WEBVTT - Big Red Rage - Pat Tillman's Legendary Locker 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:04.760 Strap on the boots and scrape up the knuckles. Hold 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:06.600 it ahead. He got jacked. 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:11.920 This is the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:12.840 and Gilbert. 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:15.920 Smurry's gonna score touchdown Slim to the ground by Buddha 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.400 Baker Like a torpedo. He came flying into the backfield. 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.919 The rage is brought to you by santan Ford and 0:00:24.960 --> 0:00:28.080 Gilbert right on the Price right on the corner of 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:31.680 the Santan two oh two Freeway in val Vista Seek 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.640 your Ticket to Great Seats and by Arizona Cardinals Podcast. 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:40.640 Visit Azycardinals dot Com, Slash Podcast, A. 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:47.720 Red Seats, Rising Up, jumbe You, Rising Vision, Flurry Rage, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:51.640 Tack it Ober. Here's Paul CALVICI I'm ready. I'm one 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:55.200 hundred percent ready. I'm telling you I'm ready. And Ron Wookley. 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:57.280 It doesn't get any better than that. 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:06.319 A singular player in Cardinal's history, Pat Tillman was one 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.600 of the most unique people to ever walk amongst us. 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.399 In fact, a statue stands outside the Cardinals stadium for 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.959 all to see, but very few know what's displayed inside 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:21.399 Cardinals HQ. A very special big Red Rage. We call 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:26.000 it our Cardinals Folktales Legendary Locker Edition, The story behind 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:30.160 the saving from an almost certain destruction of Pat Tillman's 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:34.039 locker back in the day. You know, Cardinals Folktales Wolf 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.840 it's number one in the series, the story and rightfully 0:01:36.959 --> 0:01:40.520 so of Pat Tilman's legendary locker that is now behind 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.080 glass outside the Cardinals Locker room, essentially a museum piece. 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:45.880 And you also know how what we like to say 0:01:45.920 --> 0:01:49.480 about Cardinals Folktales, this Emmy Award winning series, that you 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.000 can't spell history without the word story. But what about 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:55.520 the word folktale? What does that mean to you? How 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:57.040 would you define it? 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.320 Yeah, Paully, that is a great question right there, right Well, 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.360 first of all, folk tale, it's got to be a story. 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:05.960 So it's got to be a story about a human being, 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.400 and it's got to be a story about a human 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.880 being doing legendary things. That, to me, is my definition 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:14.240 of a folk tale. 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:19.720 That would definitely define Pat Tillman, someone where football did 0:02:19.800 --> 0:02:22.760 not define Pat Tillman. We both know that. We both 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:24.639 go back to the days when he was a star 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:27.680 at ASU and then a Cardinal's draft pick, and to 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:31.440 this day. Look, we're both asked about Pat Tillman. I 0:02:31.760 --> 0:02:34.320 know you are. And what do you say when people 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:36.040 ask you about the late great Pat Tillman? 0:02:36.280 --> 0:02:38.440 You know, for the most part, poly, I just say, 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.160 let me tell you a story, because this really defines 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:43.560 who he is right here. And I tell him the 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:46.640 story about when I ran into Pat Tillman who was 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:50.680 walking out of a bowling alley pushing a ten speed 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:54.680 a bike with him, and I thought it was so weird. 0:02:55.320 --> 0:02:57.679 I said, hey, Pat, what's up man? How you doing? 0:02:57.760 --> 0:02:59.680 You know? And he said hello? And I said, Pat, 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:01.600 what what you do? Did you ride your bike here? 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.959 And he said to me, yeah, I did. As a 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.040 matter of fact, I said, what do you live around here? 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.320 He said no, I live about ten miles that way. 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.079 I said, you rode your bike here and he said, yeah, 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.799 I'm training for a triathlon. I remember that training. Yes, 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.400 he was training for that. And I was like, Tilly, 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.120 what are you doing? I mean, you're an NFL player. 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.000 Don't you have enough challenge right there? He said, why 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.640 are you doing that? And he said, I just wanted 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:34.400 to test myself and challenge myself. That just blew me away, Paul, 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.680 And yet it says so much about Pat. 0:03:37.720 --> 0:03:40.240 It does in fact, all the cardinal strength coaches at 0:03:40.240 --> 0:03:43.240 the time said, no, don't do it. That's counterproductive to 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.640 being a football player. The explosion you need. You don't 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.000 want to run marathons and do triathons. And you know 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.160 what Pat did it. Anyway, Look, if you asked me 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.240 about Pat Tolman, I think of the epitome as someone 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:58.040 who thought for themselves, right, Yeah, they felt it was 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.720 ultra important to educate yourself in so many different ways. 