Saint Peter Chanel Athletics: Welcome
Monday, September 29Welcome to the 2008-2009 Sports Program Year
Welcome to the St. Peter Chanel/Queen of Angels athletics website. On this site you'll find useful information regarding all of our sports. On your left you will find listings for: soccer, cross country, volleyball, tennis and basketball.
Please check back frequently for updates.
Pat Tillman
July 2008
In 2001 Pat Tillman, 27, turned down a $9 million, five-year offer sheet from the Super Bowl champions, the St. Louis Rams, out of loyalty to the Cardinals. He also passed on a three-year, $3.6 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army in May 2002 in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Tillman was a member of the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, based at Fort Lewis, Wash. The battalion was involved in Operation Mountain Storm in southeastern Afghanistan, part of the U.S. campaign against fighters of the al-Qaida terror network and the former Taliban government along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. He was killed one night while serving his country.
Tillman had played four seasons with the Cardinals, winning league-wide respect as a smart and hard-hitting, if somewhat small and slow, defensive safety before he enlisted with his younger brother Kevin. Tillman set a Cardinals record with 224 tackles in 2000 and warmed up for that year’s training camp by competing in a 70.2-mile triathlon in June.
Tillman, who at 5 feet 11 inches tall and 200 pounds was considered undersized for his position, nevertheless distinguished himself by his intelligence and appetite for rugged play. As a linebacker at Arizona State University, he was the Pacific 10 Conference’s defensive player of the year in 1997. He graduated summa cum laude in 3.5 academic years as an academic All-American, earning a degree in marketing with 3.84 grade-point average.
Pat Tillman is an example of a man who had everything going for him but was not satisfied with the fact that he had not done something special for his country. He wanted to be a hero for his country and not just sit back and let others have that honor. He thought of others and placed them before himself and his dream career as a pro football player. He conquered the fears and the difficulties, served his fellow Americans and gave his life doing it. He was a man of courage and a hero.