I’m a child of the 1980s. And if you’re a child of the 1980s—and, in particular, a sports child of the 1980s—you are required by law to worship everything about Bo Jackson.

 

The fascinating thing about Bo’s narrative is this: Had he stayed healthy, and become Eric Dickerson in football and Gary Sheffield in baseball, he’s not nearly as riveting a topic. What hangs above the Bo Jackson story is an enormous question mark and the query, “What could have been?” It’s a haunting sentiment, because more than 30 years after his last NFL game, we have yet to see another athlete come close to Bo’s greatness. The explosiveness. The power. The speed. He was one-in-a-million—and he simply (poof!) vanished.

 

This book was a challenge, because Bo is very guarded and mysterious. I’ve never worked harder on a project; never interviewed more people (this is the first time I cleared 700). But in the end I found a man I genuinely admire and respect, with a life story worthy of a deep-dive biography.