Sir Purr
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- Mar 16, 2019
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"You have to be fearless, because you've got all these bodies flying 100 miles per hour down the field," Capers said.
No one in the NFL at the time flew down the field faster than Bates, who as an international track star won the bronze medal for the United States in the 200-meter dash at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
But make no mistake. At 5-foot-10 and a rock-solid 189 pounds, Bates wasn't a track star-turned-football player. He was a football player first and foremost.
As a junior at Amphitheater High School in Tucson, Ariz., Bates played running back and rushed for more than 1,300 yards in just nine games, averaging 10.2 yards per carry.
But it was his speed, always his startling straight-line speed, that garnered the most attention - causing one opposing coach to comment, "It's like watching a Roadrunner cartoon."
Bates was a physical player, too. As a kick returner, he gathered in the ball and then immediately headed upfield in almost an incomprehensible burst of instant speed, gaining more momentum with every step. He was as likely to run over a would-be tackler as he was to avoid him.
"He was the toughest fast guy I've ever seen," said Dick Tomey, the coach at Arizona where Bates played in college.
Bates arguably was never better, or at least never busier, than in 1998.
That season, he set Panthers team records that he still holds today: most kickoff returns in a season with 59, most kickoff return yards in a season with 1,480 and most kickoff returns in a game with nine at Atlanta (10/4/98).
The 99-yard kickoff return Bates had for the touchdown in the season finale at Indianapolis was one of a team-record five he crafted in six seasons with the Panthers. Steve Smith is second in franchise history with two.