Deion Sanders
Deion Sanders: Hall of Fame cornerback, two-sport star, and current head coach at Colorado.
via Wikipedia: Deion Sanders · see source
Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former player who is the head football coach at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Prime Time" and "Coach Prime", he played in the NFL for 14 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and Baltimore Ravens. He also played MLB baseball for nine seasons with the New York Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, and San Francisco Giants. He won two Super Bowl titles and made one World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series.
Lore & Background
Sanders played college football for Florida State, winning the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988. He was selected by the Falcons fifth overall in the 1989 NFL draft. Primarily a cornerback, he received eight Pro Bowl and six first-team All-Pro selections. He made consecutive Super Bowl appearances in Super Bowl XXIX with the 49ers and Super Bowl XXX with the Cowboys, winning both. He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. After retiring, he served as head coach at Jackson State University from 2020 to 2022, leading them to two Celebration Bowl appearances and the first undefeated regular season in school history. He became head coach at Colorado in 2023.
Reader's Guide
Sanders was born in Fort Myers, Florida, to Connie and Mims Sanders. His parents divorced when he was two; he was raised by his mother and stepfather Willie Knight. He attended North Fort Myers High School, earning All-State honors in football, basketball, and baseball. In 1985, he was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team. The Kansas City Royals selected him in the sixth round of the 1985 MLB draft, but he chose to attend Florida State instead. On the New Heights podcast, Sanders revealed his first name is spelled "Dion" but he started spelling it "Deion" when learning the nursery rhyme "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" as a child.
Did You Know?
- His No. 2 jersey at Florida State was retired in 1995.
- He hit a home run and scored a touchdown in the NFL in the same week in 1989, the only player ever to do so.
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