Big Red Rage - Pat Tillman's Legendary Locker

State Farm? Talk to an agent today at eight hundred State Farm, And by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts Visit Acy Cardinals dot Com, Slash Podcasts, The Reds, Rising Guard, Temperaturizing Vision, flurring, Rage taking over. Here's Paul Calvci. I'm ready. I'm one hundred percent ready. I'm telling you i'mready. And Ron Wolflee it doesn't get any better than that. Unleash the far Well, not exactly. Ron Wolfley on assignment tonight. Okay, let's be honest.

Ron Wolfley on vacation, his summer sabbatical, as we'd like to joke with Wolfs. So we have Darren Urban sitting in fromac Cardinals dot Com, and let's face it, a lot of us. So we're gonna be on vacation in the real near future. In fact, the rookies effective today are gone until training camp. In fact, if you were to take role Darren here at the Arizona Cardinals Dignity Health Training Center, wouldn't be a lot of people in attendance right now. Now, I would think that this is

probably the most dead time of year, Paul. So to make best use of that time, we figured, you know what, here's the game plan. Let's revisit Cardinals Folk Tales from this fall now is a very offenful twenty twenty one season, including a seven and oh star ten and two. Maybe some of the folks missed it. That's definitely worth revisiting.

Tell us exactly what Cardinals Folk Tales is. The idea between about Cardinal Folk Tales Paul, is that there's a number of stories that you know, some you've heard of, some you might not have heard about, but maybe only a cursory knowledge of what those are. And these aim to get a little deeper into those stories. And there

was a whole series of them. I believe we had eleven episodes of this past year, and you know, just going into different things, whether it was you know, the coin that didn't flip in overtime, of the twenty fifteen playoff game against the Packers, or the night the goalpost came down after the Cardinals beat the Cowboys in a regular season game in ninety seven, things like that, where again you might have you might vaguely remember what had happened,

but maybe not some of the details. And we kind of go behind the scenes with some of that stuff. We like to say all time anecdotes, you can't spell history without the word story. Tonight, we're gonna start, and rightfully so, with number one in the series, and that is Pat Tillman's legendary lot. We're going to learn about a locker that is behind glass. It's essentially a museum piece just outside the Cardinals locker room. And we'll get

in depth into that real soon. But as someone who covered Pat Tillman, and that's both of us, what do you tell people those people you meet for the first time and oh, wow, you knew and covered Pat Tillman. I mean, it's always kind of a fascinating thing. I mean, Pat Tillman was somebody that you kind of were always going to remember anyways, even when you were covering him as a football player. He was going to be that guy that you know, kind of stamped on your brain.

But obviously, with everything that happened with him, the crazy way he ended up going into the Army in the first place, and then obviously his tragic death. I mean, that's stuff you just can't get away from him. And I just I remember writing a story right before he said he was going into the army, and I still have the copy of it today. And he was a free agent that year, and he had gotten an offer

from the Rams, and he hadn't signed anywhere. It was May, and he wasn't around for some of the voluntary work, and I wrote a story saying it was odd that Pat Tillman still hadn't decided what he was gonna do playing football, and it was just not like him to miss football parts, even if he was getting married, which was part of the reason he was gone. Because Pat the football player did not define Pat Tilman. Yep, he was so many different people all wrapped up in one.

There was Pat the academic, right, Yeah, he's great student in Arizona State. In fact, we'll talk a little bit at the end about the Pat Tilman scholars. There was there was just the Pat, not only Pat the personality but there was Pat who challenged himself. Wasn't there an offseason where he ran a marathon and or like a

half iron man triathlon? He did those things. I remember Rod Graves telling me a story about seeing Pat at a coffee shop locally and Pat was just outside by himself drinking coffee, reading a book, and Rod Graves, the former GM, looked and decided to see what the book was, and it was the Quran, and Pat Tilman just picked it up one day and decided he wanted to know more about that, so he decided to read it. If there was anybody who was all about think for yourself,

it was Pat Tillman. But he also considered it your responsibility to educate yourself, and so he was always curious. He just had that national natural curiosity about him. And he was an unbelievable player. I mean, someone who ever came the odds. We'll get into it in Cardinal's Folk

