USING TILLMAN'S LEGACY TO INSPIRE YOUTH

August 7, 2004
By Lynn DeBruin
Rocky Mountain News

Foundation keeps his example alive

If Alex Garwood closes his eyes, he can almost imagine the young child emptying his piggy bank to donate $5 and change to the foundation.

He can picture the World War II veteran, with his shaky hand, addressing an envelope gently stuffed with a few bucks and the Purple Heart earned decades ago.

He can visualize the soldier who once served in the dusty combat boots that now sit in Garwood's Los Gatos, Calif., garage.

"It blows you away to see that Pat has touched people all over the country," Garwood said. And Garwood is doing his best to make sure that continues as he carries forward the legacy of Pat Tillman, his brother-in-law and the former NFL star turned Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan on April 22. To that end, Garwood, along with Tillman's wife, Marie, will be in Canton, Ohio, for Sunday's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

They are guests of NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue as part of a program honoring Purple Heart recipients. They also will be able to check out the Hall's tribute to Tillman, which includes cases displaying his Army Ranger uniform and No. 40 Cardinals jersey and video filmed just before the NFL returned to the field following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Though not the primary purpose of their visit, Garwood also hopes their presence will help promote the recently formed Pat Tillman Foundation - an organization intent on inspiring others to make positive changes in themselves and the world.

To date, the foundation has received more than 450 contributions. "It's great when you open a letter with a check with lots of zeroes on it, but $5 from a retired lieutenant colonel who also sends along his Purple Heart . . . it's inspiring," said Garwood, who left his sales job to become the foundation's unpaid executive director.

Well-wishers have left the family hundreds of mementos, from hand-written letters and framed poems to the military medals and dusty boots.

Garwood said an entire school in Oregon took the time to write letters about what they think Pat Tillman stood for. "That's getting kids to use their brain," he said. "Those make you pause." That's something that Tillman would have appreciated.

Though he looked the surfer dude part, Tillman also was an intellectual, graduating summa cum laude from Arizona State in 31/2 years.

After four seasons in the NFL and a lucrative contract on the table, he walked away without a word, joining the Army along with younger brother Kevin after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was 27 when he was killed.

Because the outpouring has been nothing short of amazing, Garwood finds himself in a delicate balancing act - respecting Tillman's desire to be treated like any other soldier, but letting the world know about Tillman to help others in his name.

"I hope and believe he would be proud of what we're doing, and fully behind it," Garwood said. While rejecting offers for movie and book deals thus far, the family is working with Arizona State and the NFL to make Tillman's jerseys available, with proceeds going to the foundation. The Cardinals will honor him with a halftime tribute at their home season opener.

Garwood said the New York City Fire Department also wants to make Tillman an honorary member. "This is a group that lost 343 members on 9/11, and they're talking about honoring Pat," Garwood said. The foundation's long-term goals are still being formulated, but in the short term it wants to give college and professional athletes the tools to deliver positive messages to youth.

Garwood called it a "pay-it-forward" anti-apathy program, using Pat Tillman as a solid example of a complete person.

"Pat never claimed to have all the answers. He'd never tell you what to do. What we can provide is tools for kids to question and ask and come up with their own darn answers," Garwood said.