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.760 He had that insatiable curiosity about him. You know, you 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:07.320 think about Pat Tillman, not just the football player, but 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:09.839 the Pat Tillman scholars as someone who had a three 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:14.200 point nine gpa at ASU. He was always driven by 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.680 seeking knowledge, right, the need to experience life and what 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:21.839 he got out of his twenty seven years you could 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.080 only hope to get out of a full lifetime compared 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:24.719 to Pat Tillman. 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:27.480 Yeah, and for me, Polly too, it's just I've got 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:29.320 to bring it back, man, I got to bring it 0:04:29.360 --> 0:04:32.400 back to the white lines, the football field, the grid 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:38.120 iron and mother grid iron and how tough Pat Tillman 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:43.159 truly was as a football player. I'm sorry. I know 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.159 what he did and the way he gave his life 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.680 for our country, in service to so many others. But 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.960 for me, the fact that he walked in between those 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:58.800 white lines as well and endured so much and absorbed 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:03.159 so much damage while giving damage on the football field, 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:06.800 to me so impressed with him. That's my number one 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:08.000 takeaway from Pat. 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.960 He still holds the Cardinals all time record for tackles 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:13.400 in a season, more than two hundred and twenty tackles 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:16.279 in a single season. Think about that. This is a 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:19.280 seventh round pick in nineteen ninety eight. He came out 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.960 as a tweener. He was the Pac twelve Defensive Player 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:24.440 of the Year at ASU, But where was he supposed 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:26.279 to play in the NFL? So he lasted to the 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.919 seventh round. Remember his first training camp as a rookie Wolf. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:32.719 We were in Flagstaff. He came in, he was held 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.080 bent on making a statement. He was telling him, you 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:38.839 need this physicality, you need my mentality, and he defied 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:40.560 the odds. He made the team and then started ten 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:42.120 to sixteen games as a rookie. 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:44.839 And then of course his leadership and how he would 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:49.800 impact others. Paul guys around him were inspired by Pat 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:51.520 for so many different reasons. 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:55.080 We know his football career. We know his status as 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.400 an American hero, and we're going to get into all 0:05:57.440 --> 0:06:01.400 that and his entire story, how his legacy really is 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:05.680 captured in Pat Tillman's legendary locker. When we come back 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:09.560 on this very special edition, our Cardinals Folktales edition of 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.680 The Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford in Gilbert 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:22.159 and welcome back everyone into the Big Red Rage presented 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.720 by Santan Ford and Gilbert. We are Santan Ford, I'm 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.200 Paul Calvic And as we noted off the top, our 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:33.600 game plan revolves around an encore presentation of Cardinals' folk tales, 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.920 where we like to say it can't spell history without 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.760 the word story. Well, if you were to go from 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:42.880 the Cardinals radio studio about fifty yards to my left, 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.680 you would ait the Cardinals locker room, and before you enter, 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.520 you would see a locker behind glass, and there's a 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:55.040 reason why that locker once belonged to Pat Tilman. So 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:58.960 as we look at the makeup of NFL rosters and 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.600 we see law ung shot players and low round picks 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.840 who might be able to defy the odds, it's hard 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.520 not to think of the greatest Cardinals example of that ever, 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.040 at least to me, Cardinal's seventh round pick in nineteen 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.360 ninety eight, Pat Tillman, he was far from a lock 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:18.960 that year. He is considered a tweener between a linebacker 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:22.000 and a safety, but he had a plan make the 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.520 coaches take notice. And as someone who covered Pat both 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:29.320 ASU and the Cardinals, it was impossible not to notice Pat. 0:07:29.320 --> 0:07:31.400 If it wasn't the hair flowing out of the helmet, 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.560 it was just his style of play with total abandon. 