WEBVTT - Big Red Rage - Pat Tillman's Legendary Locker 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:05.120 Strap on the boots and scrape up the knuckles. Oh 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:08.799 and ahead, he got jacked. This is the Big Red 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:14.280 Rain presented by satan Ford in Gilbert. Mary's Gonna score touchdown. 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.400 Slam to the ground by Buddha Baker Like a torpedo. 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:23.000 He came flying into the backfield. The rage is brought 0:00:23.040 --> 0:00:28.200 to you by satan Ford in Gilbert. Are you Santanford 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.600 State Farm? Talk to an agent today at eight hundred 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:37.320 State Farm, And by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts Visit Acy Cardinals 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:46.159 dot Com, Slash Podcasts, The Reds, Rising Guard, Temperaturizing Vision, flurring, 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:50.559 Rage taking over. Here's Paul Calvci. I'm ready. I'm one 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.240 hundred percent ready. I'm telling you i'mready. And Ron Wolflee 0:00:54.400 --> 0:01:01.440 it doesn't get any better than that. Unleash the far Well, 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:06.959 not exactly. Ron Wolfley on assignment tonight. Okay, let's be honest. 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.880 Ron Wolfley on vacation, his summer sabbatical, as we'd like 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.959 to joke with Wolfs. So we have Darren Urban sitting 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.440 in fromac Cardinals dot Com, and let's face it, a 0:01:16.480 --> 0:01:18.440 lot of us. So we're gonna be on vacation in 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:21.520 the real near future. In fact, the rookies effective today 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:24.240 are gone until training camp. In fact, if you were 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.760 to take role Darren here at the Arizona Cardinals Dignity 0:01:26.800 --> 0:01:29.600 Health Training Center, wouldn't be a lot of people in 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.440 attendance right now. Now, I would think that this is 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.520 probably the most dead time of year, Paul. So to 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.200 make best use of that time, we figured, you know what, 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:42.839 here's the game plan. Let's revisit Cardinals Folk Tales from 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:46.720 this fall now is a very offenful twenty twenty one season, 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:49.680 including a seven and oh star ten and two. Maybe 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.800 some of the folks missed it. That's definitely worth revisiting. 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.680 Tell us exactly what Cardinals Folk Tales is. The idea 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:02.040 between about Cardinal Folk Tales Paul, is that there's a 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.600 number of stories that you know, some you've heard of, 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.680 some you might not have heard about, but maybe only 0:02:09.680 --> 0:02:13.200 a cursory knowledge of what those are. And these aim 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:17.040 to get a little deeper into those stories. And there 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.520 was a whole series of them. I believe we had 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.760 eleven episodes of this past year, and you know, just 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:26.080 going into different things, whether it was you know, the 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:29.880 coin that didn't flip in overtime, of the twenty fifteen 0:02:29.880 --> 0:02:34.080 playoff game against the Packers, or the night the goalpost 0:02:34.120 --> 0:02:36.959 came down after the Cardinals beat the Cowboys in a 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.600 regular season game in ninety seven, things like that, where 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.120 again you might have you might vaguely remember what had happened, 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:45.079 but maybe not some of the details. And we kind 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:46.680 of go behind the scenes with some of that stuff. 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.720 We like to say all time anecdotes, you can't spell 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:53.520 history without the word story. Tonight, we're gonna start, and 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:56.600 rightfully so, with number one in the series, and that 0:02:56.760 --> 0:03:01.800 is Pat Tillman's legendary lot. We're going to learn about 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:04.960 a locker that is behind glass. It's essentially a museum 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.919 piece just outside the Cardinals locker room. And we'll get 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.760 in depth into that real soon. But as someone who 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.720 covered Pat Tillman, and that's both of us, what do 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:15.920 you tell people those people you meet for the first 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.360 time and oh, wow, you knew and covered Pat Tillman. 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:24.359 I mean, it's always kind of a fascinating thing. I mean, 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:27.400 Pat Tillman was somebody that you kind of were always 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.440 going to remember anyways, even when you were covering him 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.520 as a football player. He was going to be that 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:35.120 guy that you know, kind of stamped on your brain. 