Sunday, December 9, 2001
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Bo knows a lot of things. Bo knows a better bar
By Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comFootball ... baseball ... even golf.
Now Bo knows better. As in BetterBar.
Bo Jackson, the first athlete named to play in the all-star game of two major sports, is now a business man. He's been in Hawaii this past week, promoting his new energy bar at the Hawaii Kai Costco.
It was not your ordinary autograph session with the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn, who turned 39 recently and looks as though he could still play, either in the NFL or the major leagues. Or do both, as he did between the fall of 1987 and the winter of 1991.
It was a mixed crowd, just like the 16-bar box that contain four each of the four BetterBar flavors. Some shoppers came to get a glimpse of Nike's posterboy of the late 1980s and early '90s; another hoped that Jackson would sign a fading Los Angeles Raiders baseball cap.
Others were there for the free samples of Blueberry Cheesecake, Chocolate Brownie, Wild Strawberry and Chocolate Peanut, the four BetterBar flavors.
"I don't have a favorite one," said Jackson, who was visiting Hawaii for the first time. "I like them all. I'll reach into the cupboard and eat whichever one I grab first.
"I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't believe in the product."
Jackson made believers out of so many when he was able to play two professional sports and play them very well.
He was a career .250 hitter with 141 homers and 415 RBIs in eight seasons as an outfielder and designated hitter with the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and California Angels. His monstrous home run to centerfield at then-Anaheim Stadium off Rick Reuschel earned him the MVP trophy in the 1989 All-Star Game.
As a part-time running back with the Raiders -- in a sport he called his "hobby" -- he averaged 5.4 yards a carry over four seasons, and is the only player in NFL history to have two rushing touchdowns of 90 yards or more. In his fifth game as a pro, on Monday Night Football against Seattle in 1987, his 91-yard touchdown run was part of his team-record 221 yards as he celebrated his 25th birthday.
Jackson would have come to Hawaii for the 1991 Pro Bowl had it not been for a hip injury in a playoff game against Cincinnati. It ended his NFL career.
Jackson's already been inducted into the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. Now, seven years after retiring from baseball, he says he doesn't miss it at all.
"I don't miss the competition," he said. "I do miss the camaraderie."
Two hip replacements haven't slowed the multi-sport talent. Jackson continues to work out at the gym and work on his golf game, a sport he picked up five years ago.
"I love golf," said Jackson, who played Koolau Golf Course on Tuesday, shooting in the low 90s. "And I don't take defeat lightly."
Bo also has bows, a collection of nearly two dozen. The avid outdoorsman enjoys archery and is looking forward to hunting and fishing when he returns home to Oak Brook, Ill.
But most of this week was business. Jackson, who has a 51 percent stake in BetterBar, and his associates have spent several years perfecting the "quick anytime meal."
It's about more than money. Jackson said he made a commitment when he became the president and spokesman of the HealthSouth Sports Medicine Council.
His concern is the obesity rate and poor nutritional habits of both children and adults in America. Jackson was interested in developing a product that worked with active lifestyles as well.
Barbara Lee could have easily been in his test market group. She vaguely recognized Jackson's name but was sold on the product. Her 18-year-old son, Christopher, is a swimmer for Pac-Five and says she's "always looking for something nutritional for him."
So was Wayne Geiger, who enjoys playing basketball and working out.
"The bars have everything you need," he said.
The bar is low in calories (between 180 and 200) and low in fat. Initially the price seems high at 95 cents a bar, but given its nutritional value, it could be argued that it's a better value than a soda or a fast-food meal.
The test-market age was the 18-and-under crowd that often skips meals or gets quite a few of its calories from snacks.
"In the tests, they liked all the flavors almost equally," Jackson said. "Not one flavor got more than 26 percent or got less than 24 percent.
"It tastes like a candy bar but it's good for them. We wanted to appeal to the most finicky eaters there are."
These days, Bo definitely knows marketing.