I would personally like to take a moment and reflect on my personal hero in sports.....Pat Tillman

How many of us out there would have left the life he was living, making the money he was making, to go and live a life that most American's can't fathom.  Imagine your worst camping trip conditions and add people trying to kill you at every turn and that's the life Pat and his brother Kevin chose.  (Kevin was a minor league baseball player at the time he chose to leave sports for the Army)  The guy felt that his country had provided him with the opportunity to do so much that it was his responsibility to give something back.  He was afforded the opportunity to leave the Army early and return to pro-football (there were reports that the Patriots coach was in contact with Pat about returning to play for him as well as couple other teams that were interested ) but instead chose to HONOR the contract he signed.  He felt that if the other military members were expected to honor their contracts, why should he be held to a different standard.  He did all of this without doing a single press conference or doing on the record interviews with media members.  There were a few media members that stated they had an occassion returned phone call from Pat when they left messages, but if they asked anything about his Army enlistment he said that he didn't want to talk about it and move on to the sports or family questions.

On the day Pat was killed, his platoon was transporting a broken down Hum Vee from a small town in the Afghanistan mountains.  To get it back to their base they were forced to take the vehicle through a very narrow canyon.  The dangers of doing this was enough that the platoon commander decided to divide the platoon in two and rally at an appointed place past the canyon.  Kevin was in the element that was with the vehicle while Pat was with the element that took a different route.  Pat's half of the platoon arrived at the location and was waiting when they heard gun fire back towards the canyon.  When Pat heard the gun fire, he took off running back to the canyon in order to help his platoon.  The reports are that Pat was running like a man possessed and actually requested permission (which was denied) to remove all his body armor in order to run faster.  He covered the distance, an estimated distance of about 350 meters through rocky terrain, at least 20 seconds faster than any of the other platoon member.  Pat, another member of his platoon, and an Afghani national that was assisting the platoon were the first 3 to arrive.  They came under fire from friendly positions immediately.  Pat did everything he was supposed to do to show he was friendly, from popping smoke, to signals, to yelling out his identy.  Unfortunately Pat took three rounds to the head and our country lost a true hero.  There is a lot of speculation on how things went down in those few moments but I won't touch on those.  How ever it happened, it was a great tragedy and one that touched me deeply.

I had the honor of meeting Pat on two different occassions and I can tell you that there was not a more humble athlete or man that I have ever met.  He was a favorite of mine before meeting him because of the story of his NFL journey and the way that he played the game.  It was the offseason and I was at the airport, wearing a Pat Tillman jersey oddly enough when I noticed a guy looking at me.  He smiled and walked over to me, asked my name and where I was going.  Now remember, he is the famous one, but he approached me.  He talked sincerely and with great interest with me for about 20 minutes before he had to board to catch his flight.  Most of his questions were about me, my military background and fairly meaningless things.  He rarely blinked and never took his focus off of me.  The second occassion wasn't as personal as it was at a Cardinals preseason game.  Oddly enough Pat actually remembered meeting me as well as my name and the name of my wife (he actually asked about her even though he hadn't actually met her).  That touched me profoundly as I was just some Marine that a pro football star talked to in an airport.  He had the most intense eyes I have ever seen and I felt like he was trying to take in every detail of the conversatioin.  Those two occassions catapolted him into my favorite athlete not named Dan Marino.  When Pat enlisted and chose to become an Army Ranger, he took the lone position as my athletic hero.

Pat played the game of football with reckless abandon and great passion.  He wasn't supposed to be big enough or fast enough to play in the NFL but all he did was set a Cardinal record for tackles that still stands.  He played Linebacker in college where he was the Pac-10 defensive player of the year his senior year.  He converted to safety when he signed with the Cardinals.  Paul Zimmerman, aka Dr. Z, named Pat to his 2000 All-Pro Team.  He was married and his wife was pregnant when his life came to an early and tragic end.  His Army uniform sits on display in Canton Ohio at the pro football Hall of Fame and I make sure to spend some time there every time that I make it to Canton (usually every other year).  He was a person that made you want to be a better human being just by meeting him and I don't normally say that about athletes or famous people, but with Pat it was the truth. 

I am not a man of many tears and don't cry often.  I don't say this as a way of trying to be macho, it's just who I am.  The day Pat Tillman's death was announced I broke down in tears.  My hero was gone and I think it will be a long time before anyone takes over the top spot in my athlete department.  Each year on April 22nd, I spend silent time remembering my hero and I can say without shame, I cry every year.  Jim Rome, the prominant radio and TV personality was asked to speak  at Pat's funeral.  Now I love Rome and have been a fan of his show for YEARS!!  As he closed his moving remarks made a statement that personifies how I felt about Pat Tillman.   Rome says and I am summarizing..."I have a young son named Jake (I think he was 2 or 3 years old at the time) and I haven't ever talked with him about any professional athletes.  But when I do, rest assured that the first one that I will talk to him about will be Pat Tillman". 

RIP Pat......you are loved and missed.  Happy Veterans day!

P.S.  Sorry I didn't get this post out yesterday, but being stationed near DC, I battled the wind and rain and spent the day downtown at all the memorials and at the Arlington National Cemetary.  For those that have never been to see the monuments, take the time, plan a vacation and go see the things that made this nation great.  And if you get in contact with me early enough, I might be able to be your tour guide.