Illinois Featured Content

  • Tim McCarthy: From walk-on to starter to American hero

    Apr 1, 2021 10:15 am by Division of Intercollegiate Athletics
    side by side images - Tim McCarthy as an Illini football player, and laying on the ground after being shot by John Hinckley.

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    • side by side images - Tim McCarthy as an Illini football player, and laying on the ground after being shot by John Hinckley.

    Illini football letterman Tim McCarthy has earned the title of 'hero.' Nearly a decade after his playing days, on March 30, 1981, McCarthy took a bullet in defense of President Ronald Reagan.