Tyler Lillard continues to overcome obstacles on his way to wrestling career with IU
AURORA, Ohio (BVM) – Next fall, Tyler Lillard will become a Division I college wrestler, competing in the Big Ten with the Indiana Hoosiers. While it takes a lot to get to that level, Lillard has overcome more obstacles than most.
Growing up, Lillard did it all when it comes to sports as he was involved with bowling, basketball, football, soccer, baseball, gymnastics and karate.
Yet, Lillard also decided he wanted to try wrestling. Although his mom, Tina, was not too fond of the idea at first – especially after seeing her son get defeated in his first match – Tyler was persistent that he wanted to stick with the sport.
However, at 8 years old, his entire athletic career came to a halt. Living in Georgia, Tyler woke up one morning and became very ill, consistently vomiting. As the vomiting turned into convulsions and later seizures, he was taken to the emergency room. After weeks of tests, it was revealed that Tyler had glioma – a brain tumor on his optic nerve.
“There were a lot of emotions, a lot of reactions, a lot of things just going on in my head at the time,” Tyler said. “I was definitely scared … Not knowing what I’d be able to do after that was the scariest part. I was not sure if I was going to be able to get back to doing any sports or just being a normal kid again. I was afraid everything was going to be taken away and I thought my childhood was kind of over.”
“I just remember the doctors not knowing,” Tina added. “Tyler was super healthy and then all of the sudden, this happens … I remember going through the epilepsy or seizure testing where they had to do the wires on his head. We had just met his nurse, I remember her saying, ‘It’s going to be a long road.’”
While traveling for work, Tina got Tyler’s diagnosis of epilepsy as well. He went through surgeries following that, but with the tumor on his optic nerve and unable to be removed, a fear remained that Tyler may eventually lose his vision.
The uncertainty combined with the challenges he had been going through caused Tyler to lose his interest in sports. It seemed like his wrestling career might very well be over at that point.
“The first few months after that, I would say I lost a lot of interest in doing a lot of things,” Tyler said. “I didn’t want to be in any sport, I didn’t want to do a lot after that. I was just stuck on the fact that I was a kid who was sick in the hospital. It was the scariest part of my life, I thought I had to give it all up.”
However, that’s when Tina decided to take him to Morris Fitness Wrestling. From there, club coach Charlie Morris changed Tyler’s life. Although both Tina and Tyler were skeptical at first, Morris continually tried to get the wrestler to come to practices at the club.
Eventually, they decided to attend. At first, Tyler would just sit on the mat and watch the practices, slowly regaining his interest in the sport. Soon, he began partaking again himself.
“We always talk about Charlie, because, honestly, if it wasn’t for him, we would not be here,” Tina said. “There are 1,000 other people we could name, but Charlie Morris was instrumental. He introduced Tyler to the right people, he put the right things in his life … He is fantastic, a life-changing coach.”
Tina has since formed a brother-like relationship with Morris. For Tyler, he’s perhaps the biggest reason why his wrestling career is where it’s at today.
“Honestly, I want to thank Coach Charlie Morris,” Tyler said. “I think my mom and him, if they hadn’t encouraged me to get back on the mat, I don’t think I would be able to sit here today and be thankful for the career I’ve had. There’s still more to go but I’m thankful for every single practice that they pushed me through.”
Tyler began getting back into the sport he once loved, and not only was he back, but his development took off. By eighth grade, Tyler became the first at that grade level to win a high school state championship through the Georgia Independent School Association, a pivotal chapter in his comeback story.
“Being able to step out on the center of the mat and win that Georgia state championship, it was crazy,” Tyler said. “But it was a great feeling, honestly. It’s still an amazing feeling … It always brings back great memories.”
Through Morris, Tyler began working with John Hanrahan, a former All-American at Penn State who has since become a nationally acclaimed trainer. Tyler also began studying the moves of guys such as Jordan Burroughs – a five-time world champion and Olympic gold medalist.
Although Tyler was at the top at that point, he has had to face adversity yet again throughout his high school career. As the Lillards moved to Ohio, Tyler began competing at St. Edward High School, where he did not end up making the lineup for state.
“Moving up to Ohio was a big change,” Tyler said. “It was more competitive. I was glad I made the decision because I was getting pushed harder and I had more challenges. It was exciting.
“But there were many setbacks throughout that year that were really just holding me back emotionally from doing all the things I felt I was capable of doing.”
Being racially harassed, getting in arguments with his team and having increased self doubts affected Tyler as a freshman. Still, he produced a strong 27-8 record as he persevered yet again.
In his sophomore season, Tyler began competing at Aurora High School, and had another strong year, going 42-5. However, the OHSAA state tournament ended up being canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, something Tyler and his teammates found out as they were on the bus ride to state.
“I had a great year,” Tyler noted. “I had one of the most successful years of my high school career … It was great until state because I didn’t get to go to state. On the bus, they called it off. I was a little more than just a little upset. That was rough.”
Tyler continued to train throughout the start of the pandemic. But with uncertainty surrounding what would happen with Ohio’s wrestling season, he decided to attend Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania.
