Terry Jillery: An Obituary

Let’s take a moment to step away from the euphoria of March Madness and silently honor the life of college football’s greatest alter ego, Terry Jillery.

It is with a heavy heart and immense sadness that I embed the below tweet in this article.

Terry Jillery was a hero.

Nay, he was more than a hero. He was a legend.

And, because he meant so much to me and millions of other Notre Dame football fans around the world, I’ve taken the liberty of penning the following obituary for our dearly beloved:

"Terry Jillery 9/8/15 – 3/18/16Terry Jillery, the son of soon-to-be NFL DL Sheldon Day and the twin brother of Notre Dame DT Jerry Tillery, passed on to the great porta-potty in the sky (with his helmet still on) on March 18th in Notre Dame, Indiana. A resident of that area since 2015, Jillery was born on 9/8/15 to his father Sheldon Day and his various uncles, the veteran Fighting Irish defensive linemen. This date of birth is, in fact, up for debate, as 9/8/15 was simply the date where Terry Jillery was first introduced to the world, in the popular Showtime series A Season With Notre Dame Football. His likely date of birth was probably sometime during summer camp, when the lighthearted teasing and hazing of upperclassmen is known to be at its highest.No one who met Terry Jillery forgot his incredible ability to win in putt-putt, talk chemistry with his classmates, or wear the same Hillary Clinton shirt multiple times per week. He was best known for wearing nice shorts to football practice, getting defensive about girls he might have a crush on, being unable to sit close to a campfire, and losing his luggage when coming back from an Ireland trip that featured him playing hurling, meeting with a doctor, partaking in Irish dancing, and hoping to ride a sheep (he was unsuccessful in that endeavor). He will always be remembered for his insightful and enlightening pillow talk with Sheldon Day in their shared hotel room, and for being a campaign manager for a student body president ticket that was running against his eventually victorious teammate, Corey Robinson.He is survived by his father, Day, who will be graduating in the spring and moving onward to the NFL, his brother, Jerry Tillery, who will be focusing on playing football for Notre Dame next season but certainly getting into hijinks in his brother’s honor, and his former teammates and coaches, who will no doubt be dedicating the 2016 football season to Jillery’s memory.Terry Jillery wasn’t only a hero, he was also a legend. And, as a wise fictional representation of Babe Ruth once said to Benny ‘The Jet’ Rodriguez, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.”Terry Jillery always followed his heart, and he never went wrong. He may have been retired as an alter ego, but he will forever live on in our hearts."

RIP Terry Jillery, and Godspeed.