Mel’s musical talents are well known throughout the world, but what


about his football talents? As a star half ack on his high school football team, Mel received tryout off ers at the University of North Carolina and Florida State University, both of which were nationally ranked programs. He set his goals on making the team at Florida State and attended their summer camp but was not off ered a scholarship or a spot on the team. Since most of his high school friends were enrolling at the University of Florida, he decided to enroll there and try to make the football team as a “walk on.” He stayed with the team for the entire tryout period, but ultimately did not make it. During the tryout camp, he became friends with two players, Rick Casares and Buford Long, both of whom would go on to have solid NFL careers.


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Since football was his main interest in going to college, he only stayed at the University of Florida for one semester and left to pursue his music. However, in the typical good spirit of Mel Tillis, despite being cut from the team, he became a major supporter of University of Florida football and the school’s athletic programs in general, organizing a big country music fundraiser each year for the athletic department.


Besides music and football, Mel Tillis was deeply entrenched in another profession. In his hometown of Pahokee, Florida, the Tillis family had a well-known enterprise called the Tillis’ Hometown Bakery, where from an early age Mel worked alongside his father, his uncles and his cousins. From a young age, he learned to bake breads, muffi ns, donuts, pies, cookies and decorate fancy cakes.


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