Former University of Arkansas All-American Dan Hampton, a 2002 inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, will serve as a premier panelist during the annual Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival this weekend.
Hampton will lead the panel in a discussion of the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The '85 Bears," which focuses on the Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears, which featured one of the most dominant defenses in NFL history.
The documentary, released in 2016 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Bears' championship season, was directed by Jason Hehir and narrated by actor Vince Vaughn, a native of Lake Forest, Ill., who was also executive producer.
"Very few teams in any sport have managed to be as dominant, innovative and colorful as the '85 Chicago Bears," said Ken Jacobson, executive director of the festival. "We are absolutely thrilled that Razorback football great and Bears Hall of Famer Dan Hampton, one of the key players on that team, will be joining us at this year's Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival for a special conversation with ESPN Films senior producers to commemorate the 40th anniversary of this legendary team."
The film details the hiring of fiery coach Mike Ditka, his sometimes stormy relationship with defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan, and the many characters on that legendary Bears team. Among them were Hampton, a Jacksonville native and 2024 inductee in the College Football Hall of Fame, running back Walter Payton, linebacker Mike Singletary, quarterback Jim McMahon and defensive tackle William "Refrigerator" Perry.
Hampton, who will drive down from Chicago on Friday with his wife Gina and their son Dennis, said he was hyped about the film and its celebration of the Bears' unforgettable season.
"I don't know about the perception across the country, but up here I don't go two days, three days, without somebody saying, 'I watched that 30 for 30 again the other night. My God, that was great,' " Hampton told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Hampton's panel discussion will be at 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Arlington Hotel Resort & Spa in Cinema 2 on the second floor.
"I think it won awards," Hampton said. "It was very, very well done and obviously it was a very poignant subject because we're in that era where a lot of the characters who were in that 30 for 30 episode are gone now."
Among them are the Hall of Famer Payton, Steve McMichael, a Texas alum who was Hampton's running mate on the defensive line, and Ryan, whose famed "46" defense was a hallmark of the team.
Ditka, who will turn 86 on Oct. 18, has reportedly been in poor health for years, and McMahon has been vocal about his early onset dementia diagnosis.
"The thing is, I have never been one to take myself that serious in the sense ... I'm so important or whatever,' Hampton said. "But if you Google right now on your computer 'Greatest NFL team,' it'll say the '85 Bears."
NFL.com's list of the 100 greatest NFL teams lists the 1985 Bears second to only the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Hampton, 68, said he plans to tell "all kinds of back stories" about the team and how the ESPN producers had to convince him to be an integral part of the documentary.