After spending 21 years with his beloved bald eagle Freedom, Steve Hein knew the introduction of Freedom II last Saturday at Paulson Stadium would be an emotional evening.
“It was even more emotional than I anticipated,” said Hein, the executive director of Georgia Southern’s Center for Wildlife Education and Lamar Q Ball, Jr. Raptor Center, a position he has held since the Center was founded in 1991. “Once we illuminated (my) old Scout driving in, and I heard the roar from the Paulson crowd, I went, ‘uh-oh, this is going to hit me.’ It did not let me down, and I hope that Eagle Nation overall was pleased with the introduction of Freedom II.”
Freedom II is succeeding Freedom, who died in March. Freedom had been part of the Georgia Southern community since 2004, when he was found knocked out of a nest in Maitland, Florida. He was acquired with the permission of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Freedom II also was rescued in Maitland, where experts at the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey determined the female southern bald eagle had West Nile virus. The virus, which can often be fatal, damages the nervous system, producing a variety of symptoms and had severely damaged Freedom II’s vision.
Once she was healthy enough, the Fish and Wildlife Service, like in 2004, entrusted her recovery to Hein and Georgia Southern. The eagle’s initial training consisted of trust-building exercises and behavior shaping with Hein. He worked with her over the course of several years, hoping her vision would improve.
Freedom II underwent a re-evaluation of her vision in April 2025 and tests showed that, surprisingly, the damage to the optic nerves had mended, which cleared her for flight.
And set the stage for her debut at Saturday’s football game.
“I want to thank Eagle Nation and the community at large – just everybody that was a part of that very, very special night at Paulson Stadium in Georgia Southern and Eagle Nation history in unveiling Freedom II.
“And now the heavy lifting continues with our new eagle and the plan to, eventually, resume Freedom’s Flight prior to the start of games at Paulson. But there's a lot of work to be done to get near that possibility.”
Hein said he has been working with Freedom II at his home and the Raptor Center for several years. He said he plans to bring some Thanksgiving dinner with him next week to the Center and eat in Freedom’s Courtyard with Freedom II sitting in her enclosure.
It’s all part of a long process of introducing Freedom II to more and more stimuli that, Hein said, will result in her going on display at the Wildlife Center for all the public to enjoy and, ultimately, fly from the top of Paulson Stadium to Hein waiting on the field at Georgia Southern home games.
Freedom’s Flight became a tradition about 15 years ago that every Eagle fan in attendance treasured and was nationally-known as one of the top pre-game experiences in all of college football.
Hein said it took three to four years of training at an empty Paulson Stadium, during games when the crowd would not have realized that live training was going on and other practice “missions” before Freedom took his first official flight right before kickoff at a packed Paulson.
So when, Eagle Nation asks, will Freedom II make her first Freedom’s Flight?
“I wouldn't (think it would be) longer than four years, but I'm not going to over-promise,” Hein said. “In the most amazing way, I've spent a lot of time with (Freedom II). We've met, we've dated a bunch. So that's a good thing. But I can't tell you that that is a promissory note to the ultimate outcome, because anything could interfere with that. So, we're just going to keep hoping and praying for the best.”
Hein said he will bring Freedom II to Paulson Saturday for Georgia Southern’s final home game of the season. He will continue to train and socialize the raptor in the coming months, mostly with a “hood” covering her eyes.
“It's a slow process and my job is to make sure that she is never really stressed,” Hein said. “The hood is what allows her to remain calm. And then slowly, and she'll be the driver behind that, slowly we'll be able to introduce her to a myriad of different environments.
“She'll be (at the Raptor Center) and hopefully, after Thanksgiving, we will begin allowing people to get close to her so she can hear the public. That's the plan of action. That can change at any given time, but I've been here before, and we hope we can do it.”