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.400 I mean, he didn't just wear pads, he used him. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.760 So although we might know Pat's story, what's the story 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:47.960 behind the locker that was seconds away from total demolition? 0:07:48.560 --> 0:08:04.840 Well here's that story, Cardinals' Folltales legendary locker. Every year, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:09.160 NFL teams conduct their fight for fifty three. That's the 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:13.000 size of an NFL roster, fifty three players, and those 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:17.280 names will always vary year to year, peck week to week. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.520 But the Arizona Cardinals have a fifty fourth locker and 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.920 that name plate will never change. 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:26.720 Pat Tilban talk about a guy with a. 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:27.240 Lot of heart. 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.480 Passion is kind of an important word for me, whether 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:32.520 it's you know, playing sports, or whether it's you know, 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.840 just living or whatever you're gonna do, you should, in 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:37.560 my opinion, you should be passionate, maoutter else why do it? 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.560 He was pretty legendary just for being the guy he 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:43.720 was that being true to himself, challenging people around him, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.160 you know, never being dull or just taking things for 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.439 granted or being complacent. He was always searching for knowledge. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:54.160 I think it was important to save the locker. As 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:56.920 time goes by, you start to forget about things that 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.199 happened in history. I didn't want Pat to be. 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:05.680 Forgotten, legendary locker with the forever nameplate Pat Tillman. This 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.040 is Cardinal's Folktales, presented by seventy two sold where we 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:13.480 go in depth into Cardinals history all time anecdotes through 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.520 the personal recollections and memories of those who lived in 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.520 We hear their words, their voices. My name is Paul 0:09:21.600 --> 0:09:24.160 calvic Up covered the Cardinals since late nineteen ninety five, 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:25.880 the end of the Buddy Ryan era. I've been the 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.520 Cardinal's sideline reporter since two thousand and five, and as 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:33.000 I can attest, you may think you know some of 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.640 these folk tale stories, but as I found out, as 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:41.200 even team historians have found out. We don't like this story, 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:44.320 this folk tale revolving around the most widely known figure 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.920 in Cardinal's history, Pat Tillman, and how his legendary locker 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:53.400 was saved with a last second interception from a buzzsaw 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.040 literally by a longtime staffer. 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:58.200 I didn't really get the idea to kind of preserve 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.839 the locker until two thousand and six. I always put 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:03.079 it in the back of my head, like, I want 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:03.920 to save this locker. 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:04.839 That would be kind of cool. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:07.959 And I just didn't know when renovations would take place. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:11.880 And I'm sit Mary Munch at Oreganos and they're taking place, 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:13.520 So I had to do something. 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:16.080 When you know the cliche, if you cut somebody open, 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:17.560 they bleed, Cardinal reds. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:18.199 That's Almo. 0:10:18.520 --> 0:10:21.280 So it was fitting that, you know, he would be 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.720 the one that has his finger on the pulse of 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:28.240 that and in the moment immediately recognizes how significant this 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:29.199 is to preserve. 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.040 Before we get to that locker, the museum piece on 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:45.880 display showcase for all to see at Cardinals HQ, we 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:49.520 need to understand Pat Tilman. Notice how we didn't say 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:53.400 the football player Pat Tillman, because Pat was so much 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:55.440 more than an athlete Pat Tillman. 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.200 What can I say, just all around good guy, not cocky, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:04.760 very soft spoken, like the sing Desperado and liked that 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:05.760 movie immediately. