Deion Sanders Hearing

Deion Sanders Hearing, Former NFL star Deion Sanders said he never let the adornments of fame — expensive clothes, jewelry and fancy cars — define him.

“I can remember winning Super Bowls and (playing in) the World Series,” Sanders said Friday night in a speech to about 800 people at St. Peter’s Church and World Outreach Center off Old Lexington Road. “I was playing and dancing inside your living room.”

The public cared about his image as “Prime Time” and “Neon Deion,” the flashy gold chain-wearing player always able to make a big play when it counted, “but no one knew who Deion was,” he said.

“I was trapped inside one body crying out for help.”

Sanders spoke for about 45 minutes as part of a program for Forsyth Jail and Prison Ministries. The ministry provides spiritual counseling to more than 1,100 inmates in the Forsyth County Jail and 245 inmates at Forsyth Correctional Center.

He told the audience, which included dozens of inmates, that he has accepted Jesus as his savior and is a Christian, adding that he doesn’t smoke or take drugs, and avoids using profanity.

Sanders also told the inmates that they must let God into their lives.

“Help God do his will, and God will help you,” he said.

Sanders, 44, helped the San Francisco 49ers win the Super Bowl in 1995 and the Dallas Cowboys win the NFL title in 1996. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year.

He also played major-league baseball for the Atlanta Braves in the 1990s.

Sanders admitted that he has weathered rough patches lately. Friday morning, he attended a court hearing in McKinney, Texas, about an April 23 scuffle between him and his estranged wife, Pilar Sanders, at their Prosper, Texas, home. (Chicago Tribune)