Deion Sanders Biography, Life, Interesting Facts ·

21 Apr 2024, 00:00

Playing baseball after a career in American football is usual practice, and Deion Sanders was not an exception. Born on August 9, 1967, he was a corner ballplayer, but also served as a punt returner, quick returner and wide receiver while in baseball he was an outfielder. A terrific player as he was, he played for the Atlanta Falcons, the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens and Washington all in the National Football League. In baseball, he played for the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Atlanta Brave, and Cincinnati Reds in no particular order. Sanders is presently an analyst for CBS and the NFL Networks. He established the Prime Prince Academy charter school where he also coached. In 2011, Saunders was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Early Life

Deion Sanders was born on August 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida. He attended the North Fort Myers High School, where he actively played football. With an extraordinary talent coupled with speed and strength, he was involved in three sports, football, basketball and baseball. His brilliance, ability, diligence and self-motivated persona in won him All-State honours in all the three games. Before he graduated from the school, he found his name in the 33 top players of the Florida High School Association All-Century Team.

College Career

Deion Sanders decided to stay in his city by furthering his education at the Florida State University. There he continued his prolific play by joining the school football, baseball and track events for the Florida State Seminoles. He played as an outfielder on the baseball team and also led the team to the conference championship. In 1987 and 1988 he was the cornerback for the All-American squad having done 14 intercepting passes and returning one interception 100 yards for a touchdown, he broke the record of Fred Biletnikoff interception record by a yard.

Playing for the Florida State, his timely interception secured the team’s 13-7 win over Auburn in the 1989 Super Bowl. During his college career, he made 126 punt return for 1,429 yards. Sanders retired with his #2 jersey in 1995. As a multi-talented person, he also played baseball and made .331 hits in 1986 made a total 27 stolen bases in 1987.

Baseball Career

As an enthusiastic football player, Deion Sanders also played baseball on a part-time basis. For over nine years he played football and baseball intermittently. In his career, he played 641 games with four teams as a left and centre fielder. Sanders, who had previously refused to sign for Kansas City Royal after drafting him in the 6th round of 1985 later signed for The New York Yankees. He signed for the team on June 22 after the 1988 Major League Baseball draft. His major league baseball debut was on August 31, 1989, and in 1990 he made the Yankees’ Opening Day roster.

In the 1990 season, Deion Sanders made a .158 batting average and three home runs in 57 games. After the season he made up his mind to leave Yankees, but would only stay if Yankees gave him a $1m million extension contract which Yankees declined. He left Yankees to sign for the Atlanta Braves for the 1991 MLB season. He played in the Braves match against the Pittsburgh Pirates making a critical three-run homer which led to their comeback win. A day after that performance he left for Atlantic Falcons and missed the postseason due to clues in his NFL contract.

Deion Sanders was allowed to join the Brave again in the postseason after he was able to revoke the NFL contract. He upped his game in the 1992 season leading the NL with 14 triple in 97 games after batting .304 and stole 26 bases. In the 1992 World Series, he batted .533 making four runs, 8 hits, 2 double and 1 RBI on just four games. He became the only man to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. He had previously in the 1989 season hit the major league run and scored a touchdown in the NFL in one week setting a record as the only player to do so.

Sanders later played for the Cincinnati Reds in the 1997 season,finishing second in the NL with 56 stolen bases in 115 games. After the 1997 season went into a three-year break and returned in 2001 to play for the Redsand after 29 games were released. Sanders then signed to the Toronto Blue Jays, but later had to leave to and return to his football team Redskin as his contract demanded so he does not violate the NFL contract.

Professional Football Career

Deion Sanders was the fifth pick overall in the 1987 NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. He spent five years with the team intercepting 24 passes returning three of them for a touchdown. In 1992 he made history by playing for Falcons in a Miami game and flying to Pittsburgh to play for the Braves in their League Championship Series game against Pirates. This made him the first athlete to play in two different professional leagues in the same day.

Sanders signed with the San Francisco 49ers after his contract with Atlanta Falcons had expired in 1992. He enjoyed one of his best football seasons with the 49ers recording six interceptions,two of which were returned for a gain of at least 90 yards, making him the first player to do this in NFL history. He was voted the 1994 NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

After an impressive season with the 49ers, Deion Sanders was signed by the Dallas Cowboys in 1995 on a 35 million 7 years deal with a 12 million signing bonus. With this, he became the highest paid defensive player in the NFL. His debut game for the Cowboys was in week nine against Falcons which they won by 28-13. In a Super Bowl XXX game between the Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, he returned a punt for 11 yards and caught a 47-yard reception on offence, to set up the team’s first touchdown in their 27–17 win.

Before his release in 2000, Deion Sanders had earned a Pro Bowl selection in the latter four years play with Cowboy. He was then signed by the Washington Redskins in a $57 million 7 year contract, but would later decide to retire after just a season play for the Redskins. He, however, returned from retirement in 2004 to play for Baltimore Ravens where he signed a year deal to play Nickelback. He retired from the game in 2006 after his second season with Ravens.

Legacy

Deion Sanders has been inducted into the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor on November 11, 2010, College Football Hall of Fame,2011and Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2011. He was named #8 in the list of College Football News100 Greatest College Football Players of All-Time, #37 in the Top 100 Football Players of the Century by the Sporting News in 1999, #74 in the ESPN 100 Great Athletes of the Century released in 1999 and #34 on the NFL's Top 100 list by NFL.com in 2010

Personal Life

Deion Sanders married twice, first to Carolyn Chambers in 1989. The couple had two children Deion Jr and Deiondra but divorced in 1998. He later married Pilar Biggers-Sanders in 1999 and had three children, namely Shilo, Shelomi, and Shedeur. He is currently dating Tracey Edmonds. They divorced in 2013. In 2015, he won a $ 2.2 million lawsuit against his ex-wife Pilar Biggers who had previously accused Sanders of abuse on social media.

Deion Sanders partnered with J.M Black to release his autobiography Power, Money and Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life published in 1998 by World Publishing. According to Sander’s, he was motivated to come out with the book after his counseling season with Bishop T.D Jakes. Deion Sanders was not just a talented sportsman but could also rap well. His first album Prime Time was released in 1994 on the Bust It Record label by Capitol Records. He currently works as a studio analyst for CBS Sports in Thursday games and NFL Network on Sundays.

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