AU FOOTBALL: Bo talks life after football

When the call came in from Auburn to deliver both of Saturday’s commencement addresses, Bo Jackson listened, then hung up the phone without giving an answer.

Jackson, who has tried his best to regain anonymity after his star-studded, two-sport career, sat down with his wife, Linda, to discuss the spotlight-garnering proposition. It’s what he does every time an offer is pitched in his direction.

This one, Jackson said, was a “no-brainer.”

“It’s something both of us are comfortable with,” Jackson said. “We’re both Auburn graduates and have two kids at Auburn.”

Jackson became just the second person to address both groups of Auburn graduates Saturday. It’s something Jackson wouldn’t have been comfortable doing in the past, he said, but that was the point.

Jackson’s speech centered on the benefits of stepping out of one’s comfort zone, something he’s done constantly since his athletic career ended in 1994.

“From that sense, it gives me great pleasure to know that I can come back to Auburn University and the faculty have faith in me to do a good job,” Jackson said in between his early morning and mid-afternoon speeches. “I hope I did a good job.”

Jackson said he remains connected to the university, but prefers to not butt his head anywhere near a spotlight situation. He said he specifically prefers not to be associated with the football team because “I know how to play football, so I really don’t keep up with it that much.”

“I like to dibble and dabble in things I don’t know too much about,” Jackson said.

When the Auburn women’s basketball team won its first SEC regular-season championship in 20 years this past March, Jackson sent each player a bouquet of roses. Upon arriving on campus from his home in Illinois, he learned that the women’s golf team had recently won an SEC championship of its own.

“There may be another batch of roses coming down, you never know,” Jackson said. “I don’t do these things for publicity. I would rather keep (reporters) as far away from me as I can. Not saying anything bad about (them), but I think I’ve spent enough time in front of the mikes and cameras.”

Jackson said he’s avoided falling into the traps that come with being a retired athlete.

Jackson proudly drives a big 2003 Dodge pickup truck “with dualies” because “every body expects you to be driving a fancy, $300,000 sports car, a Rolls Royce or a Bentley,” he said. When strangers approach him to ask if he really is Bo Jackson, he said he replies “sometimes.”

“They say ‘What the heck are you doing in Chicago?‘” Jackson said. “I say ‘I’m just passing through. I’m on my way back to the West Coast.‘ And I live three blocks down the street. It’s fun.”

Jackson played at Auburn from 1982-85 and became the second player in Auburn history to win the Heisman Trophy. He played for four years in the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders while also slugging for Major League Baseball’s Kansas City Royals. He retired from baseball in 1994.

One year later, he went back to Auburn to earn his undergraduate degree.

“When I first started playing sports as a kid, my mother told me that if you don’t make the grades, you can’t play,” Jackson said. “Those rules should apply everywhere. Sports, don’t get me wrong, it’s great. But it can’t take you far as you need to go in this world, especially when you get out of sports and go into the business world.”

Jackson now owns a local bank in Burr Ridge, a food company and a sports complex.

“Everything can be taken away from you,” Jackson said. “The government can take your money, your cars, your house. But the government can’t take your education from you. Let athletics be the second most important thing on your list when you’re in college.

“If I could do it, you can do it. And I was a bonehead.”

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