Jeff Pearlman, author of "The Last Folk Hero," dives into the legendary life of Bo Jackson, the iconic dual-sport athlete. He explores Bo's mythical status and the challenges of growing up in poverty, alongside his disdain for practice due to overwhelming natural talent. Pearlman discusses pivotal moments in Bo's career, including his decision to forgo the Yankees, a devastating injury that altered his trajectory, and how he navigates life away from the spotlight while remaining a towering figure in sports history.
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Bo Jackson's Mythical Feats
Bo Jackson's athleticism was legendary, sparking debates and awe among fans.
Stories circulated about his feats, like running across an outfield wall, fueling his mythical status.
insights INSIGHT
The Last Folk Hero
Bo Jackson is considered a folk hero due to the lack of ubiquitous recording devices in his era.
This allowed stories of his athletic feats to spread and become larger-than-life legends.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Bo Jackson and the Plane Incident
During a turbulent flight, Bo Jackson reassured passengers after speaking with the pilots.
Another version claims he helped fly the plane, adding to his legendary image.
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The Last Folk Hero by Jeff Pearlman delves into the life of Bo Jackson, a legendary athlete who dominated both football and baseball in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Drawing from over 700 interviews, Pearlman captures Jackson's incredible feats and enduring cultural impact, while also exploring the complexities of his personality and career.
In the 80s and 90s, few sports stars loomed as large as Bo Jackson. A Kansas City Royal and an Oakland Raider, he was the rare athlete to play two professional sports. His strength and power seemed supernatural. He soared into end zones, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.13 seconds, hit meteoric home runs, and broke baseball bats over his head for fun. And those were just his documented exploits. Because Bo played in an era before smartphones, stories circulated — that could never be entirely proven or disproven — that he was capable of even more impressive feats. The guy was the stuff of legends.
For this reason, Jeff Pearlman has entitled his new biography of Bo: The Last Folk Hero. Today on the show, Jeff and I talk about Bo's Paul Bunyan-esque stature, and the real life behind the legend. We discuss both the flaws and the strengths of Bo Jackson, and how natural talent can be both a hindrance and a help, as we trace his life from an impoverished upbringing as one of ten kids, to how he managed to secure an arrangement where he got to play two professional sports. Jeff explains how Bo never liked to practice — because he was so naturally gifted he didn't need to — why Bo didn't take the deal when the Yankees tried to draft him out of high school, the flash-bulb moments he achieved in college and the pros, how a hip injury ended his football days but didn't entirely finish him off for baseball, and why, after such a neon career, Bo has largely disappeared from the public eye.
The Art of Manliness 