However, setbacks happened yet again. In November, the wrestling standout caught Covid, and had to work his way back. By February, he won a televised match, but yet again, no state tournament was held.
Not only has Tyler had setbacks within wrestling, but he still continues to have some with his health. At the Liberty Nationals in 2017, Tyler suffered a serious seizure on the mat. It was a grand mal seizure – one that causes loss of consciousness and severe muscle contractions – something he still gets once or twice a year.
Tyler also suffers from minor seizures on a daily to weekly basis. Meanwhile, his vision is impaired, with there being a chance he could still eventually fully lose his sight.
“It’s definitely hard, I can’t sugarcoat it,” Tyler said. “But at the end of the day, it’s not the first thing I’m going to think about. I try to make it the last thing I think about and try to make sure that I don’t let it get in the way of anything I do. I don’t want it to be a big fear of mine, I just want to be myself. I feel if I can stay as positive as possible and keep motivating myself, then I can do these great things in my life. Yes, the vision and seizures will come up from time to time, maybe once a day. When it does get here, we’ll deal with it. For now, I’m still here and I’m still doing great things.”
The wrestler keeps fighting through whatever adversity he faces. He has had a tremendous senior season competing back at Aurora, and is the favorite to win state at the 165-pound weight class later this month. Doing so would cross another goal off the list for Tyler.
“Honestly, I think this would be an exciting feeling again,” Tyler said about the potential of winning state. “I’ve had this goal on my list for years now, I’ve always wanted to become a champion. My first goal was to be a five-timer. I fell short of it, but this time my goal is to become an Ohio state champion. I’m training hard for it, I know what I have to do. I’ve sacrificed a lot of things to be here. I feel that I can do it, and I just want to keep pushing myself to get to it.”
Another positive that has come out of his situation is the opportunity to give back to others. Tyler and Tina have begun doing so over the years after realizing the difficulty some kids in the hospital endure.
“We were in the hospital during the school year,” Tina said. “They would say they have teachers and tutors come in, but those kids need school supplies. They would give the kids crayons but they wouldn’t be new crayons. They would be used and passed on from sick kid to sick kid.”
As a result, they created the Team Tyler Epilepsy Foundation, which people can donate to in order to provide school supplies, parking passes and meal tickets to kids in the hospital and their families.
In a few months, Tyler will begin the next step of his journey in Bloomington, Indiana. As he realized he wanted to wrestle in college, Tyler began getting interest from schools such as Wyoming, Purdue, North Dakota State, North Carolina and Bucknell along with a couple dozen others.
However, Indiana never actually recruited the Aurora senior. Rather, the relationship began as Tina was invited to a diversity in wrestling podcast in which she first discovered Indiana coach Angel Escobedo.
“When Angel Escobedo spoke, I was just like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He was profound,” Tina said. “I sent him a tweet and I said, ‘Hey, you don’t know me, don’t even know if you know my kid, but if you have five minutes and you could call me.’ And he called me right there.”
Escobedo was well aware of Tyler’s talents. As soon as he got on the phone with the wrestler, the rest was history.
“I was sold on how they were treating our conversations and the kind of conversations we were having,” Tyler said. “Also meeting the team. Meeting these kinds of guys and the examples they set on the team, it was great to be around. They still talk to me and they treat me like family all the time.”
“Angel Escobedo is a classy, classy guy,” Tina added. “He runs a classy program and we are honored to be future Hoosiers.”
The welcoming nature, diversity and inclusion, and education offered by the school also sold Tyler on Indiana. He is thrilled to get to wrestle in a heavyweight Big Ten conference, and hopes to become a future NCAA champion. But no matter what happens, Tyler is proud he has made it to this point.
“I felt like I could do anything at this time,” Tyler said. “I thought I could always get into a Division I program. I thought I could be a great wrestler. I thought I could be a great person. I thought I could do the things that I could do. The full circle of life helped me get to this spot in my career. I’m very grateful for every step of it, too.”
To get to this point, Tyler knows he could not have done it without his mom, who has been there with him every step of the way in his journey, whether it was in the hospital or helping him train.
“I am blessed to have such a great mother,” Tyler said. “She’s just a perfect mother overall, I have to thank her for everything. She’s made many sacrifices for me and for her to get me here, I can’t thank her enough.”
Meanwhile, Tyler has been a true inspiration for Tina as well.
“I’m not perfect, but to have your child think you’re perfect is an honor, that’s what all parents strive for,” Tina said. “You have to live in the moment … God has been good, our support system is great, and we have each other. When you have each other, nothing else matters.”
Living in the moment is what Tyler has done for years. No one can predict the future, but Tyler has certainly been through a lot in his past. Yet, all it has done has strengthened him, while also producing a story that anyone can be inspired by.
“I’ve had a lot of setbacks, but they’ve motivated me to become better and to become the best version of me possible so I can do the things that people told me I couldn’t do,” Tyler said. “I was told I wouldn’t be able to walk or talk again. I ended up becoming more social and I started wrestling. People said I would never become great, I was raw and experienced. I ended up being committed to Indiana University and found a school that really took me for the person I was. I can’t wait for whatever is next.”
