Local football legend Mike Tilleman passes away at age 76

Legends aren't born, they're made. That's cliche, but it's also so true. And it certainly was the case for the Hi-Line's own Mike Tilleman.

A star at every level of football, as well as an impeccable member of the Hi-Line and Havre communities for years, Tilleman died at the age of 76 on Friday morning.

Tilleman died just days after the Montana Board of Regents approved Montana State University-Northern's request to name the field at the brand-new Lights Stadium in his honor. So, when the Lights play their first game their this spring, the field will bear, and forever bear Tilleman's name. And rightfully so, according to Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel, who said Tilleman wasn't just instrumental in helping the new stadium become a reality, but also in bringing back football to Northern in the first place.

"Mike was the original push to bring football back to Northern," Kegel said in an interview Aug. 26.

That was the day, despite battling illness, Tilleman returned to Havre to see a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new stadium, which was also a ceremony to honor him and his family.

"To get a program up and running like that, it took a lot, and Mike was the one who made so much of that possible," Kegel said. "He also started the NALSF Pheasant Jamboree Fundrasier, which has been so amazing, and raised so much money for the football program and for Northern athletics over the years. And he, of course, has been instrumental in helping us get this stadium project going. I mean, Mike has just done so much for Northern, and so much for the football program. And we are so grateful, so today is about honoring him and his family. We wanted him to be here for this moment, and to make sure we all get a chance to thank him and his family for everything he's done for Northern and the football program."

Long before Tilleman was instrumental in making football at Northern a reality, he was carving out his own career on the gridiron, and it turned out to be a career unlike any other from the Havre and Hi-Line area.

Born in Zurich to parents Henry and Irma, he would eventually attend Chinook High School where he was a three-sport star. As a Sugarbeeter, Tilleman especially stood out on the football field, where eventually earned a scholarship to the University of Montana. As a Griz, Tilleman was a second-team All-Conference standout twice, and he was, in fact, so good that he skipped his senior season in Missoula to pursue a career in the NFL.

And it would be a career few from these parts have had in professional sports.

In 1965, Tilleman was drafted by both the AFL's Denver Broncos, and the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. His career as a defensive lineman would include playing on four different teams, leading the league in tackles and sacks in 1972, and starting in 148 of his 156 games - including the last 123.

He was New Orleans Saints' MVP in 1970 and the Houston Oilers' MVP in 1972. He's also known for blocking future NFL Hall of Famer Alex Karras on teammate Tom Dempsey's record-setting 63-yard field goal to beat the Detroit Lions in 1970.

One of Tilleman's best-known accomplishments was earning the NFL's Brian Piccolo Award as the comeback player of the year in 1972 after overcoming bowel cancer discovered during surgery to remove an appendix that ruptured during a handball game. Following that great comeback season, Tilleman would play four more years in the NFL, finishing his career with the Atlanta Falcons and retiring in 1976.

Among his many great feats as a Montana-born player in the NFL, Tilleman started more games than any other native Montanan in professional football. Also, a former NFL offensive lineman was quoted as saying "I would rather catch javelins for an hour than to take head slaps from Mike Tilleman."

Following his highly successful NFL career, Tilleman returned home, first opening Tilleman Motor Co. in his home town of Chinook, before bringing Tilleman Motors to Havre, where it still resides to this day.

In retirement, Tilleman became a pillar of community support on the Hi-Line especially in Havre, but, was also known well-known in the circles of support for his beloved Montana Grizzlies. Tilleman was inducted into the Grizzly Hall of Fame in 2003. An ardent supporter of Grizzly football and Grizzly athletics, Tilleman hosted a GSA Spring Tour lunch every May in his showroom. Tilleman and his wife, Gloria, were also instrumental in helping build the Washington-Grizzly Stadium Champions Center several years ago. In honor of that gesture, one of the team meeting rooms in the building is named the Mike and Gloria Tilleman Room.

In 2019, Grizzly head coach and lifelong Tilleman friend Bobby Hauck was in Havre and spoke about his friend.

"Tilly always lets us know how we're doing," Hauck said. "He never holds anything back. I know when I'm coming to Havre I'm going to get coached up by Mike, and that's just fine by me. He's just a great dude and a true Grizzly."

On Friday, the University of Montana also put out a Tweet mourning the loss of Tilleman. The tweet read:

"The hearts of the Griz football family are heavy today after the passing of Mike Tilleman - a true Montana legend. Mike was a Grizzly Sports Hall of Famer who went on to a 12-year, All-Pro NFL career. He was a great supporter of the Grizzlies, and friend to us all."

Indeed. Tilleman, from his paying days and well beyond, is one of the biggest legends in Montana Griz Football, and in Montana football in general. He was part of the second class of the newly-formed Montana Football Hall of Fame, where he was inducted in 2017.

And football also brought him full circle in Havre. Helping bring Lights' football back to life was just part of what Tilleman has helped do for the program. His creations of the Legends For Lights Pheasant Jamboree has helped raise more than $2 million in scholarships for all Northern student-athletes, while also supporting a full-time coaching position on the Northern football staff.

Tilleman has also done plenty of work behind the scenes for sports and more in the Havre community and beyond. But, and perhaps fittingly, the stadium at Northern will be one of Tilleman's final kind and generous gestures, and also a lasting legacy to what kind of icon he truly was in Havre, and all around the Hi-Line, and including at MSU-Northern.

"Mike is one of a kind," Kegel said in August. He's a legend in our community, and he's been so generous and so helpful with Northern, we just can't thank him enough. And it's not just all the things you see here; he's done so much more that people haven't heard about. We are just so blessed to have him and his family as Northern supporters. We wouldn't be where we are without Mike Tilleman."

"We're not here without him," Northern head coach Andrew Rolin said to media outlets over the weekend. "He was an icon not just in Havre but the entire Hi-Line. There's no Northern football without the Tillemans, and without Mike Tilleman specifically. He had a huge impact on a lot of lives in this area."

A dedication of Tilleman Field at the new Lights' Stadium is expected to happen, hopefully during a Lights' football game this spring.

Tilleman is survived by his wife, Gloria; sons Craig (Wendy) and Chris (Crystal); daughter Suzanne (Jonathan Richter), and grandchildren Mackenzie, Sophie, Jackson, Colby, Griffin, Carley and Rhett.