Bo Jackson: A True American Icon

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Recommended: The impact sports have on American culture

The concept of a two-sport or multi-sport athlete enormously filters the list of great athletes throughout history and, if used as a measuring rod, leaves us with the best of all time: Bo Jackson. “Bo Jackson is not known in Spain, despite starring in Bo Knows Nike brand campaign that remains today, the most successful of the multinational” (Williams). “In these famous ads, which have Jackson first playing football and baseball, two sports that are professional, he then tries his luck at basketball with Michael Jordan, tennis with John McEnroe, ice hockey with Wayne Gretzky and track and field with Sea and Decker” (Williams). The first ad was so successful that Nike decided to produce more ads featuring Bo Jackson as the “all-star athlete”. These new ads featured him playing and participating in cycling, football with Welshman Ian Rush, who are professional athletes, cricket, surfing, weightlifting, and horse riding. Nike used Bo Jackson’s athletic abilities to form a gold mine “The first athlete in history to be selected as an All Star in two different sports” (Askew). Bo Jackson’s work as America’s greatest athlete of all time shows him to be a representative of American culture because he changed both the American past times of baseball and football, he helps Alabamians with fundraisers that benefit tornado victims, he represents American strength along with persistence, and he set a new height to sports that still haven’t been achieved today by any other athlete. According to Martin:
“In 38 NFL games, Jackson averaged an astounding 5.4 yards per carry (by comparison, Jim Brown averaged 5.2 ypc, Barry Sanders 5.0, Walter Payton 4.4 and Emmitt Smith 4.2) A quick YouTube review of Jackson's highlight reel reminds us just how domi...

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...rican Dream and a true example of an American icon.

Works Cited

Close, Paul, David Askew, and Xin Xu. The Beijing Olympics the Political Economy of a Sporting Mega-event.. Hoboken: Taylor & Francis, 2006.. 34-35
Crenshaw, Solomon, Jr. "Bo Bikes Bama Charity Bike Ride Coming to Auburn." AL.com. AL.com, 2 Dec. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Gatz, Margaret, Michael A. Messner, and Sandra Rokeach. Paradoxes of youth and sport. Albany: State University of New York, 2002.. 12-13.
Martin, Vince. "Why Bo Jackson Is the Greatest Athlete Ever." Yahoo Contributor Network. Yahoo, 12 Sept. 2006. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
Platt, Larry. New jack jocks: rebels, race, and the American athlete. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.. 56-60
Williams, Peter. The sports immortals: deifying the American athlete. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1994.. 30-31

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