It may sound cliché, but teams, especially at an elite level, are families. Players spend countless hours together in training, traveling, and competing on Game Day. Over time, those shared moments create lifelong bonds. For the 1996 Sun Devil Football team, it couldn’t ring more true.
Many of the players from that team remain close to this day. They still attend ASU games together, stay connected through a group chat, and check in with each other regularly.
Their connection goes deeper than the wins they celebrated, though there were plenty of those. That season, the Sun Devils went 11-0 in the regular season, captured the Pac-10 Championship and earned a trip to the Rose Bowl.
But what truly holds them together is the loss of one of their own. A teammate, a friend, and an American hero: Pat Tillman.
When former defensive end Vince Amey returned to ASU as a coach, he summed it up perfectly:
“From my time and experience here, the bond and connections and brotherhood I made with those guys — I can name them all — it’s still with us today. That brotherhood and that family, what it means to be a Sun Devil, is what I want to instill and preach to the players that come through here.”
Former defensive lineman Seanan Kelly can name them all, too. He still keeps in touch with many of his old teammates, and he remembers Pat Tillman vividly.
“I remember when I first met Pat,” Kelly said. “We’re both from the Bay Area, and we were at this football banquet where they asked everyone to stand up individually and say where they were going to play college ball. We met up afterward and said, ‘See you on campus.’”
Over the next few years, the two became closer friends and teammates. The Pat Tillman Kelly remembers is perhaps a bit different from the more familiar public image of a football hero immortalized by sacrifice. His memories are filled with laughter and kindness.
One of Kelly’s favorite memories took place at Camp Tontozona. After a summer trip to England, during the height of Oasis’ popularity, “I brought him an Oasis CD and said, ‘Hey, I think you’ll like this.’ I went to eat lunch, and when I came back, he was walking on the practice field. He didn’t have a shirt on, with his Walkman and big headphones on, just screaming, ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger.’”
Another story came in 1998, when Tillman had moved on to play for the Arizona Cardinals, and Kelly was still suiting up for the Maroon and Gold.
“I had to leave him tickets for one of our games at the ticket office,” Kelly said, laughing. “Can you imagine Pat Tillman going to the ticket office? That was just who he was. The kind of kid you find in a quiet home, humble, grounded.
Of course, there was also the fierce competitor and the warrior who left it all on the field. Tillman was named Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year and a First-Team All-American in 1997. With the Cardinals, he set franchise records for tackles in 1999 and 2000.
When Tillman left the NFL in 2002 to enlist in the U.S. Army following the Sept. 11 attacks, his teammates weren’t shocked. It was classic Pat. Selfless, driven, guided by principle. Two years later, on April 22, 2004, while on a vehicle patrol in eastern Afghanistan, he was tragically killed by friendly fire.
That loss bonded the 1996 team tighter than ever.
“There’s a mentality that elite athletes have, that you must be superhuman,” Kelly said. “You look around and realize you’re surrounded by all these ‘Supermans.’ Then you lose one. And you start asking, ‘If he was a superhero, then what am I?’”
Grief, over time, gave way to camaraderie. The group became a support system, checking in, celebrating milestones, and reminding each other that no one carries the weight alone.
“It’s this very human thing,” Kelly said. “It could be a ‘Happy Friday,’ or a congrats to someone’s grandkid for scoring a touchdown. Or you see a teammate you haven’t seen in years and say, ‘You need to come around more.’ But it feels like the last time we saw each other was yesterday.”
No matter how often they reunite, they understand how much that team and Tillman still mean to Sun Devil fans.
“It’s an amazing gift that other people have memories because of something you and your teammates did,” Kelly said. “We got to live in a moment that people will never forget and we’ll always remember. Their memories exist because of us.”
And then there’s Pat Tillman, the name that endures.
“He’s the one who made it bigger than all of us,” Kelly said.
Bigger than all of us
In the wake of his passing, Tillman’s family and friends founded the Pat Tillman Foundation to honor his legacy and inspire others to build their own. The foundation invests in military veterans and their spouses through academic scholarships, professional development, and leadership training, cultivating a diverse community of leaders dedicated to service.
Each spring, tens of thousands gather for Pat’s Run, a 4.2-mile race symbolizing Tillman’s No. 42 jersey. The event raises funds for the foundation and serves as a celebration of his enduring impact, one that continues to change lives.
The legacy remembered
Pat Tillman’s legacy exists in two parts: the memories he created for his teammates, fans, and loved ones, and the sacrifice he made in service to his country.
Posthumously, he continues to give back, enriching countless lives through the foundation that bears his name.
And for those who knew him best — like Seanan Kelly — his memory still echoes like that moment at Camp Tontozona, when Pat was singing his heart out to Oasis:
“Don’t look back in anger.”