John "Fuzzy" Filliez. With name recognition alone, "Fuzzy" might be one of the most recognizable names in the history of the Marshall football fan base.

A remarkably gifted athlete coming out of Magnolia High School in West Virginia, Fuzzy was the first OVAC athlete to earn first team all-state honors in football, basketball, and baseball.

He ended his football career there with 81 catches for 1,434 yards and 16 touchdowns. To add insult to the anguish of other OVAC teams, he also averaged 19 points a game for the Blue Eagles in basketball, while batting .352 in baseball.

Once he came to Marshall, Fuzzy was an incredibly popular and dominant wide receiver for the Herd. His popularity even transcended the gridiron as he was known as much for his bushy red hair as his prowess on the football field.

He was so well liked that bumper stickers originally intended to show support for the local the police took on a new meaning. "I Love the Fuzz." bumper stickers became popular at every Marshall football home game.

After leading Marshall in receiving for four straight years, Fuzzy would hang up his cleats in Huntington as not only the school's all-time leading receiver, but the 8th ranked all-time receiver in NCAA history.

Perhaps the most impressive stat of his career; the gifted receiver caught a pass in 42 straight games-setting a then-NCAA record. He broke the record set by Johnny Rodgers of Nebraska.

The 5'11, 175 pounder eventually set school records for the Thundering Herd in every major receiving category from 1973-1976. After it was all said and done, Filliez hauled in 168 catches for 1,954 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Inducted into the Marshall Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986, "Fuzzy" cemented himself in the hearts of Marshall football fans forever.

HerdNation's Wade Peery recently caught up with the gridiron legend to discuss a variety of topics, from how he got the nickname "Fuzzy" to how he ended up at Marshall, among other topics.

Below is the HerdNation exclusive interview with Marshall football legend John "Fuzzy" Filliez.

HerdNation: Why don't you tell HerdNation what it's like to have a fish sandwich named after you at MacReedo's?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Well I've gotta thank my friend Connie Reed for that. She went to school at the same time I did. She Facebooked me one time. She copied the menu and sent it to me on Facebook. I was showing it to everybody at work. (Laughs) It's actually very humbling for somebody to name a sandwich after you. But besides that the sandwich is really good. I encourage anybody to get over there and try it. It's an awesome sandwich. (Laughs)

HerdNation: Are you pretty active in terms of staying around the Marshall football team and following them and things like that?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Quite frankly, I have not been, until the last couple of years. Again, I owe that to friends of mine that encouraged me to get on Facebook. Ty Work and Connie Reed have both been instrumental in pulling me back into the flow of Marshall football. Not that I did not follow them, but (I wasn't as active as I am now) in my community and going to more ballgames and stuff. Mike Hamrick kind of got it kicked off a little bit last year. He had a bunch of us that played with him in for the Homecoming game last year. It was really great hookin' up with guys that were in the trenches with ya, so to speak. From what I understand, he's planning on doing it again and I'm really looking forward to it. There's been friends of mine that have wanted me to get involved and I'm very excited to be back as a closer part of the Herd family again."

HerdNation: How did you get the nickname "Fuzzy"?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Okay, I'm going to tell you the true, fascinating story behind this. Everybody thinks it was because I had this real long red hair. (Laughs) Well, "Fuzzy" Filliez rang. It had a nice little ring to it--you have to admit. So I grew the hair out--it was nice and fridulous. The true story behind that is, my brother, my older brother was playing baseball in St. Mary's, West Virginia. He graduated in 1965, so he was eight years older than I was. They had mispronounced our last name so badly, they were calling him Feleezee and all kind of different names every time he came up to bat. Well on the bus on the way home, the guys were talking about this and somebody came up with the name "Fuzzy Filliez" and it stuck. So from that time on he was stuck. As I got older he let me start hanging around with him and I naturally became "little Fuzz". I embellished the part by lettin' the hair grow long and let everybody think they call me "Fuzzy" because of my hair. The fact of the matter is that's how that came about. That might not be as good a story as the flashy red hair. That's how it went down and if he hadn't let me tag along with him they still might've just called me John." "

HerdNation: You were a pretty impressive athlete coming out of high school--first-team all-state in three different sports. Was football always your favorite out of those three or did you ever consider playing one or the other in college? Was it always all football all the way?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "No actually, I went to a Kansas City Royals tryout camp for baseball and had some inquiries as to perhaps pursuing a baseball career. I thought I would be able to maybe do that at Marshall as well. But, as I soon found out college football is a little bit different than high school football. They pretty much wanted you working all the time on your football. But yeah, I did consider trying baseball. Actually, to be quite honest for a number of years baseball was my favorite sport. I was blessed to have some skills in football that were more noticeable than the fact that I could not hit a curveball. (Laughs) So I pursued my football career."

