As a nine-year-old in 1986, Walker was over at her godfather’s house when he had an American football game on the TV. The Super Bowl XX-winning Bears happened to be playing at that time. While he didn’t know much about the sport himself, her godfather told Walker what he knew.

“The Bears were the very first team I ever saw, Walker recalled. “He was telling me stories about Walter Payton and the Fridge. I sat with him to watch that game and I completely fell in love with it. It was unlike anything I’d really seen before.”

Not long after that day, Walker was outside her house playing in the street with her friends when she noticed a guy on the corner carrying shoulder pads and a helmet. She now recognized that equipment and as a naturally curious kid, walked straight up to him.

“I sort of chatted to him, because as a kid — and I still do — I talked to everybody,” Walker added. “I asked him a few questions and there was a team called the Silverbacks that he played for. He told me a little bit about it and then his friend came and picked him up. That moment just added to it all, really. It made it more magical because not only had I seen it on TV, but there’s real people that play the sport. I’ve followed the Bears ever since.”

Not only has Walker followed the Bears, she’s become one of the club’s biggest supporters across the pond. She was present at almost every activation the Bears set up in London for their international game last October — including attending all three nights at the team’s designated pub — Greenwood Sports Pub — in central London. While the Bears have enhanced their international presence through Mini Monsters clinics and player visits the last few years, the pub nights allowed all UK fans to experience a taste of the Chicago sports bar atmosphere.

Walker took the train two hours each way to attend the pub each night and meet Bears legends like Anthony Adams, Charles Tillman and more, adding that the pub experience was “brilliant.”