December 1st is the day when Christmas spirit really begins to ramp up. However, it's also a day which celebrates the birth of two of the most accomplished multi-sport athletes of all-time.
On Dec. 1, 1962, Bo Jackson entered the world in Bessemer, Ala. A running back at Auburn, Jackson won the 1985 Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding player in NCAA football. He also played baseball and ran track and field for the Tigers.
Jackson chose to pursue baseball as a profession, debuting with the Kansas City Royals as an outfielder in 1986. In 1989, he was selected to play in the MLB All-Star Game.
From 1987-90, Jackson also played in the NFL with the Los Angeles Raiders. In 1990, he was selected to play in the Pro Bowl. He was also inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Forty years earlier on Dec. 1, 1922, Vsevold Bobrov was born in Murmansk, Russia. As a soccer player, Bobrov played for CSKA Moscow, VVS Moscow, and Spartak Moscow, and represented the Soviet Union internationally at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He captained the national team.
At the hockey rink, Bobrov was a top scorer in the Soviet League, skating with CSKA Moscow and VVS Moscow, as well as the national team. He was part of the first Soviet team to win a world championship in 1954 and earned a gold medal at the 1956 Winter Olympics, netting a tournament-leading nine goals. Bobrov is among the rare athletes to compete in both a Summer and Winter Olympiad. He also exceled at the Russian game of bandy.
Bobrov, who died in 1979, is perhaps best remembered in North American hockey circles as head coach of the Soviet squad that faced Team Canada in the 1972 Summit Series.