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:38.120 But obviously, with everything that happened with him, the crazy 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:41.440 way he ended up going into the Army in the 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:46.240 first place, and then obviously his tragic death. I mean, 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.880 that's stuff you just can't get away from him. And 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:53.760 I just I remember writing a story right before he 0:03:53.800 --> 0:03:56.720 said he was going into the army, and I still 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:58.880 have the copy of it today. And he was a 0:03:58.880 --> 0:04:01.720 free agent that year, and he had gotten an offer 0:04:01.760 --> 0:04:04.040 from the Rams, and he hadn't signed anywhere. It was May, 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.680 and he wasn't around for some of the voluntary work, 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.360 and I wrote a story saying it was odd that 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.360 Pat Tillman still hadn't decided what he was gonna do 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:14.240 playing football, and it was just not like him to 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.800 miss football parts, even if he was getting married, which 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:18.839 was part of the reason he was gone. Because Pat 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:22.520 the football player did not define Pat Tilman. Yep, he 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:26.120 was so many different people all wrapped up in one. 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:29.839 There was Pat the academic, right, Yeah, he's great student 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:32.520 in Arizona State. In fact, we'll talk a little bit 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.400 at the end about the Pat Tilman scholars. There was 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:38.200 there was just the Pat, not only Pat the personality 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:40.919 but there was Pat who challenged himself. Wasn't there an 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.479 offseason where he ran a marathon and or like a 0:04:43.520 --> 0:04:46.839 half iron man triathlon? He did those things. I remember 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.280 Rod Graves telling me a story about seeing Pat at 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.760 a coffee shop locally and Pat was just outside by 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:57.000 himself drinking coffee, reading a book, and Rod Graves, the 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:00.919 former GM, looked and decided to see what the book was, 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.960 and it was the Quran, and Pat Tilman just picked 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.000 it up one day and decided he wanted to know 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:09.680 more about that, so he decided to read it. If 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.320 there was anybody who was all about think for yourself, 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.160 it was Pat Tillman. But he also considered it your 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:20.400 responsibility to educate yourself, and so he was always curious. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:24.440 He just had that national natural curiosity about him. And 0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.880 he was an unbelievable player. I mean, someone who ever 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.080 came the odds. We'll get into it in Cardinal's Folk 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.599 Tales just exactly. But remember, I mean, he was a 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:34.880 guy who came out as a tweener, wasn't given a 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:38.000 great shot at making the team, and then of course 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.160 we know what happened from there after his football career 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.599 and his status now as an American hero, and we'll 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:46.600 get into that and how that's all involved in the 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:49.719 story of Pat Tillman, and how it's all captured in 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:54.400 his legendary locker, which we'll commence with when we come back. 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:57.000 It is our Cardinals Folk Tales edition of The Big 0:05:57.040 --> 0:06:01.359 Red Rage, presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. Are santan Ford, 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.320 and welcome back everyone into the Big Red Rage presented 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.920 by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford, I'm 0:06:10.920 --> 0:06:13.440 Paul Calvisian. As we noted off the top, we're taking 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:15.640 a different approach the next few weeks here on the 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.760 Big Red Rage. Our game plan revolves around an encore 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:23.840 presentation of Cardinals Folktales, where we like to see it 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:28.039 can't spell history without the word story. Well, if you 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:30.440 were to go from the Cardinals radio studio about fifty 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.240 yards to my left, you would hit the Cardinals locker 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.600 room and before you enter, you would see a locker 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:41.159 behind glass, and there's a reason why that locker once 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:45.400 belonged to Pat Tillman. So, as we near Cardinals camp 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:47.479 and we think about the long shot players of the 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.760 low round picks who might be able to defy the 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.880 odds and make that final roster. It's hard not to 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.240 think of the greatest Cardinals example of that ever, at 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.920 least to me, Cardinal's seventh round pick in nineteen ninety eight, 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.159 Pat Tillman. He was far from a lock that Year's 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.640 considered a tweener between a linebacker and his safety. But 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:10.160 he had a plan make the coaches take notice. And 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.920 as someone who covered Pat, both ASU and the Cardinals, 0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.120 it was impossible not to notice Pat. If it wasn't 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.520 the hair flowing out of the helmet, it was just 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:22.360 his style of play would total abandoned. I mean he 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.840 didn't just wear Pats, he used him. So although we 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:30.560 might know Pat's story, what's the story behind the locker 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:36.360 that was seconds away from total demolition. Well here's that story, 0:07:36.680 --> 0:07:51.679 Cardinals Full tales legendary locker. Every year NFL teams conduct 0:07:52.160 --> 0:07:55.400 their fight for fifty three. That's the size of an 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.600 NFL roster, fifty three players, and those names will always 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:03.240 vary year to year, heck, week to week, But the 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:07.320 Arizona Cardinals have a fifty fourth locker and that name 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:11.600 plate will never change. Pat Tillman talk about a guy 0:08:11.680 --> 0:08:13.600 with a lot of heart, Passion is kind of an 0:08:13.600 --> 0:08:16.960 important word for me. Whether it's you know, playing sports, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:18.960 or whether it's you know, just living or whatever you're 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.560 gonna do. You, in my opinion, you should be passionate 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.800 a matter off. Why why do it? He's pretty legendary 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:26.360 just for being the guy he was that being true 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:30.600 to himself, challenging people around him, you know, never being 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:33.880 dull or just taking things for granted or being complacent. 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:37.160 He was always searching for knowledge. I think it was 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.720 important to save the locker. As time goes by, you 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:43.520 start to forget about things that happened in history. I 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.920 didn't want Pat to be forgotten. Legendary locker with the 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.160 forever name plate Pat Tillman. This is Cardinal's Folk Tales, 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.280 presented by seventy two sold where we go in depth 0:08:55.640 --> 0:09:00.400 into Cardinal's history, all time anecdotes through the personal recollect 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:04.480 and memories of those who lived in We hear their words, 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:08.120 their voices. My name is Paul kelvic upcovered the Cardinals 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.200 since late nineteen ninety five, the end of the Buddy 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.400 Ryan era. I've been the Cardinals sideline reporter since two 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.520 thousand and five, and as I can attest you may 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:19.760 think you know some of these folk tales stories, but 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:24.240 as I found out, as even team historians have found out, 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:28.160 we don't like this story. This folk tale revolving around 0:09:28.160 --> 0:09:31.840 the most widely known figure in Cardinal's history, Pat Tillman, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.440 and how his legendary locker was saved with a last 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:40.560 second interception from a buzz saw literally by a long 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.040 time staffer. I didn't really get the idea to kind 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:46.679 of preserve the locker until two thousand and six. I 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:48.080 always put it in the back of my head, like 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:49.800 I want to save this locker. That would be kind 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:52.559 of cool. And I just didn't know when the renovations 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.040 could take place in Sit marriton lunch at Oregano's and 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.440 they're taking place, so I had to do something. When 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:02.000 you know the liche, if you cut somebody open, they bleed, 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.120 Cardinal red. That's that's almost so it was fitting that, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:08.080 you know, he would be the one that has his 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.320 finger on the pulse of that and in the moment 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:24.800 immediately recognize his house significant this is to preserve. Before 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:27.840 we get to that locker, the museum piece on display 0:10:27.920 --> 0:10:31.400 showcase for all to see at Cardinal's HQ, we need 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:35.360 to understand Pat Tillman. Notice how we didn't say the 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:39.040 football player Pat Tillman because Pat was so much more 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:41.880 than an athlete. Pat Tillman, what can I say? Just 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:47.199 all around good guy, not cocky, very confident, soft spoken, 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.120 like the thing Desperado and like that movie. Immediately I 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.400 kind of liked me on long hair. He didn't dress nice. 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:57.360 He was just such a unique, genuine dude that people, 0:10:57.920 --> 0:11:00.920 you know, were endeared to him. Different kind of guy. 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:03.040 You know, he was a flower child if you will 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.000 you know. Of course, at the time, I didn't have 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.240 any clue that he would go out to the kind 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.599 of hero that he became. But you know, he was 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:11.800 a different type of dude. He would ride his bicycle 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.600 to practice every day. Those are the voices of former 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:18.440 Tillman teammates Larry Centers, Jake Plummer, and all started by 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.760 former linebacker Mark Maddox. The thing is, if you asked 0:11:21.760 --> 0:11:25.440 Pat to talk about himself, something he seldom did, I'm 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.680 not sure that football player would have made the top 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.280 three things he'd say about himself. To know Pat was 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:35.559 to know that Pat was about the next achievement, the 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:39.839 next challenge, the next curiosity, longtime Cardinals beat writer in 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:45.360 Arizona Republic columnist Kent Summers as a player just passionate 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.400 to the point of borderline? Is this guy human? I 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:52.080 mean kind of human actually play that hard and have 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.120 such a disregard for his body and play the game 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:58.640 that way? And never I mean there was just one speed, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.640 you know, one gear. You know. Dave McGinnis used to 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:04.160 say that the guy has a switch, not a dial. 