Bo Jackson: ‘If I knew back then what I know now, I would have never played football’

Bo knows.

That was the slogan that helped make Bo Jackson a household name in the 1980s.

But he knows even more now. And had he possessed that knowledge, Jackson says, he never would have become a two-sport All Star.

“If I knew back then what I know now, I would have never played football,’’ Jackson told USA Today in an interview published Thursday. “Never. I wish I had known about all of those head injuries, but no one knew that. And the people that did know that, they wouldn’t tell anybody.”

He continued: “The game has gotten so violent, so rough. We’re so much more educated on this CTE stuff, there’s no way I would ever allow my kids to play football today.

“Even though I love the sport, I’d smack them in the mouth if they said they wanted to play football.

“I’d tell them, ‘Play baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, just anything but football.’ ’’

Jackson was a three-sport standout at Auburn, winning the 1985 Heisman Trophy in football while also excelling in baseball and track and field. He stuck with two of those sports professionally and went on to become an All-Star outfielder for the Kansas City Royals and a Pro Bowl running back for the Oakland Raiders.

But a hip injury during a Raiders playoff game in early 1991 brought his football career to an abrupt end. Jackson was never the same on the diamond either, and after three more seasons — two with the Chicago White Sox and one with the Angels — he called it a career in that sport as well.

Who knows how far he could have gone in baseball had the football injury not occurred. But Jackson said that doesn’t matter.

“You know what,’’ he said, “I still wouldn’t change a thing. The man upstairs had a plan of the way of working things out, and they did.

“I have no regrets.’’

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii