Hundreds of quality athletes have served in the United States Military. Many of them served in World War II and the Korean conflict. These men and women served because of a sense of National need and the fact that there was a draft present. Their service was given freely, but caused them to sacrifice years of their productive athletic ability. However, there was one man in these modern times that gave up a career in the NFL worth millions to him and his family.
That man is Pat Tillman, who was a star football player at Arizona State University and was an undersized linebacker on their football team. This man graduated with a degree in Marketing with a GPA of 3.84 and as a Summa Cum Laude. At 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighing 202 pounds he was drafted in the seventh round of the NFL draft by the Cardinals and ended up starting as their strong safety.
He turned his back on his NFL football career and the 3.4 million dollar contract and along with his brother Kevin, enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after 9/11. He served in Iran and after that deployment, he and Kevin attended Ranger School. His next assignment was with a Special Forces unit and deployed to Afghanistan. During a combat patrol on 22 April 2004 he was killed by friendly rifle fire.
Why did this young man, with everything going for him forsake a career in the NFL for the hardship and danger of a military career? Maybe because he was a natural leader coupled with a strong sense of obligation to America. As he said, “I have never in all I have done, put everything on the line”.
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