Road to Canton: Bears players discuss favorite Devin Hester memories
Story by Gabby Hajduk

Ahead of Devin Hester being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Class of 2024, ChicagoBears.com talked with eight current Bears about their favorite moments from Hester's legendary career.

Ask Bears players for their favorite memory of soon-to-be Hall of Famer Devin Hester and the answer is simple:

"Uh, the Super Bowl." – Jack Sanborn

"Super Bowl, easy. I remember watching that with my family." - T.J. Edwards

"It's definitely the Super Bowl play. It's the first play of the game." – Tyler Scott

"It would have to be the Super Bowl kick return — with all the lights flashing in the background." – Roschon Johnson

It's no shock that the historic 92-yard touchdown return of Super Bowl XLI's opening kickoff is the first thing to come to mind when players think of Hester.

Over 17 years later, the play remains the only touchdown return of an opening kickoff in Super Bowl history. It also capped off the Hester's record-breaking rookie campaign where he set a league record with five kick return touchdowns and was named first-team All Pro.

For some Bears players like Sanborn, Scott, Johnson and Kiran Amegadjie — who were all under the age of 7 during Super Bowl XLI — the iconic return was their introduction to Hester.

"Just watching him — the way he set his blockers up, I just remember watching him make a move to the right, but it wasn't necessarily a juke; it was more of a misdirection," Scott said. "He made kind of like a double shuffle, a hop step, and after that he just took off. That's definitely the most memorable and my favorite for sure. I mean, it's the Super Bowl, all eyes on you and to start off the Super Bowl with a touchdown…"

Amegadjie — a Hinsdale native who grew up a Bears fan — remembers Hester's return as "the first real football" he ever watched. He recalls the camera flashes lighting up the crowd and feeling the electricity that oozed from his television.

"That was the first play I ever saw in my life," Amegadjie said. "Just him taking it back was crazy — I was mesmerized. … To make a splash play like that on the first play of the game, first time the ball is touched was crazy. I fell in love with football after that."

After the Super Bowl, Hester became Amegadjie''s favorite player and still is today. Amegadjie dressed up as Hester one year for Halloween and always said 23 was his favorite number.

"He had a big influence on me and my football career," Amegadjie said.

Other Chicago area natives like Sanborn, Edwards and tight end Cole Kmet hold similar memories of Hester having grown up as Bears fans.

For Sanborn, he grew up loving the No. 23. While most people assumed that was a result of Michael Jordan fandom, Sanborn always corrected them.

"No. 23 — that's Devin Hester," Sanborn said. "He was the man of the city. There's not much more to say. He was the absolute man."

Edwards has vivid memories of watching the early years of Hester's career. For a kid from Chicago, his draw to Hester was simple: he was "electric."

"Every time he touched the ball, I thought he was going to score," Edwards said. "I remember watching the Rams game (in 2006) with the all-white unis. That was the craziest game I've seen him have, so that was sweet."

While the Super Bowl return may be a fan favorite, players like Kmet and receiver Rome Odunze point to a different play that sticks in their mind.

"The play against the Giants when he returned the missed field goal kick," Kmet said. "I remember that like it was yesterday. We were all at my grandparents' house and it was Sunday Night Football and they called it the tunnel run because he did it in such a short area of space. That's my most vivid memory of Devin Hester."

Just nine weeks into his NFL career, Hester was already etched into the record books with his 108-yard kick return for a touchdown in New York. At the time, he tied teammate Nathan Vasher – who returned a missed field goal against the 49ers one year earlier – for the longest play in NFL history. The record is now a 109-yard play that has been achieved three times.

In the fourth quarter, Giants kicker Jay Feely attempted a 52-yard field goal. Hester dropped off the line of scrimmage and headed toward the end zone, so when the kick fell short, Hester caught the ball in the back of the end zone, hesitated on purpose, then sped up the Bears sideline where his blockers had formed a wall.

That moment solidified Odunze a Hester fan. As a young kid, the rookie would watch the return on repeat after his family bought their first computer.

"It's my favorite because of the way it started," Odunze said. "It was kind of like he was waiting. I don't know if he was waiting to set up his blocks or if he was waiting just to be a little bit deceptive on whether he was going to return it or not. But when he did that, that's something that's never been done before and it was just part of his electric collection of returns."

Some players were introduced to Hester even before he was drafted by the Bears on April 29, 2006. Edwards and running back D'Andre Swift take their fandom back to the Miami product's college days when his highlight reel turned into an early internet sensation.

"His Miami highlights were crazy — one of the best," Edwards said. "That was my first memory and then got to see it on the big stage."

Swift couldn't pinpoint a favorite play of Hester's career, because it felt as though "any time he got a kick return, he scored."

At Miami, Hester was a versatile return specialist who also played running back, receiver, cornerback and nickel back over his three-year career. As he did in the NFL, Hester quickly solidified his legacy on special teams. As a freshman, Hester returned a kickoff untouched for 97 yards and a score, finishing the season with 517 kickoff return yards.

What Swift can pinpoint is the first time he saw Hester stand out.

"Seeing him at Miami, seeing him in college was my first time watching him," Swift said. "Seeing him do the same things he did in the league. Any time he touched the ball, it was pretty electric, so he was definitely a player everyone loved to watch."

No matter when Bears players discovered Devin Hester or what iconic play replays in their head when they hear his name, their love for the Chicago legend runs deep and fueled a passion for football.

When Hester dons the exclusive Gold Jacket for the first time Saturday — after two years falling just short of induction — Bears fans and players will rejoice alongside him. Many of them will have flashbacks of running around their houses trying to imitate the most feared returner the NFL has ever seen.

"It was just the fact that at any given point, he had that playmaking ability," Scott said. "That's what you grow up as a kid [wanting], like, 'man I just want to have that playmaking ability to whenever I touch the ball, be able to take it to the house.' The way he was able to play freely, the way he moved, the way he set people up. As somebody who is kind of a similar type as far as speed and agility, it resonates with you.

"That's something where you're in your living room when you're six years old and you're trying to be Devin Hester. You run around the house thinking everything is a defender and you're thinking of what you see on TV, what you see Devin Hester do."