Nashville-born Bob Tillman was blessed with so much athletic ability; he wasn’t sure which sport appealed to him the most. Tillman graduated from Isaac Litton High School where he was a three-sport standout.
Tillman was an all-state quarterback his season year in 1955, as well as an all-region basketball player and two-time baseball MVP in the NIL.
In 1956, Tillman signed a basketball scholarship with Georgia Tech before transferring to MTSU to play football.
Tillman signed with the Boston Red Sox, and played in four minor league seasons before being called up to the majors.
In nine seasons he played in 775 games and had 2,329 at-bats, 189 runs, 540 hits, 68 doubles, 10 triples, 79 home runs, 282 RBI, 1 stolen base, 228 walks, a .232 batting average, a .300 on-base percentage, a .371 slugging percentage, 865 total bases, 9 sacrifice hits, 14 sacrifice flies, and 33 intentional walks.