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:07.880 I kind of liked him. Me our long hair, he 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.080 didn't dress nice. He was just such a unique, genuine 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.280 dude that people, you know, weren endeared to him. 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.160 He was a different kind of guy. You know, he 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:18.559 was a flower child if you will you know. Of course, 0:11:18.640 --> 0:11:20.360 at the time, I didn't have any clue that he 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:23.040 would go on to to come to hero that he became. 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:25.280 But you know, he was a different type of dude. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:27.600 He would ride his bicycle to practice every day. 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:31.120 Those are the voices of former Tilman teammates Larry Centers, 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.880 Jake Plummer, and all started by former linebacker Mark Maddox. 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.840 The thing is, if you asked Pat to talk about himself, 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:42.080 something he seldom did, I'm not sure that football player 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.520 would have made the top three things he'd say about himself. 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:48.720 To know Pat was to know that Pat was about 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:53.600 the next achievement, the next challenge, the next curiosity. Longtime 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.440 Cardinals beat writer in Arizona Republic columnists Ken Summers. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:02.319 As a player just passionate to the point of borderline. 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.480 Is this guy human? I mean, can a human actually 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.600 play that hard and have such disregard for his body 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.160 and play the game that way? And never? I mean 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.719 there was just one speed, you know, one gear there 0:12:14.760 --> 0:12:17.199 was you know, Steve McGinnis used to say that the 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:19.360 guy has a switch, not a dial. You know, you 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.560 just flip it on and it's the same, the same speed. 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.640 When Pat put on the pads he used him, he 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:28.800 was all in. Like everything else he did. Pat never 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.600 did anything half speed, even when the drills were designed 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.959 to be half speed. That was Pat in his first 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.960 NFL training camp as a seventh round tweener, just hit 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.720 anything and everything that moved. I watched it in person. 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.760 I covered that nineteen ninety eight training camp in Flagstaff. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:50.560 I watched the decision makers take notice that the guy 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:54.280 in the football uniform belied the dude in the surfer 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:57.760 shorts and the flip flops. Here's former Cardinals wide receiver 0:12:58.120 --> 0:12:58.960 Frank Sanders. 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:02.000 I think Pat probably deserved flip flops and a surfboard 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:06.600 somewhere in some Oakley shorts. And I had a real 0:13:06.760 --> 0:13:11.200 nice golden hair, and that's it. Like playing football never 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.480 seemed like he should be there until he put on 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:14.040 his pads. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:15.880 They put on his pads. 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:17.480 A different person showed him. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:21.800 I say, you hit pretty hard now, guy, I'm in 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:23.640 the middle of the field. That balls in on the plate. 0:13:24.160 --> 0:13:28.840 Wow, off comes the helmet of the attendant receiver as 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.640 he gets crushed back there by Pat Tilman. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:33.240 Pat Tillman the blade. 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:35.880 He knocked him right in the helmet with a forearm 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:37.280 and just slapped that helmet off. 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:38.959 Even as a rookie, we used to have to call 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:42.680 him off, you know, some some practices we were, you know, 0:13:42.840 --> 0:13:45.720 just fit up on the guy with the ball. But 0:13:45.840 --> 0:13:47.959 he would come in and demolish the guys, which was 0:13:48.000 --> 0:13:49.760 a really good tactic, and it worked out great for 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.480 him because he got to coach his attention. 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:58.600 He brought that scene kind of few mentality to the Cardinals. 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.600 I mean, rookie don't hit receivers in Ota days. But 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.240 he would lay some wood on a guy or like 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.719 put an elbow in him and get in fights. And 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:11.079 he really up the competitiveness during practice where guys didn't 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:14.000 like him because he would hit you or rough you 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.319 up or do what he whatever he felt he needed 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.920 to work on, and they ended up respecting him because 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.440 it made everybody's level come up. He was a tone setter. 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.760 Let's just say that Pat would routinely exceed the perceived 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:32.720 practice speed limit. But that's how Pat forged an NFL career. 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.440 That's how Pat made the Cardinals as the two hundred 0:14:36.440 --> 0:14:39.800 and twenty six player taken in the nineteen ninety eight draft. 