Sanders, Deion

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Deion Sanders

1967-

American football and baseball player

The only man in professional sports history to play in both the Super Bowl and World Series, Deion Sanders has been a top-ranked athlete since his high school years. Sanders credits sports with keeping him out of trouble as a teenager. Nicknamed "Prime Time" during high school, Sanders has probably received more prime-time sports coverage than any other athlete in recent years because of his involvement in both professional football and major league baseball. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), including stints with the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco Giants, Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Redskins. In major league baseball, Sanders played for the New York Yankees in 1989 and 1990; the Atlanta Braves from 1991 through the first part of 1994; the Cincinnati Reds in the second part of 1994, the first part of 1995, and all of 1997 and 2001; and for the San Francisco Giants in the latter part of the 1995 season. After leaving football and baseball in 2001, Sanders joined CBS Sports as a feature reporter/contributor for the NFL Today television show, and the next year became a studio analyst.

Born in Fort Myers, Florida

He was born Deion Luwynn Sanders in Fort Myers, Florida, on August 9, 1967. The son of Connie Knight (a cleaning woman), he grew up in a poor neighborhood of the southwest Florida city. Active in sports as a boy, he stayed busy enough to avoid the lure of the ever-present

drug trade that ensnared many of his friends. Years later Sanders told Esquire: "It would've been easy for me to sell drugs. But I had practice. My friends who didn't have practice, they went straight to the streets and never left." At the age of eight, he joined a Pop Warner youth league football team. He also joined a local Little League team. While a student at North Fort Myers High School, Sanders played baseball and football, as well as basketball, which was his biggest passion as a teen. A high school friend dubbed Sanders "Prime Time" after he scored 30 points in a basketball game. Sanders earned all-state honors in all three sports.

In his senior year of high school, the multisport star was deluged with offers from colleges but eventually decided to attend Florida State University (FSU) in Florida's capital city of Tallahassee. At college Sanders began to focus more of his energies on football and baseball. Although he had played left-handed option quarterback in high school, he switched in college to defense and special teams. During his years at FSU, Sanders twice was named an All-American in football and scored six touchdowns on punt or interception returns. As a senior he led the country in yardage for punt returns with an average of 15.2 yards. He also won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the country. On the baseball field, Sanders continued to shine, helping to power FSU's drive to the College World Series in 1987, where the team from Tallahassee finished fifth.

Drafted by Atlanta Falcons

In the 1989 NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons picked Sanders early in the first round, offering him a contract that would pay him $400,000. Sanders demanded $11 million, and lengthy, often bitter negotiations followed. In the meantime, however, Sanders kept busy on the baseball field, having signed with the New York Yankees in 1988. He played about 100 games for minor league teams in the Yankees' farm system before being called up by the Yankees in June 1989 to fill in for an injured outfielder. Later that summer Sanders accepted a five-year contract from the Falcons that would pay him $4.4 million in salary and bonuses. He made his professional football debut only 24 hours after blasting a home run for the Yankees in a game against the Seattle Mariners. And a flashy debut it was. Five minutes into the game, Sanders returned a punt for a 68-yard touchdown, becoming the first athlete ever to hit a home run and score a touchdown in professional games the same week. Over the next couple of years, he solidified his position as cornerback for the Falcons, winning All-Pro honors at the end of the 1991 season.

Released by the Yankees in 1990, Sanders quickly signed a contract with the Atlanta Braves. Although his contract with the Braves allowed him to play both baseball and football, Sanders soon was telling sportswriters that he wished he could focus all of his energies on baseball. Particularly irksome to Sanders was his inability to play postseason baseball because of his gridiron responsibilities. He eventually negotiated a compromise with the Falcons that kept him in football but allowed him to play postseason baseball. This cleared the way for Sanders to play in the 1992 World Series, where he batted .533 against the Toronto Blue Jays, who eventually won the championship. He missed the first three games of the football season, triggering a storm of criticism. Despite the missed games, Sanders led Pro Bowl balloting in both the cornerback and kickoff returner categories. He led the NFL with a 26.7 kickoff return average and a total of 1,067 yards.

Chronology

1967	Born in Fort Myers, Florida, on August 9
1988	Signed by New York Yankees
1989	Picked in first round of NFL draft by Atlanta Falcons
1993-98	Married to Carolyn Chambers
1999	Marries actress and model Pilar Biggers on May 21
2001	Announces retirement from football and baseball; joins NFL Today with CBS Sports

Leads NFL in Interceptions

Batting .276 for the Braves during the 1993 regular season, Sanders was felled by a respiratory infection in August. The illness also kept him out of football for a few games at the beginning of the season, but he nevertheless managed to lead the NFL with seven interceptions in 11 games. He was named National Football Conference (NFC) Defensive Player of the Month for November and was chosen as a Pro Bowl starter.

