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Deion Luwynn Sanders ( DEE-on; born August 9, 1967) is an American football coach and former professional football and baseball player. Sanders serves as the head coach of the football program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Nicknamed "Neon Deion" and "Prime Time" during his playing career and "Coach Prime" during his coaching career, he played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons; 5 seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, 1 season with the San Francisco 49ers, 5 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, 1 season with the Washington Redskins, and 2 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. Sanders played as a cornerback and return specialist. He was the first player to be referred to as a "shutdown corner." Sanders also played nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB); 2 seasons with the New York Yankees, parts of 4 seasons with the Atlanta Braves, parts of 4 seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, and 1 season with the San Francisco Giants. He won two Super Bowl titles and made a World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Sanders played college football for the Florida State Seminoles, winning the Jim Thorpe Award as a senior. He was selected by the Falcons fifth overall in the 1989 NFL draft and played football primarily at cornerback, while also making appearances as return specialist and wide receiver. During his career, he was named to eight Pro Bowls, received six first-team All-Pros, and made consecutive Super Bowl appearances in Super Bowl XXIX with the 49ers and Super Bowl XXX with the Cowboys, winning both. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2011. After retiring as a player, Sanders pursued a sports analyst and coaching career. He served as the head coach of the football program at Jackson State University from 2020 to 2022, after earning his degree in business administration at Talladega College in an accelerated program, leading the team to two consecutive Celebration Bowl appearances and the first undefeated regular season in school history. Near the end of the 2022 season, Sanders was named the head football coach for the Colorado Buffaloes. Early life Sanders was born on August 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida, to Connie Sanders and Mims Sanders. His parents divorced when Sanders was two years old. Sanders was raised by his mother and her new husband, Willie Knight, whom Sanders credits with being influential in his life. He attended North Fort Myers High School, and was a letterman and All-State honoree in football, basketball and baseball. In 1985, Sanders was named to the Florida High School Association All-Century Team which selected the top 33 players in the 100-year history of high school football in the state. The Kansas City Royals selected Sanders out of North Fort Myers High School in the sixth round of the 1985 Major League Baseball draft. However, he did not sign with the Royals. College career (1985–1989) Sanders enrolled at Florida State University and played three sports for the Florida State Seminoles: football, baseball, and track. Beginning in his freshman year, he started in the Seminoles' secondary, played outfield for the baseball team that finished fifth in the nation, and helped lead the track and field team to a conference championship. Under head coach Bobby Bowden, Sanders was a third-team All-American in 1986, and a two-time consensus All-American cornerback in 1987 and 1988, intercepting 14 passes in his career, including three in bowl games, and managed to return one interception 100 yards for a touchdown, breaking Fred Biletnikoff's interception return record by one yard. He won the Jim Thorpe Award in 1988. He was also a standout punt returner for Florida State, leading the nation in 1988 with his punt return average, and breaking the school's record for career punt return yards. Sanders made an interception with five seconds left to seal Florida State's 13–7 win over Auburn in the 1989 Sugar Bowl during the 1988 postseason. Based on those accolades, his No. 2 jersey at Florida State was retired in 1995. He finished his career with 126 punt returns for 1,429 yards and three touchdowns, as well as 14 interceptions, returning them for 287 yards and three scores. At the time of his graduation, Sanders' 14 interceptions was the second highest total in school history. Bowden would later state that Sanders was his "measuring stick for athletic ability". While playing baseball under head coach Mike Martin at Florida State, Sanders' batting average was .331 in 1986. He also compiled 27 stolen bases in 1987. On May 16, 1987 (while the Metro Conference baseball and track championships were being played simultaneously in Columbia, South Carolina), Sanders played in the conference semifinal baseball game against Southern Mississippi, ran a leg of a 4 × 100 relay, then returned to play in the baseball championship game against Cincinnati. Though Sanders' relay team did not place in the event, the FSU track team was the overall conference champion, and the baseball team won the conference title as well. Professional baseball career (1989–1997, 2001) Drafts and minor leagues Sanders had a nine-year, part-time baseball career, playing left and center field in 641 games with four teams. He was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the sixth round of the 1985 draft, but did not sign with them. The New York Yankees selected Sanders in the 30th round of the 1988 Major League Baseball draft, and he signed with the team on June 22. He batted .284 in 28 minor league games after signing. The Yankees invited Sanders to spring training in 1989. Assigned to wear No. 71 as a uniform number, Sanders requested a single digit number. The Yankees gave him No. 30, the lowest number available, which offended many veteran players on the team. Sanders opened the 1989 season with the Albany-Colonie Yankees of the Double–A Eastern League. Though Sanders planned to leave the Yankees in July to attend NFL training camp, he became embroiled in a contract dispute with the Falcons, and used the Yankees as leverage. New York Yankees (1989–1990) Sanders received a promotion to the major leagues, and spent the summer with the Columbus Clippers of the Triple–A International League. Sanders made his MLB debut on May 31, 1989. During the 1989 season, Sanders hit a home run and scored a touchdown in the NFL in the same week, becoming the only player ever to do so. Sanders is also the only person to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Sanders and Bo Jackson were the preeminent multi-sport athletes of their time, but prior to the 1990 season, they had never squared off against each other in a professional game. That changed in 1990, when Jackson and Sanders met five times on the diamond—the most memorable of which came on July 17, in what was billed as "The Bo and Prime Time Show". After Bo Jackson's three-homer night, Sanders sa.... Discover the Joyce Sanders popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Joyce Sanders books.