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.840 How he caught the coach's attention even though he was 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:45.400 the reigning Pac ten Defensive Player of the Year. But 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.280 at the NFL level, was he still a linebacker? Was 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:52.160 he fast enough to be a safety? Pad made sure 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.200 none of that mattered, because all he did was turn 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:58.960 guys into tackling dummies that entire camp, even though it 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:02.720 landed him in the NFL's version of a coach's time out. 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:05.479 Former Cardinals head coach Den Stobin. 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.600 And the one I remember was a wide receiver that 0:15:07.640 --> 0:15:09.480 he got in a fight with and entered up having 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.120 to throw them both off the field because they every 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:15.280 time the play started whether they'd be a fight between 0:15:15.280 --> 0:15:17.800 those two at the end of the play, and so 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:19.520 I sent them out. 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.080 But as vin Stobin himself would admit later, the Cardinals 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:28.320 needed that mentality that Pat Tillman brand of physicality and 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.960 fight that tilman too, because remember the Cardinals were still 0:15:32.960 --> 0:15:35.840 in the same division with those Cowboys teams coming off 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.800 Super Bowls and physical East Coast teams from tough towns 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:44.280 playing bullyball like the Giants and Eagles and Washington once again, 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.040 Former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer. 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:48.800 You look at someone like him who was similar to me. 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.440 We were too small, too slow, not strong enough, not 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.240 smart enough, all these excuses for why we shouldn't be 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.720 there yet. We just you know, we threw that all 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.200 side and said, yeah, we're supposed to be. 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.680 Heretulated me, and I guess he was one of my advocates. 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:05.200 He was talking me up, So what the hell? 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:06.800 Where are you all right? 0:16:06.880 --> 0:16:08.880 Thank you, appreciate your help, Jake. 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:10.800 He said that I gotta give him fifteen percent of 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.040 whatever I get because of his good talk, so it 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:14.960 might not be much. 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:19.640 So we had that chip on our shoulder and that confidence, 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:23.360 that quiet confidence about ourselves and belief in ourselves. So 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:25.520 we were kindred spirits right away. 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:30.880 Pat became a football player simply because of will and determination. 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:36.080 He wasn't really big enough, strong enough, fast enough to 0:16:36.120 --> 0:16:40.280 play in the National Football League, but he willed himself 0:16:40.840 --> 0:16:46.560 to become a good enough football player to overcome those limitations. 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:48.400 And it's something that Pat had already done plenty of 0:16:48.600 --> 0:16:52.440 define the doubters. A quick personal note, I covered Pat 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:54.800 during his years at ASU and then his early years 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:58.200 with the Cardinals. Before that, I'd known of Pat through 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.600 our high school alma mater in high school in South 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:04.240 San Jose. We were both from the Alminant Valley, which 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:05.880 you might have seen featured in some of the Pat 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.480 Tillman documentaries. His future father in law was my high 0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:12.399 school baseball coach. We were seven or eight years a 0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:14.480 part or so, and I still remember my dad call 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.520 me during Pat's senior year of high school. Hey, you 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:19.680 guess what he said? Leland is in this section title game. 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.600 And I cut off my dad. I say, come on, now, Pop, 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.120 have you been drinking more of your red wine again? 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.000 Come on say no, no, no. They've got this Tilman kid. 0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.159 He's a running back and nobody can tackle him, and 0:17:30.200 --> 0:17:33.760 he's a better middle linebacker. He's all over the field. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.960 So when people talk about Pat's ability to inspire and 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.760 lift others, people rightfully cite the fact that the last 0:17:41.760 --> 0:17:44.359 time ASU went to the Rolls Bowl. It was Pat 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.320 Tillman and Jake Plummer. During Pat's rookie year in the 0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.720 NFL nineteen ninety eight, the Arizona Cardinals won their first 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:54.679 playoff game in half a century. And my response is always, 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:58.200 you know what, though Pat's greatest team achievement was leading 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.080 his high school to a title, goes believe me, the 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.800 degree of difficulty there. Pat's high school hasn't come close 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.440 to winning before or after Pat. 