On July 28, 1987, the St. Louis Cardinals said goodbye to one of their greatest players.

Wide receiver Pat Tilley failed his physical examination after reporting to training camp at Eastern Illinois University.

“I’ve got a pretty screwed up back,” the 34-year-old told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I’ve got a ruptured disc that was removed by surgery. I’ve also got a herniated disc. Put those two together and the chances of me ever playing again are very slim.”

‘It’s been almost a year since my operation and I’m still unable to do any activity beyond jogging, and even jogging aggravates my back. I don’t see my back ever improving to the point that I could be able to go out on the Busch Stadium AstroTurf and let Lawrence Taylor hit me.”

Tilley didn’t officially retire until after the season due to some contract formalities.

“There are certain things that have to be done through proper channels with a player who has an injury like mine,” Tilley said.

Tilley played 11 seasons in the NFL. He was the team’s 4th round draft choice in 1976 out of Louisiana Tech. From 1978 through 1982, he led the Cardinals in receiving and finished his NFL career with 468 receptions for 7,005 yards. He scored 37 touchdowns.

Asked what he would miss about playing pro football, Tilley said, “Not training camp, for sure.”

He also wouldn’t miss the hits. At 5-feet-10, Tilley was often overmatched but never backed down. His size made him an inviting target for hungry defensive backs, but he was intelligent and resourceful on the field.

“When you’re small and not too fast, you’ve got to outsmart the other guy,” he said.. “But anyone who says he doesn’t hear footsteps is lying. What I did was accept the fact that the advancing footsteps were those of someone fixing to kill me.”

Tilley caught his last NFL pass in the 1986 season opener against the Rams. A few days later, it was discovered he had injured his back and would miss the rest of the season. The injury cost him the opportunity to break Jackie Smith’s franchise record for receptions. He came up just 12 catches short of Smith’s 480.

“Not breaking the record doesn’t hurt my feelings,” Tilley said. “Jackie Smith deserves the record. He was a better tight end than I was a wide receiver. I think Jackie Smith is was the best tight end ever to play the game of football. He was the toughest guy I’ve ever been around. He was just an awesome man.”

Tilley offered up a couple of his career highlights in a 1987 St. Louis Post-Dispatch story.

• “A game in my rookie year in 1976 against the Rams. I got to start. Mel Gray was hurt. I caught 6 balls and made a diving catch. Don Coryell was coaching, and I’ll never forget how he hugged me like I was his kid.”
• “The locker room and being around the guys. There’s something about a locker room you can’t find any place else. It’s a kind of retreat and escape from reality. You can go there and act like a kid and play a game. It’s unfortunate football has gotten to be as much of a business as it has. But it’s a game to me, and that’s what it always will be.”

Perhaps Tilley’s most memorable catch came in a 1980 game against the Baltimore Colts when he made a one-handed grab of a Jim Hart pass for a touchdown. Tilley called it his “immaculate reception” because he reached to the heavens and the ball fell into his hands.

“I was lucky,” he said. “I actually remember my misses more than the ones I caught. I really didn’t like making a fool out of myself on national television.”

Cardinals head coach Gene Stallings said, “He was a tough little rascal, just an all-out competitor who wouldn’t give an inch. As defensive coach of the Cowboys, I thought when the Cardinals had Tilley and (Roy) Green out there, you couldn’t find a better tandem than that.”

“He was a gutty player and one of the Cardinals’ great receivers,” teammate Dan Dierdorf said.

“You just had a feeling that he was going to get open some way in his area,” quarterback Jim Hart said. “And you knew he had the hands. If he couldn’t get it, no one was going to get it.”

“He never complained on Sunday,” Cardinals’ owner Bill Bidwill said. “When it was time to play the game, he played and he played hard. He played as long as he could. For that, we are grateful.”

Tilley said he enjoyed his time with the Cardinals, even though the club was seldom a winner.

“The best memory I have is just the people,” he told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story published in August of 1987. “Some of my best friends are friends I made in St. Louis. The people were awful good to me there. The team never won much, so there’s really nothing to remember there.”

“It would have been fun to have been with the Pittsburgh Steelers and to have two Super Bowl rings. But I have no complaints now. I’m not going to say now I would have liked to have played somewhere else.”

“I guess nobody feels like they get the recognition they deserve or the money they deserve, but I was always treated pretty fairly in St. Louis,” he said.

Tilley played for five head coaches in St. Louis.

“That’s too many,” he said. “That’s why we didn’t win.”

“The early years were the best. There was a better attitude on the club. We had the Jim Harts and the Roger Wehrlis. There was a lot of enthusiasm.”

Though never the biggest or the fastest, Pat Tilley carved out a remarkable NFL career through heart, grit, and unwavering dedication. A model of consistency for the St. Louis Cardinals, he led by example, earning the respect of teammates and opponents alike with his crisp route running, dependable hands, and relentless work ethic. His legacy endures not just in the record books, but in the memory of fans who watched him give everything he had—every down, every game.