Sports Illustrated

Bob Lilly

When Bob Lilly was named a Kodak All-America defensive tackle at TCU in 1960, the award came with a 35mm camera and 200 rolls of film. So turns a life. The kid who grew up in the West Texas town of Throckmorton had never even taken a picture before. "That was the first camera I owned," he says. After becoming the Cowboys' inaugural draft pick in 1961, he dived into photography, frequenting camera stores and building his own makeshift darkroom. Soon, influenced by the work of Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, his focus turned to landscapes, and during his off-seasons he began taking lengthy excursions across the western U.S.

Lilly, who retired in '75 after a Hall of Fame career, began selling prints in the late '70s (Reflections, a collection of his work, sold 50,000 copies). Today Lilly, 67, offers prints through boblilly.com and at charity auctions. And the man known as Mr. Cowboy is still shooting: This summer he'll set out from Oregon, cross the Cascades and the Badlands, and then head down into the Plains states.

To Lilly, the rhythms of outdoor photography mirror those of his lifelong hobby, hunting: get up early, find the ideal spot and wait for the perfect moment--in photography, when the light is just right. "You have to be there," he says, "and be ready."