Pat D. Tillman

Patrick D. Tillman was born on November 6, 1976. Pat was born into a family of six. He went to Thurman High School. After doing so well at his high school, Tillman got the last athletic scholarship at Arizona State University.

At Arizona State, Pat excelled both academically and athletically. He played linebacker and he was one of the smallest in the NCAA at only five foot eleven. Tillman did his best his senior year; he was named Pac 10 Defensive Player of the Year. He finished college with a 3.84 GPA.

Pat was drafted 226th overall at the 1998 pro draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He was moved to free safety and started 10 of 16 games. Tillman steadily did better every year. After being offered a 3.8 million dollar contract by the Cardinals in 2002, Pat turned it down to fight in the U.S. Army after the attacks of September 11, 2001. His brother, Kevin (a minor league baseball player), joined the Army, too.

Pat finished Army Ranger training in late 2002. Everyone from broadcasting wanted Pat and his brother to give statements before they left, but Pat stayed very humble and just said, “I am no better than anyone else alongside of me.” He and his brother, Kevin, were deployed to Afghanistan on November 22, 2004. Pat and Kevin were split up into two groups.

While on the lookout for any Afghani militia, the groups lost contact. During an ambush attack by three Afghani soldiers, the American troops accidentally fired at each other. Pat knew that it was friendly fire, and he and another troop kept saying, ”It's us, it's us, you're shooting your own troops.” When Pat's friend looked over to find out why Pat wasn’t yelling any longer, he found him dead, slouched up against a rock. Two others were injured. Everyone in Pat’s group wanted to make Pat look like a hero, so they burned his uniform and body armor and told everyone Pat had been killed by an Afghani soldier. Finally, the truth came out and everyone knew the real story of his death.

Pat Tillman has effected my life because he turned down money, fame, and a game he loved to serve his country and support something he believed in...freedom.