Only a handful of former Illini football players played longer in the NFL than he did, but Ernie McMillan remains today as one of the least recognized stars. Recruited out of Chicago’s DuSable High School by Ray Eliot in 1957, he lettered twice for “Mr. Illini” in ’58 and ’59, then played his senior season for Pete Elliott.
McMillan never earned all-star honors as a collegiate tight end, but NFL scouts liked his 6-foot-6, 236-pound frame and the promising prospects of redefining him as a professional. At the 1961 NFL draft, St. Louis Cardinals head coach Pop Ivy first picked McMillan’s Illini teammate Marshall Starks in the eighth round, then drafted McMillan five rounds later.