May 25, 2006
Morristown, N.J. - Former Sun Devil Pat Tillman has been awarded the 2006 Distinguised American Award by the National College Football Foundation and the College Hall of Fame. Presented on special occasions when a truly deserving individual emerges, the award honors someone who has applied the character building attributes learned from amateur sport in their business and personal life, exhibiting superior leadership qualities in education, amateur athletics, business and in the community.
Pat Tillman was an outstanding football player and scholar who left the National Football League as a young star to enlist in the military following the September 11 attacks. He lost his life during a combat mission in Afghanistan.
"It is a tremendous honor for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame to recognize Pat for his leadership qualities and place him in the prestigious company of the previous recipients. Thank you for celebrating Pat's life and honoring his legacy," said Marie Tillman, Pat's widow and chairman of the board for the Pat Tillman Foundation.
As a linebacker at Arizona State University, the 5-11 Tillman was the Pacific-10 Conference's Defensive Player of the Year, Second Team All-America and Academic All-America in 1997. He graduated summa cum laude in 3 academic years with a 3.84 grade point average, earning a degree in marketing.
The 226th player selected in the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman quickly became a starter for the Arizona Cardinals and helped lead them to the 1998 playoffs, their only appearance in 51 years. Tillman set a Cardinals record with 224 tackles in 2000 and warmed up for the 2003 training camp by competing in a 70.2-mile triathlon.
The attacks on September 11 compelled Tillman to try to make a difference off the football field, and he turned down a multi-million dollar contract with the Cardinals to enlist in the Army in 2002.
"My great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has ... gone and fought in wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that," Tillman told NBC News in an interview the day after the attacks.
Pat enlisted with his brother Kevin Tillman -- who also is a highly regarded athlete, having once been a minor league baseball prospect in the Cleveland Indians' organization. Both denied requests for media coverage during their basic training and ultimate deployments. The brothers both successfully completed training for the Rangers, the Army's elite infantry regiment. Pat Tillman was first deployed to Iraq in March 2003 and then sent to Afghanistan, where he served in the same unit with his brother.
On April 22, 2004, as a member of the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Fort Lewis, Wash, Tillman was killed in action. The battalion was involved in Operation Mountain Storm in Southeastern Afghanistan, part of the U.S. campaign against the Al Qaeda terror network and the former Taliban government along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. U.S. military spokesmen stated that Tillman was killed in a firefight at about 7 p.m. on a road near Sperah, about 25 miles southwest of a U.S. base at Khost.
Arizona State University retired his #42 jersey and the Arizona Cardinals have funded a scholarship program in his honor. In 2004, he was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, a Silver Star and the United State's Sports Academy Humanitarian Award. The military order of the Purple Heart named an award after him, the Pat Tillman Patriot Award. In addition, the Pacific-10 conference named their defensive player of the year award after him.
Tillman will become the award's 35th recipient, joining a list that includes Vince Lombardi, Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, Pete Rozelle and Tom Osborne.