Sanders made some significant changes on both the baseball and football fronts in 1994. At the beginning of the baseball season, the Braves traded him to the Cincinnati Reds. When a players' strike prematurely ended the baseball season in August, Sanders was batting .283 for the Reds. In football, he signed a one-year contract to play for the San Francisco 49ers, hoping the move would increase his chances of getting to the Super Bowl. He was named NFL Defensive Player of the Year after tying the 49ers' single-season record with three interception returns for touchdowns. And his Super Bowl dream came true, as the 49ers beat the San Diego Chargers, 49-26, helped by Sanders's contribution of four tackles and an interception.

More changes were in store for Sanders in 1995. In July he was traded by the Reds to the San Francisco Giants, where he ended the season with a batting average of .268 and 8 steals. Once again a free agent in football, Sanders signed a seven-year, $35 million contract to play for the Dallas Cowboys. His debut with the Cowboys was delayed until the end of October by arthroscopic surgery on his ankle. For much of the regular season with the Cowboys, Sanders seemed to be still finding his way, but in postseason play the cornerback helped push Dallas to a Super Bowl victory. Sanders skipped the 1996 baseball season, instead focusing all his energies on football, becoming the first full-time, two-way NFL player since Chuck Bednarik, who had played from 1949 to 1962. On offense, Sanders caught 36 passes for 475 yards while continuing to prove a force to reckon with on defense. At season's end, the Cowboys reported that Sanders had been on the field for half of their offensive plays and 80 percent on defense.

Returns to Baseball

In 1997 Sanders returned to baseball, batting .273 for the Reds and accounting for a total of 23 runs batted in. He missed the first two weeks of the football season while continuing to play for the Reds. Although he missed the tail end of the baseball season, Sanders still managed to rank second in the National League with 56 stolen bases. His season with the Cowboys was further shortened by a rib injury that caused him to miss the last three games of the regular season. Despite the missed games, Sanders in 1997 was again named All-Pro and also tapped as NFC Defensive Back of the Year. One of the highlights of Sanders's football season came on September 28 when he returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown in a game against the Chicago Bears. It was to be the longest punt return of his career and the fourth longest in team history. Sanders's accomplishments of 1997 are all the more remarkable because away from sports it was a year of great personal turmoil for him. His marriage to college sweetheart Carolyn Chambers was ending (they divorced in 1998), and Sanders later admitted that he twice attempted to commit suicide that year.

For the next three years, Sanders played no baseball at all. His football season in 1998 was cut short when he injured his toe in a game against the Arizona Cardinals. He returned to the Cowboys for the team's playoff loss to the Cardinals. Despite his injury, Sanders was named to his seventh consecutive NFC Pro Bowl squad as a cornerback and kick returner. He was also named NFL Special Teams Player of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association for his brilliant performance as a punt returner. In the spring of 1999, Sanders's personal life took a turn for the better when the two-sport star married New York model and actress Pilar Biggers in a private ceremony on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Presiding at the marriage ceremony was Bishop Thomas D. Jakes Sr., founder of the Dallas-based T. D. Jakes Ministries and a close spiritual adviser to Sanders.

Awards and Accomplishments

1987-88	Named All-American in college football
1988	Receives Jim Thorpe Award as best defensive back
1989	Becomes the only athlete in modern history to score touchdown and hit home run in professional play during the same week
1990	Returns interception 82 yards for touchdown, the longest touchdown play of the year in the NFL
1992	Bats .533 in World Series against Toronto Blue Jays
1992	Leads NFL with average kickoff return of 26.7 yards and total of 1,067 yards
1992-98	Selected to play in Pro Bowl

Related Biography: Bishop Thomas D. Jakes Sr.

A major influence in Sanders's life since the mid-1990s has been Bishop Thomas D. Jakes Sr., founder of the Potter's House, a nondenominational, multiracial church in Dallas, and the T. D. Jakes Ministries. In October 1997, signaling a rebirth of Sanders's Christianity, Jakes baptized Sanders and fellow Dallas Cowboys players Emmitt Smith, Omar Stoutmire, and George Hegamin. Jakes also wrote the foreword to Sanders's Power, Money, and Sex, published in 1998.

Jakes was born and raised in Charlestown, West Virginia, the son of Ernest and Odith Jakes. He grew up in a hillside neighborhood and "From a very young age, he was devoted to the gospel," according to Jakes's biography on the Web site of T. D. Jakes Ministries. Jakes was called to the ministry at the age of 17 and began preaching part time while studying psychology at West Virginia State University. He later took over as music director at the Charleston church he attended as a boy and in 1982 became a full-time pastor at the same church.

