Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman (November 6, 1976 - April 22, 2004) was an American football player in the National Football League best known for leaving his professional sports career to enlist in the United States military after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; he later died in combat in Afghanistan.
Born in San Jose, California, Tillman started his college career at the linebacker position for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team. Tillman excelled as a linebacker at Arizona State, despite being relatively small for the position at 5 foot 11 inches (1.80 m) tall. As a senior he was voted the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Academically, Tillman majored in marketing and graduated in 3 1/2 years with a 3.84 GPA.
In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL, and started 10 of 16 games in his rookie season.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Tillman turned down a $3.6 million contract from the Cardinals to enlist in the Army along with his brother Kevin, who had played minor league baseball professionally in the Cleveland Indians organization. Tillman and his brother completed training for the elite Army Ranger school in late 2002, and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. Both Pat and Kevin Tillman were deployed to the Middle East as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Tillman was later deployed to Afghanistan, where he was killed in action when his unit was attacked in an ambush on April 22, 2004. He was the only Ranger killed in the attack, although two other soldiers were injured.
Tillman and his brother Kevin won the Arthur Ashe Courage award at the 11th annual ESPY Awards in 2003. He is survived by his wife Marie.