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presents l afayette legend: joe t ille r 'Bazillion Things To Do' Tiller in own environment in Wyoming BY BRENT T. WHEAT Btwheat@wildofindiana.com Special to Gold and Black "W hose dumb idea was this?" was one of the first things that retired Purdue football Head Coach Emeritus Joe Tiller said over the telephone. I had known Tiller less than 60 seconds when he posed the question during an evening call from Indiana to the shortgrass prairie of eastern Wyoming. "Oh boy," I thought, trying to come up with an answer that didn't sound dumb while realizing this assignment could be tougher than anticipated. Tamping down that flush of enthusiasm that comes from all new projects, the coach's question forced me to admit that the whole business was a bit of a stretch. After all, why would a writer of fishing stories drive 1,268 miles in order to interview the winningest coach in Purdue football history? More importantly, why would the coach even want to speak with said writer? As it turned out a week later, I realized Tiller was simply making one of those gently cutting, jibing remarks that were his trademark when he reigned supreme on the Banks of the Wabash. From someone less distinguished, it might be called sarcasm. Football and Purdue seemed very far away as Joe and I stood under an impossibly perfect Wyoming sky punctured by the snow-capped mountains while trying to get the neighbor's big white mare back across a ramshackle barbed wire fence. I had just arrived on the "Two Creeks" property when wife Arnette announced that journalism needed to wait because the horse, a well-known escape artist, was once again taking a stroll around the neighborhood. The goal of our visit wasn't to talk football but to see how retirement was treating Joe Tiller. It quickly became apparent that the Coach is pummeling the poor old geezer like a threadbare tackling dummy. As Tiller admits, "People ask me what I'm doing now that I'm retired and I say, 'Hell, I don't know, but I stay busy. I have a bazillion things to do.' " Indeed. After a career in the national headlines, home base GBIprint.com GoldandBlack.com Brent Wheat A wall mural in downtown Buffalo, Wyo., greets you on your visit to Tiller country. Brent Wheat The Occidental Hotel, a landmark in downtown Buffalo, has been restored to its original 1900s condition. Joe Tiller's new home town has a population of 4,624. for Joe and Arnette is the property at the confluence of Rock and Clear creeks within spitting distance of the Buffalo, Wyo., city limits, such as they are. The town of Buffalo sits at the front door of the 13,000-foot Bighorn Mountains and is home to about 4,500 souls, the largest town until Gillette, 70 miles east. The area was home to Native American tribes, fur trappers, cattle barons, the Bozeman trail and the infamous "Johnson County War" of 1892. Today it is a pleasant New West town, historic without being overrun by quaintness, boasting a few gas stations, a pair of Gold and Black IllustrateD • volume 23, issue 6 • 63