The first church founded by Jakes began with only ten members and was located in a storefront in Montgomery, West Virginia. Eventually Jakes's message attracted a large, racially mixed congregation and became known as the Greater Emanuel Temple of Faith. By the time Jakes relocated to Dallas in 1996, the church's membership had grown to nearly 1,000.

Misses First Two Games of Season

In 1999 Sanders missed the first two games of the football season while recovering from toe surgery he had undergone during the off-season. With a punt-return average of 11.5 yards, he finished fourth in the NFC for the season. The most impressive of Sanders's punt returns that season came in an October 31 game against the Indianapolis Colts, when he returned a punt 76 yards to the two-yard line. On November 25, Sanders enjoyed his fifth career two-interception game when he picked off Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino twice. In the spring of 2000 the Cowboys cut Sanders for salary cap reasons. Once again a free agent, Sanders on June 6 was signed by the Washington Redskins to a seven-year, $56 million contract. Interviewed by Jet, Sanders said of his new team: "It's wonderful to be a Redskin. They've always had something special. There's nothing like these fans, this tradition." Although he turned in a credible performance for the Redskins in 2000, Sanders announced a year later that he was leaving football.

Never one to remain idle for long, Sanders in the spring of 2001 returned to baseball after an absence of more than three years. But it proved to be a very short stint indeed. After only 32 games with the Reds, Sanders, who was batting a disappointing .173, was released in late June.

Career Statistics: Football

			Tackles			Fumbles			Interceptions
Yr	Team	GP	TOT	SOLO	AST	SACK	FF	BK	INT	TD
ATL: Atlanta Falcons; DAL: Dallas Cowboys; SFO: San Francisco 49ers; WAS: Washington Redskins.
1989	ATL	15	39	28	11	0.0	2	0	5	0
1990	ATL	16	50	31	19	0.0	0	0	3	2
1991	ATL	15	49	35	14	1.0	2	0	6	1
1992	ATL	13	66	44	22	0.0	2	0	3	0
1993	ATL	11	34	27	7	0.0	1	0	7	0
1994	SFO	14	36	36	0	0.0	0	0	6	3
1995	DAL	9	25	24	1	0.0	0	0	2	0
1996	DAL	16	33	33	0	0.0	1	0	2	0
1997	DAL	13	33	30	3	0.0	0	0	2	1
1998	DAL	11	25	25	0	0.0	0	0	5	1
1999	DAL	14	42	40	2	0.0	1	0	3	0
2000	WAS	16	41	40	1	0.0	1	0	4	0
TOTAL		163	474	385	89	1.0	10	0	48	8

Career Statistics: Baseball

Yr	Team	AVG	GP	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
ATL: Atlanta Braves; CIN: Cincinnati Reds; NYY: New York Yankees; SFG: San Francisco Giants.
1989	NYY	.234	14	47	7	11	2	7	3	8	1
1990	NYY	.158	57	133	24	21	3	9	13	27	8
1991	ATL	.191	54	110	16	21	4	13	12	23	11
1992	ATL	.304	97	303	54	92	8	28	18	52	26
1993	ATL	.276	95	272	42	75	6	28	16	42	19
1994	ATL	.288	46	191	32	55	4	21	16	28	19
	CIN	.277	46	184	26	51	0	7	16	35	19
1995	CIN	.240	33	129	19	31	1	10	9	18	16
	SFG	.285	52	214	29	61	5	18	18	42	8
1997	CIN	.273	115	465	53	127	5	23	34	67	56
2001	CIN	.173	32	75	6	13	1	4	4	10	3
TOTAL		.263	641	2123	308	558	39	168	159	352	186

Another major change in Sanders's life came in the late 1990s in the wake of the breakup of his first marriage. He renounced his flashy, hedonistic lifestyle to become a born-again Christian. In an interview with Bob Cohn of the Washington Times, Sanders spoke of the challenge he had faced in separating his job from his life. "Does Michael Jackson wear his glove home? Does Bill Cosby sit around and eat Jell-O at home? Is there a pulpit in the pastor's living room at home? You have to distinguish between the two—this is my job, and this is my life.

I've always been able to separate the two, even when other people haven't. But I took that other person with me sometimes. I took him to nightclubs, to bars, to places where he shouldn't have been. And now, I'm murdering slowly a person that I built up to take me into prosperity and financial gain. I'm killing him slowly. I'm working on Deion now."

These days Sanders is focusing most of his energies on being a family man. He lives with his wife, Pilar, and three children in Plano, Texas, outside Dallas. He began working full-time as a studio analyst for the NFL Today on CBS Sports. Whether he stays retired from both baseball and football remains to be seen. But even if he never plays again, there can be no doubt that Sanders has left an indelible mark on both sports.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Address: c/o CBS Sports, 666 Third Ave., 18th Fl., New York, NY 10017. Fax: (646) 487-2597. Phone: (646) 487-1000. Online: http://www.deion-sanders.com.