There are two days in my life in which I will never forget waking up to a phone ringing off the hook. The first was September 11, 2001, as being on the West Coast, I found out what was going on by phone before I turned on my television that morning. The second was April 23, 2004, when the news of Pat Tillman’s death got to me.

These two phone calls are tied together by the same common ingredient. Tillman left the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army Rangers after Sept. 11, and was eventually sent to Afghanistan, where he was ultimately killed by friendly fire. Had the first phone call not been necessary, the second also wouldn’t have happened.

I remember getting a call first thing in the morning on Friday the 23rd of April from my co-host at the time, Paul. He was broken up, having just heard the news that Pat was killed the day before, April 22. From that point on, my phone didn’t stop ringing. Everyone I knew also knew Pat Tillman. All of my colleagues also covered the Cardinals and most had covered the Arizona State Sun Devils when Tillman was playing there as well. We all felt like we lost a friend.

I spent the rest of that day at the Arizona Cardinals training facility, where a makeshift memorial was set up. Fans poured in all day to pay their respects to Tillman. There was a giant banner out in front of the facility, which soon became completely hidden behind the flowers, baskets and homemade signs.

It was extra busy at the Cardinals facility, since the next day was the NFL draft. I had the duty of anchoring our station’s coverage of the draft, something that thankfully gave me something else to think about during that day as I did research and prepared notes. I spent the entire day at the Cardinal facility, partly amongst team personnel and partly amongst fans. I was a fan of Tillman, both the football player and person, but I was also a reporter with a job to do. Needless to say, this wasn’t my favorite ever workday.

The next few weeks were spent reading the news, trying to find out what really happened to Pat. There were memorials for him in Arizona and California. During the next football season , there were multiple tributes by both the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona State Sun Devils, both of which were very moving. For a year after his death, it seemed like it would be impossible for people to ever forget Tillman.

What has gotten lost over the years is who Pat Tillman, the person, was. Every news story about Tillman now seems to be about the war or his death, not about his life. Pat was a great person, and to those of us that had the privilege to have met him, he was exactly what his legend has become. He would talk to anyone, and about anything. He didn’t care if you were famous or just passing by. He was a genuinely nice person, and more than likely, everything you’ve ever heard about him is true.

Lost in the mix over the years is that he was a great football player. I know that in the long version of the story he was so much more than a football player, but to a lot of people, that was an important part of him. The reason it matters is that he wasn’t supposed to be good in the NFL. He was a 7th round draft pick that went on to be a damn good NFL player. He was an undersized, overachieving linebacker in college and became an undersized, overachieving safety in the NFL.

Perhaps some people want to say that Pat was an Army Ranger and a great man that happened to be good at football, but to some of us, Pat will always be a great football player that was also a great man and an Army Ranger. His football career does not have to be mutually exclusive from the rest of his life.

In fact, it was his football career that made him a news story and a hero. Pat had the opportunity to make more money than a guy like him would ever be able to spend, but it was more important to him to do what he felt was right. I will also never forget standing in a radio studio when we got the phone call that Pat Tillman was retiring from football to join the Army. We thought it was a joke for about ten seconds, then thinking about Pat we all thought, “yeah, that’s about right.”

Being a football star brought a lot of attention to Tillman’s decision, attention he didn’t necessarily want. But it was warranted attention. In an age where heroes are hard to find, here was one in our backyard. Tillman understood that there were far too many soldiers who weren’t getting any attention for making the same decision, and in his time after the NFL, never spoke of his decision. He didn’t want to be treated any differently than the men and women he was serving with.

It’s easy to forget about Tillman as the wars, football and our lives continue on. But five years after the death of Pat Tillman, I still remember him, I still think of him and I still remember every detail of April 23, 2004 — the day after Pat died and the day we all found out. Every year when the NFL draft comes along, I’ll be reminded of Tillman, and I only hope that everyone else finds a way to remember him as the years go by.

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