Timothy George Burnett has accepted his selection as first round draft pick for God’s own football team, Heaven’s Angels, on Sunday, May 11, 2025.  Tim (San Diego State Aztecs) has been offered a starting position for the 2025 season.  This will renew infinitely.  Recruiters have had their eyes on Tim through several seasons prior to this draft:  

Training Season

Tim was born 13 April, 1947 in Oakland, California to Marjorie Corinne Courtial and James Selby Burnett, and welcomed by his brother, James.  At an early age, Tim developed a deep love for football.  His family made every necessary sacrifice to support his budding football career, which began at Pioneer High School.  During his training season, one of his favorite workouts keeping him fit for the field was surfing.  It was not uncommon for him to spend the morning surfing and then rush home, sandy and sunburned, to throw on his pads to make practice.  Tim went on to play for: the El Rancho High School Dons (1964); the Cerritos College Falcons (1965), the University of Utah Utes (1966); and the San Diego State Aztecs (1968,1969), where he was Defensive Team Captain and instrumental in his team’s 1968 11-0 season which culminated in a PCAA Division Championship.  Outside of football and surfing, Tim spent time developing talents in music and entertaining.  He taught himself to play the guitar, ukelele, and harmonica.  To this day, anyone who knows Tim has probably been entertained and uplifted more than once by his singing, storytelling, and performing.  

Marriage & Family Season  

Despite on-field triumphs and hard-won championships, Tim considered one of his greatest victories to be finally winning the heart of his high school sweetheart, Sherrill Dawn Greer, whom he married on March 28, 1969.  Sherrill became his head cheerleader and they soon started his #1 Fan Club when they added lifelong fans Justin and Tyra.  They filled the club along the way when Trenton Neal and then Sterling, Eliza, and Fletcher Neal procured indefinite leases in the coveted box seats.  

Teaching/Coaching Season

Tim’s fan club did nothing but grow throughout his years teaching and coaching.  He started teaching and coaching at Rivera Junior High in Pico Rivera, California, and then moved on to teach at Malad Elementary School and coach at Malad High School in Malad City, Idaho.  Tim dearly loved teaching and brought many subjects to life for his students, teaching (and singing) outside the box with passion and creativity.  Mr. Burnett might be the reason you know: the bones of the human skeleton from cranium to phalanges;  about the Golden Spike Railroad, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, or Custer’s Last Stand; how to balance a checkbook or dissect an organ or walk on your hands while doing a handstand; and whatever happened to Old Mr. Johnson’s yellow cat.  Mr. Burnett certainly knew that learning is fun, and he capitalized on every excuse to play right alongside his students, his kids, or his grandkids.  A true kid at heart himself, Mr. Burnett believed - and had a way of proving - that growing up is seriously overrated.  

Tim successfully supported his teaching habit by taking on various side jobs, some of which included: greasing and helping to maintain the trucks at Hess Pumice; hauling water to the cows on the west hills for the Grazing Association; and helping to operate the US Forest Service’s YCC program based out of Third Creek in Malad.  He particularly enjoyed the latter position because he loved showing the kids in the YCC program how to build and repair fence, maintain trails, and various other outdoor skills, all done while helping to maintain the National Forest.

Tim’s passion for teaching, mentoring, and the game itself revealed his true calling in life to be that of a coach.  He continued during this season and beyond to coach, support, and uplift others both on and off the field.  He imparted knowledge about blocking and tackling to many a high school football player, sure, but along the way he also mentored cancer patients through struggles and challenges and bestowed upon his children, his grandchildren, and countless students and friends the values of hard work, determination, and a positive mental attitude.  Coach Burnett would very often use his experiences on the football field as metaphor for teaching other life lessons.  It was this ability to tell stories and to connect with and inspire others that helped him fill his stadium to capacity with die-hard fans.  Among these was his favorite plus-one, Sherrie Lynn Lish, who went on to become his bride in 2019.

Injured Seasons

Tim spent a few seasons out of the game with injuries, including the 1986-93 seasons when a battle with Non-Hodgkins lymphoma required his full physical attention.  With gritty determination, he fought and won his way back onto the field, this time with renewed determination and an earnest “every day is a gift” attitude.  Despite injury, illness, or setback, Tim always maintained his infectious enthusiasm for life and captivating sense of humor.  Even as his body has struggled in his latest season of injury, he has never ceased to be the single toughest mental player known by anybody who has ever met him.   

Timothy was offered position as coach with Heaven’s Angels but instead selected the opportunity to dust off his cleats and polish up his helmet for his next great season of play.   No services are planned at this time.  Even while his soul is busy training for and playing his first season at the highest level, his body will continue to be involved in teaching and continuing education at the University of Utah School of Medicine as part of their Body Donor Program.  In lieu of congratulations, player may be honored by donations made in his name to charity of donor’s choice.