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Devin Hester's Historic Hall of Fame Bust Looks Absolutely Iconic
The NFL may be changing the way kickoffs look with rule changes this year, but Devin Hester changed them by being an outright force of nature. Hester twice created over 1,000 yards of return yardage, and twice created over 500 yards of returns on punts. He scored 19 special teams touchdowns, 14 on punts, five on kicks. He's 12th all-time in return yards.
Famously, of course, Hester returned a kickoff for a touchdown in Super Bowl XLI. He is the only player to ever return an opening kickoff for a touchdown in a Super Bowl.
He enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio this weekend after an 11 year career that ended in 2016. He is the first player to be inducted into the hall primarily on his merits as a kick returner.
His bust is as awesome as that honor:
Being the Hall of Fame’s first primarily kick returner, here is a look at Devin Hester’s Bronze Bust. pic.twitter.com/dOHoHXoJ0v
— Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) August 3, 2024
While Hester eventually got rid of the dreads to go with a short hair look, his best years, and the iconic look he donned was with the longer hair. The bust appropriately reflects that.
The Bears would lose to the Indianapolis Colts in that Super Bowl 29-17, but Hester gave them as good a shot as possible to win it with the opening touchdown.
Josh Wilson is the news director of the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in 2024, he worked for FanSided in a variety of roles, most recently as senior managing editor of the brand’s flagship site. He has also served as a general manager of Sportscasting, the sports arm of a start-up sports media company, where he oversaw the site’s editorial and business strategy. Wilson has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from SUNY Cortland and a master’s in accountancy from the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. He loves a good nonfiction book and enjoys learning and practicing Polish. Wilson lives in Chicago but was raised in upstate New York. He spent most of his life in the Northeast and briefly lived in Poland, where he ate an unhealthy amount of pastries for six months.