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:06.160 You know, you just flip it on and it's the same, 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.959 the same speed. When Pat put on the pads, he 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:13.319 used them, he was all in. Like everything else he did. 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.920 Pat never did anything half speed, even when the drools 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.760 were designed to be half speed. That was Pat in 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.320 his first NFL training camp as the seventh round tweener 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:28.480 just hit anything and everything that moved. I watched it 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:31.199 in person. I covered that nineteen ninety eight training camp 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.240 in Flagstaff. I watched the decision makers take notice that 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.920 the guy in the football uniform belied the dude in 0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:42.480 the surfer shorts and the flip flops. Here's former Cardinals 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:46.040 wide receiver Frank Sanders. I think Pat probably deserved flip 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:50.600 flops and a surfboard somewhere in some Oakleigh shorts and 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.840 a real nice golden hair, and that's it, like playing football. 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.720 Never seemed like he should be there until he put 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:02.040 on his pads. To put on his pat a different 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:05.160 person showed up. I understand you hit pretty hard. No, 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:07.600 I'm a different guy. I'm in the middle of the 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.120 fingers into the plate. Wow, off comes the helmet called 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.240 the intended receiver. As he gets crushed back there by 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.840 Pat Tilmann. Pat Tilman the blade. He knocked him right 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.040 in the helmet with a forearm and just slapped that 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:23.920 helmet off. Even as a rookie, we used to have 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:27.120 to call him off. You know, some some practices we were, 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:30.360 you know, just fit up on the guy with the ball. 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:33.160 But he would come in and demolish the guys, which 0:13:33.200 --> 0:13:35.000 was a really good tactic, and it worked out great 0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:40.679 for him because he got to coach's attention. He brought 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.360 that same kind of fu mentality to the Cardinals. I mean, 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.240 rookies don't hit receivers in Ota days. But he would 0:13:48.320 --> 0:13:49.880 lay some wood on a guy or like put an 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.839 elbow in him and getting fights, and he really up 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:56.840 the competitiveness dary practice. You know, guys didn't like him 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.800 because he would hit you or rough you up, or 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.679 whenever he felt he needed to work on, and they 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.760 ended up respecting him because it made everybody's level come up. 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:10.600 He was a tone setter. Let's just say that Pat 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:15.839 would routinely exceed the perceived practice speed limit. But that's 0:14:15.840 --> 0:14:19.840 how Pat forged an NFL career. That's how Pat made 0:14:19.880 --> 0:14:22.800 the Cardinals as the two hundred and twenty six player 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.920 taken in the nineteen ninety eight draft. How he caught 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:28.880 the coach's attention even though he was the reigning Pac 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.280 ten Defensive Player of the Year. But at the NFL level, 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.440 was he still a linebacker? Was he fast enough to 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.520 be his safety? Pad made sure none of that matter, 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:42.240 because all he did was turned guys into tackling dummies 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:45.360 that entire camp, even though it landed him in the 0:14:45.440 --> 0:14:49.160 NFL's version of a coach's time out. Former Cardinals head 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.800 coach Dens Tobin and the one I remember it was 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:53.880 a wide receiver that he got in a fight with 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:55.920 a hand Depp having to throw him both off the 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.760 field because every time the play started, well, they'd be 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.440 a between those two at the end of the play, 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.600 and so I sent him out. But as Vince still 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:10.360 been himself would admit later, the Cardinals needed that mentality, 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:15.040 that Pat Tillman brand of physicality and fight that Tilman 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:18.760 two because remember, the Cardinals were