Arizona Cardinals player who made headlines by foregoing his career to
enlist in the United States Army in May 2002. The Pentagon disclosed to
his family over a month after his death that he died as a result of
friendly fire and not from an enemy attack, as originally reported.
Tillman was the first football player to be killed in combat since Bob
Kalsu of the Buffalo Bills in 1970. Tillman was posthumously promoted
from Specialist to Corporal, and received the Silver Star and the
Purple Heart.