Tales just exactly. But remember, I mean, he was a guy who came out as a tweener, wasn't given a great shot at making the team, and then of course we know what happened from there after his football career and his status now as an American hero, and we'll get into that and how that's all involved in the story of Pat Tillman, and how it's all captured in his legendary locker, which we'll commence with when we come back. It is our Cardinals Folk Tales edition of The Big

Red Rage, presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. Are santan Ford, and welcome back everyone into the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford, I'm Paul Calvisian. As we noted off the top, we're taking a different approach the next few weeks here on the Big Red Rage. Our game plan revolves around an encore presentation of Cardinals Folktales, where we like to see it

can't spell history without the word story. Well, if you were to go from the Cardinals radio studio about fifty yards to my left, you would hit the Cardinals locker room and before you enter, you would see a locker behind glass, and there's a reason why that locker once belonged to Pat Tillman. So, as we near Cardinals camp and we think about the long shot players of the low round picks who might be able to defy the

odds and make that final roster. It's hard not to think of the greatest Cardinals example of that ever, at least to me, Cardinal's seventh round pick in nineteen ninety eight, Pat Tillman. He was far from a lock that Year's considered a tweener between a linebacker and his safety. But he had a plan make the coaches take notice. And as someone who covered Pat, both ASU and the Cardinals, it was impossible not to notice Pat. If it wasn't the hair flowing out of the helmet, it was just

his style of play would total abandoned. I mean he didn't just wear Pats, he used him. So although we might know Pat's story, what's the story behind the locker that was seconds away from total demolition. Well here's that story, Cardinals Full tales legendary locker. Every year NFL teams conduct

their fight for fifty three. That's the size of an NFL roster, fifty three players, and those names will always vary year to year, heck, week to week, But the Arizona Cardinals have a fifty fourth locker and that name plate will never change. Pat Tillman talk about a guy with a lot of heart, Passion is kind of an important word for me. Whether it's you know, playing sports, or whether it's you know, just living or whatever you're gonna do. You, in my opinion, you should be passionate

a matter off. Why why do it? He's pretty legendary just for being the guy he was that being true to himself, challenging people around him, you know, never being dull or just taking things for granted or being complacent. He was always searching for knowledge. I think it was important to save the locker. As time goes by, you start to forget about things that happened in history. I didn't want Pat to be forgotten. Legendary locker with the

forever name plate Pat Tillman. This is Cardinal's Folk Tales, presented by seventy two sold where we go in depth into Cardinal's history, all time anecdotes through the personal recollect and memories of those who lived in We hear their words, their voices. My name is Paul kelvic upcovered the Cardinals since late nineteen ninety five, the end of the Buddy

Ryan era. I've been the Cardinals sideline reporter since two thousand and five, and as I can attest you may think you know some of these folk tales stories, but as I found out, as even team historians have found out, we don't like this story. This folk tale revolving around the most widely known figure in Cardinal's history, Pat Tillman, and how his legendary locker was saved with a last second interception from a buzz saw literally by a long time staffer. I didn't really get the idea to kind

of preserve the locker until two thousand and six. I always put it in the back of my head, like I want to save this locker. That would be kind of cool. And I just didn't know when the renovations could take place in Sit marriton lunch at Oregano's and they're taking place, so I had to do something. When you know the liche, if you cut somebody open, they bleed,

