Background

Deion Luwynn Sanders was born on August 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. His parents, Connie Sanders and Mims Sanders, divorced when Sanders was two years old, and he was raised by his mother and her new husband, Willie Knight.

Education

Sanders's football skills were first seen in the Pop Warner League when he was eight. He also began to excel at baseball and basketball. Sanders was a three-sport athlete with Fort Myers High School and served as a ROTC commander. He played quarterback for his high school football team. As a player at Florida State University from 1985 to 1988, he switched from quarterback to defensive back. In his college career, he scored six touchdowns on punt and interception returns, and he was named All-America twice as a defensive back. Sanders also ran track and played for the college baseball team, the latter so well that the New York Yankee organization signed him in 1988.

In 2020, Sanders graduated from Talladega College with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration.

Career

In his early years, Sanders ran track and played for the college baseball team, the latter so well that the New York Yankee organization signed him in 1988.

In the 1989 National Football League (NFL) draft the Atlanta Falcons made Sanders the fifth pick in the first round. Shortly thereafter, the American League (AL) New York Yankees brought him to Major League Baseball. There was some question about which sport he would choose, but the Falcons won him with a $4.4 million offer. He hit a home run for the Yankees against the Seattle Mariners, then packed his bags for Atlanta, where he scored on a punt return. No one had ever had a home run in Major League Baseball and a touchdown in Major League Football in the same week. Sanders went on to intercept five passes his rookie year in the NFL.

Sanders's return to baseball was not as impressive. In 1990 he batted a puny .158 for the Yankees, and the team said they would release him unless he gave up football. He refused, and they cut him loose. Back in football, Sanders prospered under Falcons coach Jerry Glanville's coaching. He returned two interceptions for touchdowns in 1990, and the following year he scored on two kickoffs and one interception return, intercepting six passes. The Falcons made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing to the eventual champion Washington Redskins.

Sanders still heard the call of baseball. He signed with the Atlanta Braves of the National League (NL), having a mediocre and truncated 1991 baseball season before returning to the gridiron. The next year, however, Sanders starred on the diamond, batting .304 with twenty-six stolen bases and an NL-leading fourteen triples. After the baseball season, he decided to have it both ways, playing in the World Series for the Braves and flying to Miami for a Falcons football game.

In 1993 Sanders batted a respectable .276 for the Braves, who won the NL West division, then returned to a Falcons team that had gone 0-5 without him. In a shortened season he found the time to lead the National Football Conference (NFC) in interceptions with seven, and get his first offensive score, catching a seventy-yard touchdown pass.

In 1994 Sanders was traded by the Braves to the Cincinnati Reds. When the baseball strike ended the season prematurely, Sanders was ready for a full season of football. A free agent, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers. He had six interceptions, returning three of them for touchdowns, and he was named the Associated Press Defensive Player of the Year. He intercepted passes in both the NFC Championship and the Super Bowl, as the 49ers became Super Bowl champions.

In 1995 Sanders again was a football free agent, and he signed with the Dallas Cowboys. Sanders favored their first playoff game with a remarkable all-around performance, scoring on a run from scrimmage, catching a pass, intercepting a pass, and returning two punts. In 1996 he began the season playing full-time at both cornerback and wide receiver, turning in good performances at both.

In 1997 Sanders announced that he had become a born-again Christian and returned to baseball with the Cincinnati Reds. He was on his way to his best season, with 126 hits and 56 stolen bases; but when the football season started the Reds were out of contention, so Sanders went back to the Cowboys. They, however, were on a decline, going 6-10 and missing the playoffs for the first time in years.

For the next two years Sanders concentrated on football with the Cowboys. The team was in disarray, and Sanders's skills were slipping. He was occasionally beaten deep by a fast receiver, his exciting returns were fewer and farther between, and he was a burden on the salary cap.

In 2000 the flamboyant Daniel Snyder took over as owner of the Washington Redskins. Snyder wanted to win and win fast, and he wanted to do it with stars. One step was to sign Sanders with an $8 million bonus, but the money did not buy Snyder success. After a disastrous 2000 season, veteran coach Marty Schottenheimer was hired with a mandate to clean house. Sanders was retained but objected that he had not been informed of the changes.

Sanders then decided to give Major League Baseball one more shot, signing again with the Cincinnati Reds. In his first game of the 2001 season he had three hits, including a three-run homer. This was not a harbinger, however. By 22 June Sanders was hitting a dismal .173, and the Reds released him. Perhaps Sanders saw this as a more general handwriting on the wall. On 27 July Sanders and the Redskins negotiated his retirement from football, and he paid back a substantial portion of his bonus.

