Deion Sanders, football and baseball star, two-time Super Bowl winner, and member of the Professional and College Football Hall of Fame.
Deion Luwynn Sanders was born on August 9, 1967 in Fort Myers, Florida. During his school years, he played basketball, baseball and football, having achieved some success in all sports. Sanders was later named one of the top 33 players in a century of high school football in the state. He graduated from high school in 1985 and was drafted by the Kansas City Royals baseball, but decided not to sign and went to college.
In Florida's State Deion program, he has continued to demonstrate his versatility. In his first year, he won the conference championship with the college athletics team, and the baseball team he played as an outfielder finished fifth in the NCAA. In four seasons with Seminoles football, he played 44 games, making 14 interceptions, including 3 in Super Bowls. At the end of the 1988 season, Sanders won the Jim Thorpe award for best college football d-back. He also played superbly on antlers' returns, with a total of 1,429 yards in his career. Now number 2, under which Deion entered the field, is withdrawn from circulation at the university.
In the 1989 Draft, Sanders was picked by Atlanta as a fifth overall. By that time, he had been a baseball player for the New York Yankees for a year. Deion made his Major League Baseball debut on May 31, 1989. In the fall, he entered the field for the first time in an NFL game, marking a touchdown on a pant return. Sanders' baseball career went on to include Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers, peaking in the 1992 season, in which the Braves entered the World Series and lost to Toronto. Deion spent it with a leg injury, but was one of the best in the team.
He played in football Atlanta until 1993. In this stretch of his career, Sanders made 24 interceptions and 10 touchdowns (three on defense, five on returns, and two on reception). In 1992, he had a chance to become the first-ever athlete to play in two leagues on the same day: after the Falcons in Miami, Deion flew to Pittsburgh for a baseball game, but Coach Braves didn't let him on the field. Before the start of the 1994 season, Sanders signed with San Francisco 49ers. He had a great regular season, winning the Defensive Player of the Year award and then winning Super Bowl XXIX. In the main match of the season against San Diego, Deion scored with an interception. In addition, he became the first athlete to play in the Super Bowl and World Series.
After a super successful year, Sanders signed a seven-year, $35 million deals with Dallas, becoming the highest paid NFL Defesive player. Later in his book, he wrote that the Raiders offered him the best conditions, and he chose Cowboys because of the best chances of reaching the Super Bowl. Deion's calculation paid off: the 1995 season ended with a great victory for the team in Super Bowl XXX. For Dallas, this title was the third in four years. He played for the team until the end of the 1999 season. After that there was an unsuccessful year at the Redskins and a career pause that followed. In 2001, Sanders retired from his baseball career, and in 2004 returned to the football field: for two more seasons with the Ravens. He finally left in 2006.
Deion Sanders' football career spanned fourteen seasons. During this time, he was eight times one of the Pro Bowl participants, eleven times he was included in the first All-Pro team in different positions. On his account are touchdowns made in six different ways: on interception, pant and kick-off returns, on reception and on the carry-out, as well as on the return of a matched fumble. Only Bill Dudley, who played in the 1940s, did this. In 2011, Sanders was inducted into the Professional Football Hall of Fame. He also serves on the 1990s All-Star Team (as a corner back and rebound specialist) and the NFL Centenary Team.
After completing his career, Sanders remains a popular and media personality. He stared a lot in commercials and various television shows, works as an analyst for the NFL Network. In 2008, a reality show was broadcast, the main characters of which were Deion, his wife and their five children. He also has other interests: he has released two music albums and wrote a book, worked as a personal trainer for a number of players and even was an assistant to the head coach of the Dallas Fury of the women's NBA. From 2006 to 2008, Sanders co-owned the Austin Wranglers, which played in the arena-football league.