Deion Sanders famously coined the phrase: “football is my wife and baseball is my mistress” when he was trying to explain why he had concurrent careers in baseball and American football.
The two-time Super Bowl winner and eight-time Pro-Bowler, who is the only sportsman to have ever participated in both the World Series and the Super Bowl and also the first to hit a home run in the major league and also score a touchdown in the NFL within a week, was able to achieve this thanks to his outstanding physical strength and stamina that earned him the nickname “Primetime.”
Deion Sanders Biography
Sanders was born Deion Luywnn Sanders to Mims Sanders and Connie Knight on the 9th of August 1967 in Fort Myers, Florida. Sanders’s parents were not married so he was primarily raised by his mother and her future husband, Willie Knight, who proved to be a positive influence on his life, guiding him through the ups and downs of aiming to play professional sports.
Deion Sanders attended North Fort Myers High School where he lettered in football, basketball, and baseball, and was an All-State honoree in all sports. Just as he finished high school, he was selected in the sixth round of the 1985 MLB Draft by the Kansas City Royals but however chose not to sign with them as he headed to enroll at Florida State University. Here, Sanders ran track and also played on the school’s football and baseball teams.
With the football team, Sanders played the cornerback position and was noted as a standout punt returner which earned him two consensus All-American selections in 1987 and 1988. He won a conference championship as a part of the track and field team while he also helped the school’s baseball team to a fifth-place ranking in the nation. In 1988, Sanders decided to begin a part-time baseball career that lasted for about nine years as he also played football.
Deion Sanders was first drafted by the New York Yankees who selected him in the 30th round of the 1988 MLB Draft after which he was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the fifth overall pick in 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 again 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 for the Baltimore Ravens (2004–2005) before retiring.
Deion Sanders Family – Wife, Kids, Divorce
Deion Sanders has not been as successful in his marriages as he was as an athlete. The NFL 1990s All-Decade Team member has been married twice but unfortunately, both unions ended in divorce.
His first marriage was to Carolyn Chambers. The pair began dating in 1988 and went on to exchange vows a year later on the 14th of September 1989. Their marriage was blessed with two children; Deion Jr. and Deiondra before both parties decided to call it quits in 1998. It did not take too long for Sanders to walk down the aisle again as he got married just a year later to model turned actress Pilar Biggers-Sanders who is best known for appearing in movies like The Mod Squad (1999), Streets of Blood (2009) and Percentage (2014). Together, the couple had three children: Shilo, Shelomi Golenzer, and Shedeur before parting ways acrimoniously in 2013.
Deion reportedly first served Pilar with divorce papers in September 2011 following allegations that she cheated on him, while Pilar insisted it was indeed her soon-to-be ex-football-playing husband that was the adulterer. The couple was embroiled in a messy divorce that had Sanders file a Defamation of Character lawsuit against Pilar because she was accusing him of abuse in interviews and on social media. The divorce was eventually settled in 2013 with Sanders being awarded custody of all their three children although the ruling has since been reversed with both parties sharing joint custody.
In 2012, while still going through divorce proceedings with Pilar, Deion Sanders entered into a relationship with businesswoman and television producer Tracey Edmonds, the ex-wife of singer Babyface and ex-partner of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy. The two have lived together since that time and it is not clear if they have any plans of getting married.
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
