Clearing the archives -- Pat Tillman (part three)

I am finally retiring the Archives page. All the content has now been published to the blog. Just click on the Archives tag link at the bottom of this article to see all the related posts.

This final set of links are resources dedicated to Pat Tillman's legacy. Most important, of course, is the Pat Tillman Foundation which organizes Pat's Run.

Kevin Tillman's essay, After Pat’s Birthday, published in October 2006, is a must-read.

The Guest Book for Pat's obituary in the Arizona Republic continues to be signed to this day, and is sobering reading. The official ASU athletics remembrance page has not been updated for a while, but is still worth referring to.

Last, but not least, is Chris Valentine's personal Pat Tillman Memorial Video.

Clearing the archives -- Pat Tillman (part two)

Much has been written about Pat Tillman since his death. The following articles are not intended to be a comprehensive listing; rather, they form a selection that gives good perspective and provides terrific reading.

First, a basic report from MSNBC immediately following his death. Note that at this time, it was still being reported that he had been killed by enemy fire.

After his funeral, Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote an interesting article: Challenge yourself.

Tillman talked about everything, with everyone. According to the speakers, he had read the Bible, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and he underlined passages constantly. Garwood recalled how he'd mail articles to friends, highlighting certain parts and writing in the margins: "Let's discuss."

Tim Layden of SI wrote a tremendous personal essay Remembering Pat Tillman the morning he heard the news that Pat was dead.

A few minutes ago my 12-year-old son walked into my home office to check on me. I turned to him, and all I could think to say was, "Pat Tillman says hello."

Later in 2004, Layden nominated Pat as his sportsman of the year.

And there I sat in my tall chair, spouting off and thinking: Tillman would despise this. He would deplore that television anchors and journalists and politicians are making a fuss over his death or worse yet, using his death to push their own agendas. With each passing live shot, I felt more out of place, more desirous of running and apologizing to Tillman's memory.

In September 2006, SI published Remember His Name by Gary Smith.

Pat just had that way, with colonels and coaches and Nobel Prize winners, too, of slicing through rank and reputation, of turning every encounter into nothing more or less than two human beings talking. Hell, the guy introduced himself to strangers simply as "Pat," and if they asked what he did before strapping it on for Uncle Sam, he'd say he studied some back at Arizona State and quickly ask about them, never mentioning the summa cum laude or the Pac-10 defensive player of the year award, and certainly not the NFL. And still, something about him made you walk away wanting to learn more, laugh more, run more, give more.

The fallen soldier of fortune by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN includes some great insight from Doug Tammaro of ASU's Sports Information Department.

In the year since Tillman died during a firefight in Afghanistan, Tammaro has told a thousand stories that have undoubtedly reached millions of people. He's determined to make sure that people know all about the man Tillman was, about all the dimensions of his life and character that went far beyond the headlines and sound bites centered on the million-dollar football player for the Arizona Cardinals who left it all behind in the wake of September 11th to fight for his country.

Clearing the archives -- Pat Tillman (part one)

After Pat Tillman's tragic death, I started linking to some of the better articles that had been published before he died. Of course, many great essays have been written since, but it's important to go back and read what was written while he was still with us.

A cut above was published in SI while Pat was still at ASU.

This season Tillman has become simply the best player in the country who doesn't have his own (fill in the blank: Heisman, Outland, Lombardi, Butkus) campaign, living proof that there is room at the highest level of the game for a guy without much size or blazing speed but with a brain and cojones. "He epitomizes what college football is all about," says Southern Cal offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, who was an assistant at Arizona State during Tillman's first two seasons.

Privileged to Serve, by Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal, was written after Pat had left the NFL to join the Army.

Right now he has 13 weeks of basic training ahead of him, then three weeks of Airborne School, and then, if he makes it, Ranger School, where only about a third of the candidates are accepted. "It's a long row," said the Fort Benning spokesman, who seemed to suggest it would be all right to call again around Christmas. Until then he'll be working hard trying to become what he wants to become.

On March 20, 2003, NFL.com published an article "Tillman follows beat of a different drum" by Tom Barnidge, but this has since been removed from the site (probably just lost in the shuffle, not deliberately deleted). If anyone can find a cached version, please send me the details.

The NFL's Lonely Hero, by Paul Beston, was published in the American Spectator in December 2003. All too prophetically, Beston wrote:

Tillman walked away from a three-year, $3.6 million dollar contract with the Cardinals for an $18,000 salary and plentiful opportunities to get his head shot off. That hasn't happened yet, and God willing it won't. But the pay cut kicked in right away.

Pat was killed on April 22, 2004.

Report Faults Officers in Tillman Case

For the most part, this blog is fortunate to be able to focus on fun and even trivial issues. So it's with a heavy heart that I point out that, nearly three years after his death, the truth about the Army's handling of Pat Tillman's final hours continues to unfold.

I don't want to add any commentary of my own to this, except to point out that it may be a good moment to spend a few minutes reading some excellent articles from the Wired Devils Archives, including Kevin Tillman's piece and these items from SI and ESPN.