HerdNation: Why don't you talk about your recruitment process. How exactly did you end up at Marshall University?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Two words: Red Dawson. Andy Namath was my prime recruiter and in fact I'd already a letter of intent with West Virginia University. Upon signing that letter of intent, they finally disclosed that they would prefer me to play safety. I had no problem with that, but I thought that I was a better receiver than I was a defensive back. I got the chance to talk to Coach Dawson at homecoming my last year and we had a very nice chat, about an hour or so. He told me that he asked Coach Namath at the time I think his words were, "Could I have a crack at this one?" He did a very good job. What pretty much sealed the deal for me was Coach Dawson took me out on I-70 above the plane crash site. You could still see where the foliage was burning and the outline of that terrible night. I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I was a sophomore in high school when the crash happened, but I just looked at him and basically said, "When and Where do I sign?" That's about the way that went down.

HerdNation: So West Virginia released you from your letter of intent correct?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "They did. It was not a binding letter of intent. I signed a letter of intent stating that I would sign with them on signing day. However, as things came about like I said, found some stuff out about the position switch that they wanted to make with me and I wanted to play receiver. Virginia Tech was actually still recruiting me at the time as well, but like I said, Coach Dawson knew exactly what to say and knew exactly what to show me because that's why I ended up there."

HerdNation: I'd say you chose the right position. Being an All-American receiver and one of the best receivers in Marshall football history, why don't you talk about how special it is for you to be such a meaningful part of Marshall football history?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Well, it's truly a very humbling experience. I look back on my career at Marshall and I see so many things that I could've done to be an even better ballplayer and a better teammate. I regret some of the decisions I made by not doing that. But I've always said and recently, especially after seeing the movie We Are Marshall; I realized in retrospect what a great honor it was just to be there with the members of the Young Thundering Herd, the Terry Gardners, the Charlie Henrys, Reggie Olivers, the Allen Meadows, the Jack Crabtrees, the Rick Methstroths, the Jim Millers. All of those guys, so many of them now that I can't think of. Those guys in essence are the reason that the football program is where it's at today. Period. They took literally nothing and won two games in a year where people thought that they would probably not score 50 points the whole year. That was just insipiring to me. That was one of the greatest honors that I had while playing at Marshall and I truly mean that. Those guys were special, they did a lot for the university, and all of them were very helpful to me. I did come in as a freshman starter and they were all extremely helpful and it was a great privilege to play with all of 'em."

HerdNation: You've been around a lot of talented football players in your life. Who was the most talented football player you've ever been around and why?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Oh, that's a tough one. Well, one of the most impressive football players that I've ever been around was a guy that I played high school football with, by the name of Bill Forbes. Now, Bill for odd reasons, did not get a lot of playing time at Marshall University. I never saw a guy give 100 percent on every single solitary play. Practice. Game. He worked as hard as anybody I've ever seen. In fact, I wish I would've had his work ethic. He was unbelievable--devout Christian man who I have a great deal of respect for. Somebody that I did get to play a lot of ball with--again, I have tremendous respect for Reggie Oliver and the feats he accomplished at Marshall University. I played against some great players, Rob Carpenter was an outstanding ballplayer for Miami(Ohio), ended up with a great career with the New York Giants. But, boy, to single one person out, I really couldn't single one out. I've got half a dozen favorites who were just the epitome of what I thought a football player should be."

HerdNation: So have you gotten to connect with some of the more recent Marshall legends? Have you gotten to meet guys like Chad Pennington, Randy Moss, Byron Leftwich, guys like that?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "I have not. I had an opportunity. I had planned on coming down for the weekend that they were there for the spring game. Because of the strange hours that I work and not really having a set schedule. I've got a set schedule but it doesn't always work out that I get off that ways. As it happened, I could not get down for that and did not have that opportunity. I'm truly sorry I missed (it). I would've given anything to meet those guys. I mean you've got three Heisman Trophy finalists there. If I could've gotten to stand to have a picture with them or get an autograph from those guys that would've been pretty eventful in my life. (Laughs)"

HerdNation: Have you been following college football at all in the past 10-15 years?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Yeah, I enjoy college football. I enjoy watching it."