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.360 Both towers so the World Trade Center have been hit 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:19.720 by aircraft. Both are in flames. 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:23.040 It's a black smoke coming from both of the towers. 0:18:23.800 --> 0:18:25.960 It's a horrific scene here. 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.280 There are fire crews just screaming into this area from 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:31.040 every conceivable direction. 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.280 You know, times like this you stop and think about 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:36.719 just how not only how good we have it, but 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:40.080 what kind of a system we live under, what freedoms 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:43.200 were allowed? You know, my great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:44.919 and a lot of my family has given up, you know, 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.280 has gone and fought in wars. And I really haven't 0:18:47.320 --> 0:18:49.480 done a damn thing as far as laying myself on 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:50.960 the line like that, And so I have a great 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:53.119 deal of respect for those that have and what the 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:54.320 flag stands. 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:58.479 For the voice of Pat Tillman September twelfth, two thousand 0:18:58.480 --> 0:19:02.360 and one, the day after the horrific events of nine 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.720 to eleven. In fact, on September eleventh, Pat Tilman was 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.560 at the Cardinals facility and he wandered through the media 0:19:08.640 --> 0:19:11.880 area and sat down to watch the news coverage as 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:15.359 it unfolded. With Cardinals beat writer Darren Rban. 0:19:15.800 --> 0:19:19.280 He was like, what we do playing in the NFL? 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:24.520 He goes, We're worthless, We're actors. He goes, that means nothing. 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:27.760 This is this is so much bigger than that. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.160 There's probably no better time to talk about a guy 0:19:32.320 --> 0:19:34.320 who took nine to one one to heart and made 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.639 a life changing decision based on his feeling something he 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:38.800 felt he needed to do. 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.919 It was sort of the you know, man bites dog story, 0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.399 like this doesn't make any sense. He's right on the 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:48.240 verge where in discussions with his agent about potentially extending 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.080 his contract and he decided I'm going to walk away 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.600 from this. But you know, it was just six months 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.560 after nine to eleven, and it was only three weeks 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.600 after he got married to Marie, his high school sweetheart, 0:20:02.040 --> 0:20:04.480 and it was about one week after they got back 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.760 from their honeymoon. He joined the Army up in Colorado 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:11.800 and then went on to become, you know, part of 0:20:11.840 --> 0:20:13.880 the Rangers and one of the leaders. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.480 Cardinals' owner Michael Bidwell. As Pat had just set a 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:21.399 team record for tackles in a season, his jersey was 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.439 worn by fans all over town. Plus there was the 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.320 business of football, as Pat was on the verge of 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:31.080 cashing in on a mega contract and he literally left 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:32.280 it all behind. 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:34.960 My reaction was was just I just like, I just 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.960 kind of had this big smiling started laughing to myself, 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:41.800 like this is completely believable. I Mean, I did not 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:44.560 expect him to join the army, But as I process it, 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:49.320 I'd like, yeah, okay, good. Of all the guys in 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:52.880 professional sports in the world, he's the one who would 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:53.119 do that. 0:20:56.320 --> 0:20:59.560 Pat would leave that Cardinals locker room to join a 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:04.320 different team with a different plan, defending his country and 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:08.680 his former teammates. Remember the reactions like it was yesterday. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:12.919 Frank Sanders, Jake Plummer, and former head coach Vince Toben. 0:21:13.200 --> 0:21:15.919 I saw Pat coming out of the building, and I 0:21:16.040 --> 0:21:18.159 was coming in where the players are only going in 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.199 the lower area I was coming into the gates he 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:21.560 was going out, and say, Pat, are you doing? What's 0:21:21.640 --> 0:21:23.600 up with your contract? He said, Bro, I'm probably gonna 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.360 go to the military. I said what he said, I'm 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:28.040 gonna go to the army and be arranged with my brother. 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.560 So what you go do? What I want to serve 0:21:31.600 --> 0:21:34.280 my country, That's what I'm gonna do. I say, brother, 0:21:34.320 --> 0:21:34.919 God bless you. 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:37.879 I just kind of like that sounds like, Pat, what 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:40.639