One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to read books about athletes as they provide great lessons for our personal and professional lives.

I recently finished the book entitled “The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson” by Jeff Pearlman.

It’s an excellent book as it takes us through the life and times of the greatest two sport athlete who excelled at professional football and professional baseball. Of course, I was a fanboy of Bo Jackson back in the day as evidenced by his autographs from my sports memorabilia collection in the pictures below.

The book details Bo Jackson’s journey from Bessemer, Alabama to Auburn University to Minor League Baseball to Major League Baseball with the Kansas City Royals to the National Football League with the Los Angeles Raiders (currently the Las Vegas Raiders) to his devasting football injury to his comeback in Major League Baseball with the Chicago White Sox.

While Bo Jackson was an incredibly gifted and a once in a lifetime athlete who was also at the center of Nike’s highly successful “Bo Knows” marketing campaigns, I think his greatest triumph and lesson for us was his incredible resiliency.

Against all odds, Bo Jackson was able to overcome a speech impediment and was able to return to the baseball diamond after he sustained a debilitating injury which required a hip replacement.

IMO, Bo Jackson’s greatest gift to his legions of fans and the public wasn’t his iconic touchdown runs or his mammoth home runs or his world-class speed or his incredibly strong arm that threw out daring baserunners – all of which can still be watched nowadays on YouTube.

No, his greatest gift to us was to underscore the importance of #grit, #perseverance and #resiliency. Thank you Bo Jackson for being a great role model!