There wasn’t a full moon on Halloween night in 1998, but strange things were abound at Hornet Stadium in Sacramento.
Eastern Washington’s Bashir Levingston returned a kick for a touchdown on the final play of the first quarter.
In the final minute of the third quarter, he returned another kick for a touchdown.
Then, in the fourth quarter, he did it a third time.
Levingston is the only player in the history of Division I football to return three kicks for touchdowns in the same game.
The record-breaking performance in Eastern Washington’s 31-25 victory ranks 42
nd on the list of the Big Sky Conference’s “50 Greatest Men’s Moments.’’
“No. 1, Sacramento State was up and down the field offensively against us,’’ said Mike Kramer, who was Eastern Washington’s head coach at the time. “The only way we could match what they were doing was to play as well as we could on offense and in the kicking game.’’
Levingston was listed at 5-foot-9 and played just one season for the Eagles after transferring from Utah State. Levingston’s brother Keish was a wide receiver for the Eagles.
Levingston, from Seaside, Calif., was extremely explosive as a wide receiver, kick returner and punt returner. In his second game for the Eagles, he returned punts of 62 and 68 yards for scores against Portland State. Against Cal State Northridge, he caught three passes for 182 yards with three touchdowns – including a 95-yarder. He also had an 83-yard punt return against Western Washington.
His first kick return for a touchdown went for 84 yards and tied the game at 7-7. It came just after Sacramento State’s Charles Roberts scored on a 60-yard run. Roberts carried the ball 34 times for 246 yards and two touchdowns.
“His first one was very well blocked,’’ Kramer said. “All he did was take the ball and run to the end zone. On the second one, he juked a guy and made him miss.’’
The second touchdown was a 90-yard return with 51 seconds left in the third quarter. It cut Sacramento State’s lead to 22-17. Prior to the 90-yard kick return, Levingston also had kick returns of 14 and 46 yards.
“They kicked to him five times,’’ Kramer said. “Every time they’d kick to him, I thought it was crazy. Bashir was so fast and fearless on kick returns. He was not necessarily that brave of a blocker when he played wide receiver. Returning kicks was a unique skill he had.’’
Levingston’s record-setting third return was a 92-yarder with 7:06 remaining in the game. It came just second after Sacramento State took the lead on a 53-yard Scott Brown field goal.
“I know they were in a position where coach (John) Volek told them under no circumstances to kick the ball to that guy,’’ Kramer said. “They were offsides and had to kick it again. He didn’t remind the kicker again. Levingston took the ball on the left hash and sprinted around the right side where he had awesome blocking.’’
Kramer said the kick return scheme was the same for all three returns.
“We called it sideline right,’’ Kramer said. “It was all one-on-one blocking, no double teams like everyone uses today. Everyone on the front line had to kick their guy inside. The backside tight end would come across the field and kick his guy out. The backside tight end was a good, young player who knew how to time it just right and get there. His name was Lance Ballew. He did a wonderful job.’’
Levingston finished the game with a Big Sky and NCAA record 326 kick return yards, a mark that has since been eclipsed. His record of 65.2 yards per return still stands. Levingston also had 23 yards on punt returns, giving him 349 total return yards, a record that still stands.
His six combined kick/punt returns for touchdowns that season is tied for the national FCS record to this date.
Levingston saw action for the New York Giants in the NFL in 1999 and 2000. He had one kick return for a touchdown for Amsterdam in NFL Europe in 2000.
From 2002-2007, Levingston played for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League, where he continued as a star returner. Ten times he was selected as the CFL Special Teams Player of the Week. In 2004, he was named the league’s Outstanding Special Teams player.
During the 2007 season, he set professional football history when he returned a missed field goal 129 yards for a touchdown, which at the time was the longest return for a touchdown in football history.