still in the same 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.920 division with those Cowboys teams coming off Super Bowls and 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.360 physical East Coast teams from tough towns playing bullyball like 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:30.360 the Giants and Eagles and Washington once again, former Cardinals 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.400 quarterback Jake Plummer, you look at someone like him who 0:15:33.440 --> 0:15:36.120 was similar to me. We were too small, too slow, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.640 not strong enough, not smart enough, all these excuses for 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:42.080 why we shouldn't be there yet, we just you know, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:44.400 we threw that all side and said, yeah, we're supposed 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:46.440 to be here. He congratulated me, and I guess he 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.000 was one of the my advocates. He was talking me up. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:52.560 So where the hell where are you? All right? Thank you, 0:15:53.000 --> 0:15:55.320 appreciate your help. Jake. He said that I gotta get 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:57.440 him fifteen percent of whatever I get because of his 0:15:57.520 --> 0:16:02.840 good talk, so it might not be much. So we 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:05.400 had that chip on our shoulder and that confidence, that 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.880 quiet confidence about ourselves and belief in ourselves. So we 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:12.920 were kindred spirits right away. Pat became a football player 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:18.200 simply because of will and determination. He wasn't really big enough, 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:23.080 strong enough, fast enough to play in the National Football League, 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.520 but he willed himself to become a good enough football 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.200 player to overcome those limitations. And it's something that Pat 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:36.320 had already done plenty of define the doubters. A quick 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.000 personal note, I covered Pat during his years at ASU, 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.600 and then his early years were the Cardinals. Before that, 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.720 I'd known of Pat through our high school alma mater, 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:48.120 Leland High School in South San Jose. We were both 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.160 from the Almond and Valley, which you might have seen 0:16:50.200 --> 0:16:53.200 featured in some of the Pat Tilman documentaries. His future 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.480 father in law was my high school baseball coach. We 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:58.480 were seven or eight years apart or so, and I 0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.040 still remember my dad called me during Pat's senior year 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:03.520 of high school. Hey you guess what he said? Leland 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:05.560 is in this section title game. And I cut off 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:07.800 my dad. I say, come on, now, Pop, have you 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:10.440 been drinking more of your red wine again? Come on? No, no, no, 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.960 They've got this Tillman kid. He's a running back and 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:17.159 nobody can tackle him, and he's a better middle linebacker. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:21.000 He's all over the field. So when people talk about 0:17:21.040 --> 0:17:25.560 Pat's ability to inspire and lift others. People rightfully cite 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.040 the fact that the last time ASU went to the 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:31.520 Rolls Bowl, it was Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer. During 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.439 Pat's rookie year in the NFL nineteen ninety eight, the 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:38.240 Arizona Cardinals won their first playoff game in half a century. 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:41.200 And my response is always, you know what, though, Pat's 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.520 greatest team achievement was leading his high school to a title, because, 0:17:45.560 --> 0:17:49.000 believe me, the degree of difficulty there. Pat's high school 0:17:49.160 --> 0:18:00.280 hasn't come close to winning before or after Pat Bolt 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:03.719 Towers so the World Trade Center have been hitched by aircraft. 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.639 Both are in flane, black smoke coming from both of 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:12.040 the towers. It's a horrific scene here. There are fire 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:16.440 crews just screaming into this area from every conceivable direction. 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:19.600 You know, times like this you stop and think about 0:18:19.760 --> 0:18:22.040 just how not only how good we have it, but 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:25.440 what kind of a system we live under, what freedoms 0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:28.160 were allowed? You know, my great grandfather was at Pearl 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:29.959 Harbor and a lot of my family has given up, 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.360 you know, has gone in foughten wars, and I really 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:34.720 haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:36.080 on the line like that, and so I have a 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.240 great deal of respect for those that have and what 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.920 the flag stands for. The voice of Pat Tillman September twelfth, 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:46.840 two thousand and one, the day after the horrific events 0:18:47.240 --> 0:18:50.480 of nine to eleven. In fact, on September eleven, Pat 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:53.360 Tillman was at the Cardinal's facility and he wandered through 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:56.439 the media area and sat down to watch the news 0:18:56.440 --> 0:19:00.639 coverage as it unfolded. With Cardinals beat writer Darren Irbot. 