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'You Don't Know Bo' revives Jackson's legacy for a new generation of sports fans (column)
By Joel A. Erickson | jerickson@al.com
on December 08, 2012 at 2:04 PM, updated December 08, 2012 at 5:13 PM
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Former Auburn great Bo Jackson recently served on the search committee that landed Gus Malzahn on the Plains. (The Huntsville Times/Bob Gathany)
AUBURN, Alabama -- Bo Jackson carries an impossible legacy, a place in history that rests on almost none of the measures that normally define America's legends.
Jackson holds no unbreakable records, won no championships, probably never reached his full peak and lost any chance at longevity due to catastrophic injury.
His greatness exists mostly in moments.
Only a few of our heroes had those kinds of careers. Jackie Robinson was like that, the man who broke the color barrier, made diving catches to beat the Phillies in the mist and stealing home against the Yankees in the Series.
Willie Mays was like that, even though he had the big numbers to back it up.
Bo Jackson's legacy exists almost entirely in moments. And what director Michael Bonfiglio realized as he started to make "You Don't Know Bo," -- the 30 for 30 documentary that premiers at 8 p.m. tonight on ESPN -- was that Jackson's brilliance -- has largely been lost on an entire generation of sports fans.
"If you're younger than 26, 27, and you live outside the state of Alabama, you don't know much about Bo Jackson," Bonfiglio said. "I couldn't believe it. I'm not even a sports guy, and even I know about Bo Jackson."
People who grew up in Alabama might find that hard to believe. Jackson's legacy in this state is as secure as his statue outside Jordan-Hare.
But when a 27-year-old coworker who always has the answer for anything sports-related admitted to Bonfiglio that he didn't know much about Bo Jackson other than his status as the best video-game running back in history, Bonfiglio had his mission.
"I wanted to make something that brought Bo Jackson to a generation of fans who never got to see him play," Bonfiglio said.
Bonfiglio nailed it.
In an era when arguments about greatness are usually based on the tangible, Bo Jackson's status as the best overall American athlete since Jim Thorpe is based on what we saw Jackson do.
Bo Jackson was the second of three Auburn Heisman Trophy winners.Contributed
He ended nearly a decade of Alabama dominance by leaping over the top. Jackson homered to lead off the All-Star Game, ran across the outfield wall and threw out Harold Reynolds from the outfield wall in Seattle. He finished the 40-yard dash in 4.12, ran over the Boz, walked straight off the outfield grass and into the top spot as the NFL's best running back.
"You Don't Know Bo" is a collection of those moments, a series of short stories, "Aesop's Fables" for the sports fan.
And it's really the only way to tell Jackson's story.
"When I started talking to people about Bo Jackson, they kept telling those stories, like something out of a comic book," Bonfiglio said. "I used almost every one."
At some point in the future, the story of Bo Jackson, at least to most outside the state of Alabama, may seem impossible, a collection of legends that can't possibly be true, the Paul Bunyan of American sports.
"You Don't Know Bo" serves as evidence that the legend is actually the truth.