HerdNation: Who would you say is one of the more impressive players you've seen in the past 10-15 years as a college football fan?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Ah, geez, Peyton Manning was a great college football player. There's Tebow. I thought his college career was pretty impressive. Well, over here, Ohio State has had their share of great ballplayers. As a receiver fan, David Boston was a great college receiver. I like to watch Brigham Young because they like to throw the ball around--the quarterbacking that they get there. Defensive lines, Julius Peppers when he was at North Carolina. He was a monster. I could probably go on if I wanted to spend another 20 minutes on it. (Laughs). There's just so many. The caliber of the athletes is just night-and-day from when I was playing the game. There's quarterbacks bigger than the offensive tackles we used. Even though he was playing for Miami(Oh.), I liked Roethlisberger even when he played for Miami(Ohio). He just happens to play for my favorite pro team(Steelers) now. At least he's gonna play sooner or later I think."

HerdNation: So you're a big Steelers fan?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Oh yeah. Yeah, I have been since I was a youngster. My older brother was a Steeler fan, so therefore I was a Steeler's fan."

HerdNation: You were talking about We Are Marshall a little bit. What were your thoughts on the movie when it was released?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Well, when it was released I was very anxious to go see it. In fact, to this day, it's the last movie I've paid to walk in a theatre and see. I usually rent DVDs. I'll admit that it brought tears to my eyes. Like I said, I had no idea what those kids at that time were up against and what the University was up against in trying to get that football program restored. When I got down there and got to meet those guys, we were at the memorial. The day before I signed, like I said, Coach Dawson had me out to the site. Then when I saw the movie all those memories just kinda came flooding back to me. Sitting there with my wife at the time, I can feel myself welling up. So I'm givin' up the old yawn and the cough (laughs) just to not break out into a full blown cry watching that. It was a very touching movie. I think Jack Lengyel deserves a tremendous amount of credit for what he came in there and tried to do and did, in my opinion. Coach Lengyel and I had our differences in the end. But, you know looking back on that, that was probably me just being a bull-headed kid and not really realizing the immensity of what he had tried to take on. If I could see him right now, I'd apologize to him for being such a kid and not understanding more about what was going on with that whole program at the time."

HerdNation: You told me you were selling cars. How's the car salesman business? How's the family doing? A lot of the Herd fans wanted to know how your family was doing?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Well, I appreciate that. My family is fine. I'm a grandfather three times over. Probably the youngest grandfather in America (laughs). But, yeah I've got four daughters, three grandchildren. I am currently divorced, so single-out women... (laughs). No, I'm just kidding. I still have family back in West Virginia that I'm very close with. In fact, we just had a big reunion August 7th. I've been in the car business for 20 years now. I actually worked with Mr. Forbes, the guy I mentioned earlier for about 12 years, we were in West Virginia together. Then, I've been over here and selling cars at the Saturn Mitsubishi dealership for about eight years now. I obviously like what I do. I enjoy the competitiveness of the sale. It's kind of like two teams willing their power against each other and whoever wins--I either get the sale or they say 'Adios'. (Laughs) The competitive aspect I think, is what drives me in that business. My family is fine. I have unfortunately lost two older brothers, one just last year and my older brother that got me interested in the Steelers--we lost him about eight years ago. Everybody else is doing fine. I'm doing well. I'm actually bringing my daughter and my granddaughter down to the West Virginia game. So it'll be my granddaughter's first college football game and even though they're West Virginia fans I told them they've gotta wear Marshall gear to this game."

HerdNation:Yeah that would be quite the scene.

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Yeah, I said no West Virginia jerseys at this game kids (laughs)."

HerdNation: So are you living in Columbus?

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "Yeah I live in a suburb of columbus. It's Gahanna, it's a smaller town, but it's just right on the outskirts of I-70. So it's over close by the airport in Columbus. I'm about ten minutes away from my work which is in Columbus in Worthington."

HerdNation: Anything else you want to say to all of the Marshall Thundering Herd football fans out there:

"Fuzzy" Filliez: "I would say congratulations to all of us for getting Mike Hamrick to be our athletic director. I think the young man has just done an amazing job in the short time he's been there. I had the privilege of playing with Mike and his brother Ed. Ed and I were in the same class, Mike was a freshman when we were seniors. I'm just so proud of 'Burly" as we call him. I just think he's done a tremendous job and I encourage all the Herd family to keep supporting what he's doing. I think he had a tremendous coup in landing Doc Holliday as our football coach. I know he's working hard to improve every aspect of the Marshall University athletics. Just continue to support what he's doing, continue to support your teams, because I think there are good things coming in the future. I just think we've got all the right people in place and I'm really, really excited to be back. I'm glad that I'm back in the midst of the Herd family. It feels good. It feels good to be invited to "Party at the Shoe" and to come to Homecoming games. I'm truly blessed to be a part of that."