An honest to God American hero, that is the only way that I can think of to describe Pat Tillman. I was deeply saddened today when I heard the news of his passing in Afganistan; though there really are not words to describe how great of an individual and an American we lost today.
You see, living in Phoenix I got to see Pat Tillman play football on a regular basis, all the way from when he was at Arizona State to when he was with the Arizona Cardinals. As a Cardinal season ticket holder, I had the priviledge of watching him play three seasons in the pros, and I say priviledge because of the way that he played the game. There are very few players that play with the heart and effort that he did; his heart was probably the only reason that he was able to play in the NFL. In a day in age where you hear about players like Randy Moss "taking plays off," Pat Tillman gave 110% all the time that he was on the field. He played so hard that when he was a rookie trying to make the team at training camp the coaches had to tell him to slow down out of fear that he might injure the other players.
While he was with the Cardinals, I had what I now consider the honor of meeting him personally. Ironically, it was at a local Pontiac dealership. They had him there one saturday as a promotion, and at the time I wanted to get a Grand Prix GTP. I headed down there, and when I got there I asked about him being there think they might bring me inside to where he was signing autographs, but instead they brought him out to me. I was a bit surprised, and it turned out that the dealership had given him a GTP to have for a few days as a part of their deal. Somehow I ended up taking a ride with him in the car. Let's just say it made for an interesting demo ride, but we talked for probalbly ten minutes. He struck me as a very genuine person at the time. Really I had just wanted to get his autograph, which I never did, but I came away with something much more valuable.
When I heard that he had joined the Army, I was surprised, but it was not really a shock. It seemed like the sort of thing that he would do, and I knew that he would excel at it, just as he did at football. That is exactly what did as a Ranger. He had served in Iraq and was serving in Afganistan.
I had always expected him to return to the Cardinals after he was through with his military commitment; it was just the sort of challenge that he would have relished. Unfortunately, that day will never come. Now all we can do is look back at what this man acomplished in his 27 years on this earth. He was a great American and above all a great man. God bless Pat Tillman and all of our servicemen and women.
May he rest in peace.
