at it as a devastating injury. God made speed bumps. If you can get over the speed bumps, you’ll be all right. Don’t feel bad for me. I didn’t get into sports to make it to the Hall of Fame, or to be the home run king, or to break Walter Payton’s record. I got into sports because I saw it as a way to open other doors. Sports was great for Bo Jackson.”
“So there’s no reason for anyone to feel sorry for what happened to me, or what might have been. I didn’t play sports to make it to the Hall of Fame. I just played for the love of sport.”
“The ‘Bo Knows’ commercials had crossed the line from clever spots to advertising immortality. The first year of us shooting the ‘Bo Knows’ spots, I knew we had a hit. The cross-training line at Nike went from about $4 million in sales to about half a billion. I was like the barbecue sauce on some well-grilled steaks or chicken. I was just one of the ingredients in a great meal.”
“We didn’t know it at the time, but it just goes to show you when you have a good marketing engine behind you, like Nike, it can last almost forever, and I think I was just fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time. Marketing wasn’t big back then, but it kind of set sports marketing on its ear, and after that, everyone wanted the athletes to say they were using their products. It really worked out well.”
“I’m not a good spectator, I get bored watching. But I sure loved playing the game. I loved the competition. I loved being better than the next guy. I enjoyed watching people’s eyes jump out of their heads watching me do something that was normal to me.”
“I still don’t know what my stats were, but I know I’m still reaping the benefits, enjoying the accolades, and all of the awards that still come to me.”
“I’m not a collector of too many souvenirs. My souvenirs are collected in my mind. I think the best souvenir I could take from that is the appreciation my teammates gave me. The memory I take from the game is the camaraderie of all the great athletes I got to play with, stand beside, shake hands with and goof off with.”
“I’m the type of person, I cross the bridges once I get to ’em. I don’t try to plan my life three, four months in advance, because you don’t know if tomorrow’s promised to you.”
“I’ll never worry about not being successful. I’ll just take it one day at a time, one season at a time. And play as hard as I can.”
“Baseball and football are very different games. In a way, both of them are easy. Football is easy if you’re crazy as hell. Baseball is easy if you’ve got patience. They’d both be easier for me if I were a little more crazy – and a little more patient.”
“I hated working out in the gym – something I had never done before in my entire life. I was always active – I went from baseball to football to baseball. I didn’t have time to work out. Before I injured my hip, I thought going to the gym was for wimps.”
“I love going out and doing new things. I’ve taken up golf in the past five or six years, and most of the time there aren’t too many people out there that can drive a ball further than I can.”
“I have always been an avid bike rider. Even before I became an avid bike rider, I was an avid bike stealer when I was a kid. I am very educated on bikes.”
“I hate to blow my own horn, but I gave a lot of people fits.”
“Don’t sell yourself short because without that you can’t go far in life because after sports the only thing you know is sports and you can’t do anything else with that.”
“I also tell them that your education can take you way farther than a football, baseball, track, or basketball will – that’s just the bottom line.”
“I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.”
“The only people I know getting in high places by running their mouth are politicians.”
“Don’t plan to repent at the 11th hour – you may die at 10:30.”
“Don’t put off until tomorrow the loving words you can say today.”
“Family has always been the most important thing in the world. I would say my greatest achievement in life right now – my greatest achievement, period, is… and I’m still trying to achieve it… is to be a wonderful father to my kids.”
“You know what? I still wouldn’t change a thing. The man upstairs had a plan of the way of working things out, and they did. I have no regrets.”
“I am my own person. What I’m doing, I’m happy with it. I’m doing what I want to.”
“I’m blessed. Things turned out all right.’”
“Don’t run too fast through life. You only have one.”
Recommended: Michael Jordan quotes.
