Russell Arthur Tillman (February 27, 1946 – March 14, 2021) was an American professional

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player who was a

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for the

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of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) from 1970 to 1977. He played

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for the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks. Tillman was nicknamed “the King” for his special teams mastery. He played seven different special teams positions and served as special teams captain from 1974 to 1977. He was a member of Washington's 1972 NFC Championship squad. After retiring from football, Tillman stayed in the NFL as an assistant coach for the

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for 16 years, where he coached special teams, tight ends, linebackers before becoming defensive coordinator. He also spent time as assistant with

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and

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. He served as head coach of the XFL’s New York/New Jersey Hitmen; uninterested in the

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approach the league was taking, Tillman mostly took a straight approach to coaching in the league, refusing to get wrapped up in the publicity stunts. Tillman was called "Gutless Rusty" by WWF announcer and sitting

Governor

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, who as part of a

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, came out of his XFL broadcast booth to try to provoke a response from Tillman near the end of the league's week 4 telecast; Tillman turned away and refused to answer him. Tillman also spent one season assistant coaching a GEJFA team in Washington, the Woodinville Falcons, with head coach John Pike, where his son played. Tillman was a special teams coach in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks in the 1980s and the Minnesota Vikings under Mike Tice. He died on March 14, 2021.

Head coaching record

XFL

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tillman, Rusty 1946 births 2021 deaths American football linebackers Washington Redskins players Minnesota Vikings coaches NFL defensive coordinators New York/New Jersey Hitmen coaches Northern Arizona Lumberjacks football players Seattle Seahawks coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Sportspeople from Beloit, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin