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Pat Tillman in Army RangersPat Tillman KilledPat Tillman

Former NFL Great Pat Tillman

Killed in Afghanistan Gunfight


Gave up $3.6 million NFL Contract

to Become $18,000 Elite Army Ranger

By Jake Easton

R A D O K   N E W S
Posted April 23, 2004
Updated [05-27-06] 4:02pm ET

· Update: Investigation reveals new Tillman questions.  Cpl. Pat Tillman died April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan, shot down in a confusing firefight on a dusty ridge in a war he gave up a lucrative NFL career to fight.  Thousands of Army documents reveal what three official inquiries have been unable to resolve about the friendly fire killing on a dusty ridge in Afghanistan two years ago. A soldier with Tillman as he lay dying said: "I could hear the pain in his voice as he called out: 'Cease fire! Friendlies!"   Read More

· Army to open criminal probe of Tillman death.  The Pentagon has directed the Army to open a criminal investigation into the death of former NFL star Pat Tillman, CNN learned on Saturday.  An inspector general ordered the Army Criminal Investigative Division to determine if Tillman's death resulted from negligent homicide, sources said.  Read More

· New inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman’s death.  The battle between a grieving family and the U.S. military justice system is on display in thousands of pages of documents strewn across Mary Tillman’s dining room table in suburban San Jose.  Read More

· Report of Tillman's death describes friendly fire horror.  The last minutes of Pat Tillman's life were a horror of misdirected machine-gun fire and signals to firing colleagues that were misunderstood as hostile acts, according to an account published Sunday of the death of the NFL player-turned-soldier.  Read More


WASHINGTON (RadokNews) — Former NFL player Pat Tillman was killed in action while serving in the elite Army Rangers on duty in eastern Afghanistan.

The 27-year-old former football player was killed in direct action when his Rangers patrol was attacked by small arms fire and mortars during a coordinated ambush.  One enemy combatant was killed, and Tillman was the only U.S. soldier killed, according to Pentagon sources.  His brother, Kevin, is in the same platoon, but was unhurt.

The incident took place at 7:30 p.m. local time Thursday near the village of Sperah, 40 kilometers southwest of Khowstin, Afghanistan.

Tillman was a member of the 75th Ranger Regiment, a light infantry unit out of Fort Benning, Ga. The White House put out a statement of sympathy that praised Tillman as "an inspiration both on an off the football field."

Former Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis said he felt both overwhelming sorrow and tremendous pride in Tillman, who "represented all that was good in sports."  "Pat knew his purpose in life," McGinnis said. "He proudly walked away from a career in football to a greater calling."

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, Tillman turned down a three-year, $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, to make $18,000 a year with the Army — and now it has cost him his life.

Along with his brother, Kevin, Tillman quietly enlisted with the hopes of becoming a member of the Army's most elite infantry unit - the Army Rangers.  "In Pat Tillman's view of the world, football is a part of it, but there are a lot of other things that are important to him," said Lyle Setencich, Tillman's linebacker coach at Arizona State University.

Loyalty was one of Tillman's criteria. Well before making the decision to join the Army, he had turned down a $9 million, multiyear offer from the St. Louis Rams so he could stay with the Arizona Cardinals.

After setting a Cardinals record with 224 tackles in 2000, Tillman first ran a marathon, then prepared for the next year's training camp by competing in a 70.2-mile triathlon.

"You don't find guys that have that combination of being as bright and as tough as him," said Phil Snow, who coached Tillman as Arizona State's defensive coordinator. "This guy could go live in a foxhole for a year by himself with no food."


Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a statement, "There is in Pat Tillman's example, in his unexpected choice of duty to his country over the riches and other comforts of celebrity, and in his humility, such an inspiration to all of us to reclaim the essential public-spiritedness of Americans that many of us, in low moments, had worried was no longer our common distinguishing trait."

A memorial was set up outside Cardinals' headquarters in Tempe, Ariz., with Tillman's No. 40 uniform in a glass frame alongside two teddy bears and two bouquets.   Gov. Janet Napolitano ordered flags at Arizona State University, Tillman's alma mater, flown at half-staff.  Radok News


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