Deion Sanders coined the famous phrase, “Football is my wife and baseball is my mistress” when he tried to explain why he played baseball and American football at the same time.
The two-time Super Bowl winner and eight-time pro bowler, who was the only athlete ever to participate in both the World Series and the Super Bowl, and also the first to hit a Major League home run and score a touchdown in the NFL within a week, was able to do so thanks to his outstanding physical strength and stamina, which earned him the nickname “Primetime.
Deion Sanders Biography
Sanders was born on August 9, 1967, in Fort Myers, Florida, as Deion Luywnn Sanders, son of Mims Sanders and Connie Knight. Sanders’s parents were not married, so he was raised primarily by his mother and her future husband, Willie Knight, who proved to be a positive influence in his life, guiding him through the ups and downs of his pursuit of professional sports.
Deion Sanders attended North Fort Myers High School, where he attended football, basketball, and baseball and was an All-State Honorary Member in all sports. Just as he was finishing high school, he was selected in the sixth round of the 1985 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals, but decided not to sign with them because he wanted to enroll at Florida State University. Here Sander’s athletics ran and also played on the school’s soccer and baseball teams.
On the soccer team, Sanders played as a cornerback and was celebrated as an outstanding scorer, earning him two All-American selections in 1987 and 1988. As part of the athletics team, he won a conference championship and helped the school’s baseball team finish fifth in the national rankings. In 1988, Sanders decided to start a part-time baseball career that lasted about nine years because he also played soccer.
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Deion Sanders was first drafted by the New York Yankees, who selected him in the 30th round of the 1988 MLB Draft. He was then selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the fifth overall selection of the 1989 NFL Draft. He played for four baseball teams: the New York Yankees (1989-1990), the Atlanta Braves (1991-1994), the Cincinnati Reds (1994-1995), the San Francisco Giants (1995), and back to the Cincinnati Reds (1997, 2001). In his NFL career, he played for the Atlanta Falcons (1989-1993), the San Francisco 49ers (1994), the Dallas Cowboys (1995-1999), the Washington Redskins (2000), and finally the Baltimore Ravens (2004-2005) before retiring.
Deion Sanders Family – Wife, Kids, Divorce
Deion Sanders was not as successful in his marriages as he was as a sportsman. The member of the All-Decade Team of the NFL 1990s was married twice, but unfortunately, both marriages ended in divorce.
His first marriage was with Carolyn Chambers. The two began dating in 1988 and exchanged vows a year later, on September 14, 1989. Their marriage was blessed with two children, Deion Jr., and Deiondra before both parties decided to end the marriage in 1998. It was not long before Sanders was able to walk down the aisle again, because just one year later he married the actress Pilar Biggers-Sanders, who had become a model and is best known for her appearances in films such as The Mod Squad (1999), Streets of Blood (2009) and Percentage (2014). Together the couple had three children: Shilo, Shelomi Golenzer, and Shedeur before they separated sharply in 2013.
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According to reports, Deion first-served divorce papers on Pilar in September 2011 after she was accused of cheating on him, while Pilar insisted that her soon-to-be ex-football player husband was indeed the adulterer. The couple was involved in a messy divorce that prompted Sanders to file a slander suit against Pilar, accusing him of abuse in interviews and social media. The divorce was finally settled in 2013, with Sanders being granted custody of all three of their children, although the judge has since been reversed as both parties share joint custody.
In 2012, while still in divorce proceedings with Pilar, Deion Sanders entered into a relationship with businesswoman and television producer Tracey Edmonds, ex-wife of singer Babyface and ex-partner of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy. The two have been living together since that time, and it is not clear whether they have plans to marry.
Height, Weight and Other Facts
Birth Name: Deion Luywnn Sanders
Date of Birth: August 9, 1967
Place of Birth: Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.
Height: 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m)
Weight: 198 lb (90 kg)
Zodiac Sign: Leo