Rome Odunze’s aunt and uncle are Chicago Bears fans. They got him a Brian Urlacher jersey, his introduction to the NFL, but more importantly, showed him a YouTube video.
It’s a compilation of Devin Hester’s returns from his first three seasons.
“I was in awe,” Odunze said. “I thought it was awesome because he never got caught.”
That’s how a kid in Las Vegas became a Bears fan. Odunze would wear No. 23 in youth football.
“I was hooked for sure,” he said. “I was a Devin Hester fan for life.”
This weekend, Hester will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The greatest returner of all time’s impact on the game continues, as two days before he dons the gold jacket, the NFL will unveil a new kickoff rule, one to keep the return in the game.
It’s Hester’s Bears who will be doing it. And it’s the Bears who still have plenty of Hester fans.
“It’s wild. The coincidences, so many different connections,” Odunze said. “It’s such a blessing to be in the position that I’m in and have him as a role model. It’s gonna be awesome having him go into the Hall of Fame. I’ll be hyped for him.
“There was a discussion there for a little bit if he was going to be a Hall of Famer, and I was the first one to be like, ‘Man, what? Turn on the tape. No one has ever done what he did.’ I’m excited for him.”
Recently, Hester texted Odunze. He saw how he inspired the newest Bears receiver.
“Keep doing your thing and Bear Down,” Hester told him.
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There still might never be another Hester, but at least the new rule — if it sticks — allows for the possibility, albeit remote, that someone can catch his record of 20 return touchdowns, five of which came on kickoff returns.
The guy on the current Bears team who benefits most is Velus Jones Jr. When he thinks of Hester, he thinks “legendary.”
“As a kid. I wasn’t into football as much, but my older brother played Madden all the time, and that’s when I found out about (Hester),” he said. “I remember seeing him taking the kickoff return in the Super Bowl. I was young, but that was crazy. I used to watch a lot of highlights of him in park league, middle school, but I would say I really tapped into the return stage in high school.”
Jones hopes to return a kick in the Hall of Fame game and maybe gift the ball to Hester, a ceremonious nod to keeping the kickoff in the game and keeping alive the incredible things Hester did.
Bears return man Velus Jones Jr. is among the team’s current players inspired by Hall of Famer Devin Hester. (Jamie Sabau / USA Today)
Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, who helped the league create the new rule, remembers 11 years ago when Hester lined up to return a punt against Washington. Hightower was in the coaching box, helping chart for the defense for Washington that afternoon, when Hester took off.
The 81-yard touchdown tied Deion Sanders’ record for return scores.
“The whole team said all week that we weren’t going to kick it to him. We kicked it to him and guess what happened,” Hightower said with a laugh. “He did what he does best. He’s special.”
A few times a year, Hightower will show clips of Hester in his special teams meetings. He already has seen Odunze’s “eyes getting big” when Hester’s returns are on the screen.
“We pay homage to him so everyone in the room understands why we are where we are in the NFL because of his accomplishments and all of his hard work,” he said. “We definitely have the utmost respect for him.”
Hightower, who’s been coaching in the NFL since Hester’s rookie season, doesn’t think we’ll see another returner like him.
“I still in my heart of hearts don’t think I’ll see another Devin Hester in my lifetime. Maybe my kids’ kids will see one,” he said. “He was just so special. Any time he touched the ball, he could go to the house. That’s rare. I haven’t seen that consistently from someone year in and year out.
“To be able to do it as long as he could for as good as he was, that’s why he’s going to the Hall. He’s just remarkable.”
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When a team happens to have multiple players who grew up as fans, a weekend like this is extra special. Tight end Cole Kmet and linebackers T.J. Edwards and Jack Sanborn are very much in the Hester generation.
Their greatest memories as Bears fans often go to the same highlight.
“Super Bowl return,” Edwards said. “That was the guy you gravitated toward. He was just so electric in everything he did.”
17 years ago today, Devin Hester started Super Bowl XLI with a BANG. 😤 pic.twitter.com/STGjcVZ3mh
— NFL (@NFL) February 4, 2024
“I remember exactly where I was with my family watching the game and just having him return that, it wasn’t even a shock to many people,” Sanborn said. “It was like, it’s Devin Hester.”
Kmet knows the opening return touchdown against the Colts in Miami is often people’s first Hester memory, but his is Hester’s return of a missed field goal against the Giants.
“I just remember being in my grandfather’s house at the time and watching with everybody,” he said. “That just sticks in my head very vividly — that whole moment. Just really cool.”
The thing about Hester was that everyone could try to be him at some point in their youth football days. Everyone who grew up around Chicago during his tenure — or one wideout in Las Vegas — did.
“You try to emulate him playing in the backyard with all your friends,” Edwards said. “My close friend Andrew Spencer, he was quick and growing up, he took that to heart trying to be Devin Hester, so we’d always give him crap. I’m pretty sure every kid in America tried to emulate that guy.”
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For Sanborn, “23” isn’t for Michael Jordan. For football players of a certain age, “23” was Hester.
“That number was just … that was him,” he said. “He was a legend.”
Every year, each team in the Hall of Fame Game is represented by a player who is about to be enshrined. It’s different with the Bears and Hester, though. From the kickoff rule being front and center Thursday night, to their No. 9 pick growing up a Hester fan, to the players who still watch his highlights, the connection is strong. The synergy is unique.
At the league meetings in the spring, chairman George McCaskey expressed what Hester’s honor means to the franchise.
“Every once in a while, they put a clip on social media of all his touchdown returns,” he said. “Not just the ones that result in touchdowns. Even if you go back to his (college) days. Just looks like he’s shot out of a cannon. It’s man-among-boys out there. Just extraordinary talent. Grateful and proud that the Hall has recognized that extraordinary talent.”
— The Athletic’s Adam Jahns contributed.
(Top photo: Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images)