Whenever people talk to Joe Tillman about Gainesville’s most famous celebrities, the 33-year-old says the same three tend to headline the conversation: Tom Petty, Tim Tebow and Joe’s grandfather, Floyd “Sonny” Tillman.  

Sonny put Gainesville on America’s barbecue map in 1968 when he opened its first barbecue restaurant at 2700 NE Waldo Rd. Now with 91 locations across the South, the home-style restaurant franchised into one of the largest barbecue chains in the country. 

“You go anywhere in Gainesville or Alachua or High Springs with that man, it’s like going out with the president,” said Joe, who’s also a High Springs police officer. “I got solar panels put on my house…and the solar person saw [Sonny’s] white Dodge pickup and he’s like, ‘Who’s that?’ I said, ‘That’s my granddaddy.’ He said, ‘That’s Sonny? Would you mind introducing me to him? This is a dream come true.’ I was like, it’s barbecue.” 

On Aug. 14, the three Gainesville Sonny’s BBQ locations and locations across the country decorated their storefronts with balloons and offered special discounts to celebrate their founder’s 95th birthday.  

Sonny’s BBQ head pitmaster and brand ambassador Shannon Snell said the occasion is a milestone as meaningful for any Tillman friends, family and community as it is for Sonny himself. 

“If there wasn’t a Sonny Tillman, I don’t know if I’d be in barbecue, and I don’t really know what I’d be doing,” Snell said. “Every birthday or every holiday that comes up has a sense of gratitude for what he’s done, the path that he’s paved for all of us.” 

Before Sonny started perfecting his craft in slow-cooked smoked meats, the barbecue icon from Miami joined the U.S. Navy during his sophomore year of high school. After two years in the service, he came home and married his wife, Lucille, in 1949.  

But it wasn’t until 1963 that Sonny got the call from his cousin and Fat Boy’s Barbecue franchise owner Jesse Keller that would change the trajectory of his career. What started as a simple job fixing the dry wall at one of Keller’s locations turned into Sonny stepping in to work the pit after two of Keller’s cooks quit unexpectedly. 

After climbing his way up through the managerial chain, Sonny and Lucille moved to Gainesville in 1968 to open their own barbecue restaurant on Waldo Road. 

“He was kind of the pioneer of barbecue in the 60’s here in Gainesville,” Snell said. “He was selling so many barbecue beans at the time, he had to make them in trash cans…he had to store them somewhere because he had to sell so many.” 

With numerous different styles of barbecue to cook up, Sonny’s serves Kansas-style with a thicker and sweeter sauce because “everybody has a sweet tooth,” Snell said. 

Some of the other recipes on the menu, such as the Brunswick stew, were crafted by Lucille. Joe said her contributions speak for themselves when it comes to the quality that sparked Sonny’s success. 

“He’ll tell you he was as successful as he was because of the woman that was beside him,” Joe said. “Sonny got famous for his barbecue, but when it came to cooking, you weren’t messing with Lucille.” 

As the brand’s ambassador, Snell said keeping that hometown feel and Southern hospitality alive in all their locations is essential to holding Sonny’s BBQ true to its Gainesville roots and preserving Sonny’s community-driven mission that goes beyond just good food. 

“There’s a lot of people that have a Sonny story,” Snell said. “I’m not just talking about the older generation, the ones that he was raised with. I’m talking about the middle age, even some of the younger ones that know him from when they were kids.” 

If Sonny wasn’t feeding the Florida Gators football team every Sunday with free barbecue, he was feeding entire police and fire departments around town. Snell also included himself on that list of people with stories of Sonny’s impact on his life.  

The two first met at a sports booster’s event during Snell’s college football days at the University of Florida. Sonny told Snell he should come join his brand whenever he finished with football, and he never forgot it. 

Snell joined Sonny’s team as a manager after a career in the NFL and now, 17 years later, also serves as head pit master running Sonny BBQ’s Pit Academy. Sonny’s employees and anyone else looking to learn and perfect the craft of barbecue are taught different techniques to graduate as certified Sonny’s pit masters. 

“It really is one of those things where I wouldn’t want to get back in my DeLorean, go back in time. I actually enjoy what I’m doing,” Snell said. “He was one of those guys that was always honest, had a vision and really poured into the people to help build the vision. I think that’s the cool thing about him.” 

Sonny’s daughters Carolyn, Diane, Marian, Amy and Teresa have also carried on their parent’s barbecue vision in different ways, including Dustin’s Barbecue opened by Marian in Florida.   

Joe said when he opens his own barbecue restaurant someday, he plans to use all his first-hand pitmaster experience he learned from his adopted dad, Sonny’s son, William Tillman, who co-owned the Alachua location with Sonny.  

Watching Sonny clean the bones of the winning ribs Joe prepared at last year’s law enforcement barbecue competition was a moment Joe said he’ll remember the rest of his life. 

But it’s how Sonny and the Tillman family have cared for the community through the way they serve their barbecue that Joe credits for shaping how he wants to live his life and carry on the family legacy. 

“I’m not biologically a Tillman…but you don’t have to be blood. It’s how you’re raised,” Joe said of the Tillman legacy. “I bear the Tillman name, and it’s an honor for me. It was earned by how I live and how I work and how I treat people because that’s how my dad raised me.” 

Losing William, their only son, to cancer in 2011, and his wife Lucille in 2021 after 72 years of marriage “did a number” on Sonny, Joe said. Both are buried next to Joe’s property in Tillman Acres and Sonny visits nearly every day.  

But even at 95, Joe doesn’t see his grandfather slowing down any time soon. 

“My grandfather at 95, he still can get down,” Joe said. “Two years ago, we went 56 miles out deep-sea fishing, and he was the captain, and we lost an engine, and we had to put back. Floyd ‘Sonny’ Tillman is an absolute warrior…I’m blessed to call him my grandfather.”