Last Friday, a unique individual’s passing was remembered quietly and without much fanfare. Gifted with intellect, fortitude and an insatiable appetite for all things athletic, he died at an age when most men are beginning to plan their life’s path. Selfless and courageous, he died in a mountainous region, millions of miles from home because of the actions of friends. His name? Pat Tillman.
Though eulogized by Sen. John McCain and publicly remembered by President Bush, the one-year anniversary of Tillman’s death has garnered little attention among media outlets. Though blessed with fame and fortune, Tillman has become just another soldier killed in the line of duty. How quickly we forget. How quickly he would have wanted us to forget.
Tillman, an Arizona Cardinal safety, had decided to quit football and join the Army Rangers after Sept. 11, 2001. While those who didn’t know Tillman personally thought he was absolutely insane, those who played with and coached Tillman weren’t surprised at all. As former Arizona head coach Dave McGinnis recalled, “Pat knew his purpose in life. He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling.”
Together with his brother, Kevin, a former minor-league baseball player in the Cleveland Indians organization, Tillman declined a three-year, $3.6 million to remain with the Arizona Cardinals and enlisted in May 2002. His base pay as a member of the Army Rangers? A whopping $1,800 per month.
An undersized linebacker in college, Tillman was maniacal on the field, his long blonde hair flapping behind him as he pursued player after player. During his junior year he led the Arizona State Sun Devils to a Rose Bowl appearance while earning Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year in his final season of collegiate play.
While relentless on the field, Tillman was an equal presence in the classroom, earning a 3.84 grade-point average and graduating with a marketing degree in three and a half years. Never satisfied, he pursued a master’s degree in history and continually read to elementary school children in the Arizona area.
Drafted in the seventh round in the 1998 draft, the slow-of-foot and undersized Tillman was never expected to make an NFL roster. Yet he survived and managed to work his way from a special-teams role into the Cardinals’ starting safety position. His intensity and dedication to the game brought him to new heights when he broke the Cardinals’ record for tackles with 224 in 2000.
After the devastation of Sept. 11, athletes and the games they played continued on. Yet Tillman couldn’t. Blessed with the courage and selflessness of a select group of people, Tillman decided to make the ultimate sacrifice and volunteer for the Army Rangers.
A member of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Ranger Regiment, Tillman was involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001. April 22, 2004, Tillman and a group of Rangers and Afghan soldiers were fired upon by a group of soldiers late at night. Mistakenly, he was gunned down by “friendly-fire” and was the lone American killed during the gunfight.
Awarded with posthumous medals honoring his sacrifice and bravery, Tillman received recognition, praise and accolades days after his death. A year later, fleeting images of Tillman sternly posing for the cameras in his Ranger gear or screaming on a football field are all that is left. A man I thought truly invincible, dead at the age of 27.
While there are those on this campus who are anti-anything-military, their ability to protest and petition the government was not created solely by the carrot but by a stick that has sometimes been necessary and just. Regardless of your opinion regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pat Tillman was noble, brave and honorable for forgoing a life of luxury and voluntarily risking his life doing something he believed in. I can only hope I come across one Pat Tillman in my lifetime.
Josh Moskowitz ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in political science and journalism.