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:04.560 He was like, what we do playing in the NFL. 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:09.800 He goes, We're worthless, We're actors. He goes, that means nothing. 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:15.879 This is so much bigger than that. There's probably no 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:18.360 better time to talk about a guy who took nine 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.840 one one to heart and made a life changing decision 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.080 based on his feeling something he felt he needed to do. 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:27.200 It was sort of the you know, man bites dog story, 0:19:27.359 --> 0:19:30.119 like this doesn't make any sense. He's right on the verge. 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:33.600 We're in discussions with his agent about potentially extending his 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:36.760 contract and he decided I'm going to walk away from this. 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.440 But you know, it was just six months after nine 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.600 to eleven and It was only three weeks after he 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:47.640 got married to Marie as high school sweetheart, and it 0:19:47.720 --> 0:19:50.160 was about one week after they got back from their 0:19:50.160 --> 0:19:55.080 honeymoon he joined the Army up in Colorado and then 0:19:55.280 --> 0:19:57.760 went on to become, you know, part of the Rangers 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:01.840 and one of the leaders. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell, as 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.639 Patt had just set a team record for tackles in 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.560 a season, his jersey was worn by fans all over town. 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:11.399 Plus there was the business of football, as Pat was 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.719 on the verge of cashing in on a mega contract 0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:18.639 and he literally left it all behind. My reaction was 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.080 just I just like I just kind of had this 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.080 big smiling and started laughing to myself, like this is 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.920 completely believable. I mean, I did not expect him to 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:32.800 join the army, but as I process it, Yeah, Okay, 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:36.639 of all the guys in professional sports in the world, 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:42.400 he's the one who would do that. Pat would leave 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:46.119 that Cardinals locker room to join a different team with 0:20:46.240 --> 0:20:50.879 a different plan, defending his country. And his former teammates 0:20:51.240 --> 0:20:56.240 remember their reactions like it was yesterday. Frank Sanders, Jake Plummer, 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.440 and former head coach Bence Toby. I saw Pat coming 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:02.680 out of the bill and I was coming in where 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:04.119 the players don't to go into the lord area. I 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:06.359 was coming into the gates he was going out and say, Pat, 0:21:06.359 --> 0:21:08.239 are you doing? What's up with your contract? He said, Bro, 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:10.280 I'm probably gonna go to the military. I said, what 0:21:11.119 --> 0:21:12.440 he said, I'm gonna go to the army and be 0:21:12.560 --> 0:21:15.600 arranged with my brother. So what you're gonna do? What 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:18.640 I want to serve my country, That's what I'm gonna do. 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:21.119 I say, brother, God bless you. I just kind of 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:24.040 liked that sounds like, Pat, what can you do? I 0:21:24.119 --> 0:21:26.359 remember getting a call from Mike Devlin, who was my 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:27.879 senter in my rookie year and now I was a 0:21:27.920 --> 0:21:30.639 coach with the Cardinals. He said, Hey, you gotta call Pat. 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:33.400 He's about to do something that you know, I don't 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:34.920 know if he should do this. It's you know, he's 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:37.080 giving up all this money and giving up the game, 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:38.600 and I don't know. You should give him a shout. 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:41.000 And I kind of chuckled because I was like, if 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:44.000 Pat makes his mind up, he's made this decision and 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:46.399 his wife hasn't changed his mind, then what good am 0:21:46.400 --> 0:21:49.240 I going to be to go try to change his mind? 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:51.680 I'm not gonna piss him off before he goes to 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:53.760 fight for our country. I gave him a hug and 0:21:53.800 --> 0:21:55.920 told him I loved him and he'd be safe out 0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.280 there man, because there was no change in his mind. Well, 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:00.679 he was all in. He believed in. He blaved in 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.840 and believed it very strongly, and acted on what he's 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:06.840 blazed where a lot of people have blazed, but they 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:09.639 don't act on him. And he did no matter what 0:22:09.720 --> 0:22:11.719 he was doing, whether it's on the field or not. 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:14.960 He believed in himself so much so that he did 0:22:15.000 --> 0:22:17.240 something that no one could fathom he would do and 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:19.840 go give up millions of dollars to go fight for 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:22.800 our country. Well, for Pat, it was just life. That 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.200 was what life was about, was doing what you believed 0:22:25.280 --> 0:22:29.760 and living your life. And what's amazing is as media 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:33.000 friendly as Pat was as a player, all the interviews 0:22:33.000 --> 0:22:35.879 that Pat did when he was at ASU and the Cardinals. 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:39.360