Nearly 55 years ago, a University of Illinois freshman named Tim McCarthy headed for the football office on campus, looking to join the Fighting Illini. McCarthy grew up playing football as a young boy in Chicago; but as a freshman in high school, McCarthy's smaller size led him to choosing wrestling and track and field over his favorite sport.
Before McCarthy's senior at Leo Catholic High School, he hit a growth spurt, pushing him to play football in his final year of high school before heading down to Champaign to pursue a finance degree. But after some time on campus, McCarthy knew he wanted to do more in college, so he signed up as a walk-on for the Illinois football team.
After a season on the scout team, McCarthy excelled as a sophomore at strong safety and was awarded a scholarship by head coach Jim Valek and eventually became a starter. However, McCarthy's success story was just beginning as 14 years later he became an American hero by taking a bullet for President Ronald Reagan
McCarthy, who has remained an Illini football fan throughout his life, has left an incredible mark on his alma mater and the Illinois football program, embodying what it means to be an Illini.
His legacy will forever be engrained in the Illini as the Illinois football team has created the Tim McCarthy Scholarship, which will be awarded to a walk-on football player each season.
"I am proud, humbled, and honored as a former football walk-on to have a scholarship dedicated in my name," said McCarthy. "The legacy of Illinois football is not only the wins or losses, the yards gained, the tackles made, but learning to continue to strive mightily in our future careers, whatever that might be, to make our communities better and our nation stronger and sometimes even at great personal cost. Illini forever!"
The inaugural recipient of the Tim McCarthy Scholarship is former walk-on Michael Marchese. Head coach Bret Bielema initially awarded Marchese will a scholarship during spring ball last year after being around the senior for only a few months.
"This year's recipient, Michael Marchese represents everything I think that Tim would be proud of, both on and off the field," Bielema said. "A former walk-on from the state of Illinois, that's proven it's not where you start, it's where you end up. And it'll be a really cool moment, this spring to reunite those two."
Like McCarthy, Marchese is from Northern Illinois and proudly represents the state of Illinois. Marchese has also played in multiple positions during his career, settling in at tight end last season. Marchese's academic path has also been similar to McCarthy's as the Illini already graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics.
"It is an honor to be the first recipient of the Tim McCarthy Scholarship," Marchese said. "I am very happy to represent someone like Tim McCarthy, who embodies what being an Illini is all about. I am very thankful to Coach Bielema, the football staff, and my teammates for this opportunity."
After a four-year football career at Illinois, McCarthy applied for a job with the Secret Service and the FBI, as they were looking for business majors to do white-collar, criminal investigations. McCarthy's father was a sergeant with the Chicago Police Department, so he saw what that line of work entailed and was interested in both the investigation and protection aspect.
At the start of 1972, McCarthy accepted a position in the Chicago field office. He spent seven years there investigating counterfeit currency, stolen government checks and bonds, and threats against the President.
He then made a big jump to Washington D.C., tasked with protecting the President, which was Jimmy Carter at the time, then Reagan. And on March 30, 1981, McCarthy was working the President's noon address at Washington Hilton Hotel.
After the address finished, McCarthy and the rest of the protection unit surrounded the President and walked him towards the armored car. But right before the President got inside, six shots were fired. In 1.4 seconds McCarthy, President Reagan, Press Secretary Jim Brady and D.C. police officer Tom Delahanty were all shot.
McCarthy was hit in the chest and spent 10 days in the hospital. McCarthy attributed his instinct to cover the President as a result of training. During his time with the Secret Service, he was constantly trained on how to protect the President and when that time unfortunately came, McCarthy succeeded in his duty.
McCarthy's heroic action has left a mark on anyone who has heard his story. Once Bielema learned of McCarthy and his life path from a young boy to an Illini athlete to a hero, establishing the scholarship to commemorate his legacy was a no-brainer.
"I was actually reading an athletic department web page article on Tim McCarthy and when he obviously laid his life on the line for our President and the United States of America, it just made a huge impact on me," Bielema said. "Especially then I realized he was a former walk-on from the state of Illinois, his father was a police officer and how this grew up in his life. And then when the University came to me and suggested that we're going to name an annual scholarship with his name on it, I just gravitated to that moment. I've been a head coach for 14 years, but when I called Tim and told him of the decision that we were going to endow a scholarship after his name and what it represented, it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever been able to do as a head coach."
