It's on to year four for Deion Sanders at Colorado, but the story he shared recently had nothing to do with Boulder.
It just happened to be told there. Because the person who gave him his nickname showed up.
“My homeboy who played all three sports with me named Richard Fain…he just came up to Colorado to watch the spring game,” Sanders said.
That brought everything back. Back to high school. Back to nights when he was doing everything and yet still walking off the floor alone.
“In my life, I never drank, never tasted alcohol in my life,” Sanders said. “I stopped using profanity when I was 17, 18 years old on the campus of Florida State University. So, I got a big willpower like if I don’t want to do something, I ain’t doing it.”
That mindset was built early.
“My father was alcoholic…biological father was a drug addict,” Sanders said. “So I saw how that curtailed their lives…and I was not going to be that whatsoever.”
That drive for greatness came from somewhere else. “I got my work ethic for my mother. She worked two jobs trying so the ends could see one another although they never met,” Sanders said.
But even as the stats piled up, there was something missing. “She never saw me play ball,” Sanders said. “My mama never saw me play ball.”
That didn’t stop what he was doing across three sports.
“I’m all-state in football playing quarterback. I’m all-state in basketball averaging 24.6 before the threes were implemented,” Sanders said. “I get drafted by Kansas City Royals in baseball…so what can’t I do?”
But when the games ended, it got quiet. “After the game, I look over there, ain’t nobody there,” Sanders said. “After the football game, ain’t nobody there after the baseball game.”
Then came the night everything changed.
“I think I dropped 36 that night, had a couple dunks back to back,” Sanders said.
Fain was there and coined the memorable nickname. “He said, ‘Man, you know what, man? You’re Prime Time,’” Sanders recalled.
Sanders didn’t hesitate. “I said, ‘You’re right. You’re right!’”
And that was it. No buildup. No plan. Just a performance, a moment, and a name that fit too well to ignore.
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