In 2004, Sanders announced his intention to come out of retirement. He signed a one-year deal with the Ravens to be a nickelback. Against the Buffalo Bills, Sanders scored his ninth career interception return touchdown, moving him into a tie for second place with Ken Houston and Aeneas Williams, and behind Rod Woodson for all-time in the statistical category. He remained in Baltimore for 2005, playing in all 16 games. In January 2006, Sanders once again retired from the NFL.

After retiring from the NFL, Sanders worked as a pre-game commentator for CBS' The NFL Today. Besides, he founded the Prime Prep Academy charter school in 2012, where he coached until 2015.

It's also worth noting, that, in addition to his sports career, Sanders had a career in music as a rapper. He released his debut album, Prime Time, in 1994. His album, The Encore Remix, was released in 2005 for Bungalo Records.

Sanders appeared in such movies, as Draft Day (2014) and With This Ring (2015), and starred in the show Deion Family Playbook.

Achievements

• 

  During his 14-year NFL career, Sanders was a perennial All-Pro and one of the strongest pass defenders ever to play the game. He is the only man to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Deion is one of two players to score an NFL touchdown six different ways.
  
  In 1989 he became the first player in history to hit a home run in the MLB and score a touchdown in the NFL in the same week. In addition, he earned the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the nation.
  
  Sanders was named #8 in College Football News's list of 100 Greatest College Football Players of All-Time. On November 11, 2010, Sanders was inducted into the Atlanta Falcons' Ring of Honor. On February 5, 2011, he was announced as a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee in his first year of eligibility. On May 17, 2011, Sanders was announced as a College Football Hall of Fame inductee. On August 6, 2011, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Power, Money & Sex: How Success Almost Ruined My Life

    (Superstar Deion Sanders tells his powerful life story and...)

    1998

• movie

  • Draft Day 2014
  • With This Ring 2015

Religion

Sanders is a member of Vision Regeneration Church in Dallas, a nondenominational Christian church led by Bishop Omar Jahwar.

Views

Sanders takes presents at Christmas time to local children's hospitals in his area dressed as "Sanders Claus."

In response to the after-effects of Hurricane Katrina, Deion challenged all professional athletes in the four major sports to donate $1,000 each to relief efforts, hoping to raise between $1.5 and $3 million in total.

Quotations: "I'm confident and my natural odor smells like confidence."

"When you look up the word ''busy'' in the dictionary, you see my baby."

"It's gonna be a lot of zeroes in that contract. You gonna think it's alphabet soup or something, all those zeroes in there."

"I felt like a deer with a hundred hunters after me."

"Sure we're in limos. We're stars. How else is a star supposed to travel?"

"I'm married to football, baseball is my girlfriend."

"If you look good, you feel good, If you feel good, you play good, If you play good, they pay good."

"If your dream ain't bigger than you, there's a problem with your dream."

"If you don't believe in yourself how will somebody else believe in you?"

"What separates us is that we expect to be great."

"I was kinda scared. I thought Detroit was gonna take me. I would've asked them for so much money they would have to put me on layaway."

"Whenever you make a promise, you have a responsibility to that promise."

Personality

Sanders became known for sporting a "do-rag" or bandana and for his high-stepping into the end zone followed by his touchdown dance celebrations. He wears custom-made showy suits and flashy jewelry.

Deion is also known for his flashy personality and outspokenness.

Physical Characteristics: Deion Sanders is 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) tall and weighs 195 lb (88 kg). He doesn't smoke or drink and has never dabbled in drugs.

Interests

• Sport & Clubs

  football, baseball

• Music & Bands

  rap

Connections

For ten years Sanders was married to Carolyn Chambers. The couple produced two children - Deion Sanders Jr. and Deiondra Sanders. From 1999 to 2013 Deion was married to Pilar Biggers-Sanders, with whom he gave birth to three children - Shilo Sanders, Shedeur Sanders, and Shelomi Sanders. Since 2012 Deion has been in a relationship with Tracey Edmonds.

Father:

Mims Sanders

(February 13, 1943 - April 1993)

Mother:

Connie Knight

ex-spouse:

Carolyn Chambers

ex-spouse:

Pilar Biggers-Sanders

(born October 10, 1974)

Son:

Deion Sanders Jr.

(born December 1, 1993)

Daughter:

Deiondra Sanders

(born April 17, 1992)

Son:

Shilo Sanders

(born February 9, 2000)

Son:

Shedeur Sanders

(born February 7, 2002)

Daughter:

Shelomi Sanders

(born December 14, 2003)

Partner:

Tracey Edmonds

(born February 18, 1967)

Tracey Edmonds is an American businesswoman, television producer and personality. She is the CEO of Edmonds Entertainment Group Inc and Alrightnow.com and is a former host of the television show Extra.

References

• Deion Sanders: Prime Time Player The book presents the life, from childhood to adulthood, of one of today's dual sports professionals.
  1993