Cardinal red. That's that's almost so it was fitting that, you know, he would be the one that has his finger on the pulse of that and in the moment immediately recognize his house significant this is to preserve. Before we get to that locker, the museum piece on display showcase for all to see at Cardinal's HQ, we need to understand Pat Tillman. Notice how we didn't say the football player Pat Tillman because Pat was so much more

than an athlete. Pat Tillman, what can I say? Just all around good guy, not cocky, very confident, soft spoken, like the thing Desperado and like that movie. Immediately I kind of liked me on long hair. He didn't dress nice. He was just such a unique, genuine dude that people, you know, were endeared to him. Different kind of guy. You know, he was a flower child if you will you know. Of course, at the time, I didn't have any clue that he would go out to the kind

of hero that he became. But you know, he was a different type of dude. He would ride his bicycle to practice every day. Those are the voices of former Tillman teammates Larry Centers, Jake Plummer, and all started by former linebacker Mark Maddox. The thing is, if you asked Pat to talk about himself, something he seldom did, I'm not sure that football player would have made the top

three things he'd say about himself. To know Pat was to know that Pat was about the next achievement, the next challenge, the next curiosity, longtime Cardinals beat writer in Arizona Republic columnist Kent Summers as a player just passionate to the point of borderline? Is this guy human? I mean kind of human actually play that hard and have such a disregard for his body and play the game that way? And never I mean there was just one speed,

you know, one gear. You know. Dave McGinnis used to say that the guy has a switch, not a dial. You know, you just flip it on and it's the same, the same speed. When Pat put on the pads, he used them, he was all in. Like everything else he did. Pat never did anything half speed, even when the drools were designed to be half speed. That was Pat in his first NFL training camp as the seventh round tweener just hit anything and everything that moved. I watched it

in person. I covered that nineteen ninety eight training camp in Flagstaff. I watched the decision makers take notice that the guy in the football uniform belied the dude in the surfer shorts and the flip flops. Here's former Cardinals wide receiver Frank Sanders. I think Pat probably deserved flip flops and a surfboard somewhere in some Oakleigh shorts and a real nice golden hair, and that's it, like playing football. Never seemed like he should be there until he put

on his pads. To put on his pat a different person showed up. I understand you hit pretty hard. No, I'm a different guy. I'm in the middle of the fingers into the plate. Wow, off comes the helmet called the intended receiver. As he gets crushed back there by Pat Tilmann. Pat Tilman the blade. He knocked him right in the helmet with a forearm and just slapped that helmet off. Even as a rookie, we used to have

to call him off. You know, some some practices we were, you know, just fit up on the guy with the ball. But he would come in and demolish the guys, which was a really good tactic, and it worked out great for him because he got to coach's attention. He brought that same kind of fu mentality to the Cardinals. I mean, rookies don't hit receivers in Ota days. But he would lay some wood on a guy or like put an elbow in him and getting fights, and he really up

the competitiveness dary practice. You know, guys didn't like him because he would hit you or rough you up, or whenever he felt he needed to work on, and they ended up respecting him because it made everybody's level come up. He was a tone setter. Let's just say that Pat would routinely exceed the perceived practice speed limit. But that's how Pat forged an NFL career. That's how Pat made the Cardinals as the two hundred and twenty six player

taken in the nineteen ninety eight draft. How he caught the coach's attention even though he was the reigning Pac ten Defensive Player of the Year. But at the NFL level, was he still a linebacker? Was he fast enough to be his safety? Pad made sure none of that matter, because all he did was turned guys into tackling dummies that entire camp, even though it landed him in the

NFL's version of a coach's time out. Former Cardinals head coach Dens Tobin and the one I remember it was a wide receiver that he got in a fight with a hand Depp having to throw him both off the field because every time the play started, well, they'd be a between those two at the end of the play,

and so I sent him out. But as Vince still been himself would admit later, the Cardinals needed that mentality, that Pat Tillman brand of physicality and fight that Tilman two because remember, the Cardinals were still in the same division with those Cowboys teams coming off Super Bowls and physical East Coast teams from tough towns playing bullyball like the Giants and Eagles and Washington once again, former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer, you look at someone like him who

was similar to me. We were too small, too slow, not strong enough, not smart enough, all these excuses for why we shouldn't be there yet, we just you know, we threw that all side and said, yeah, we're supposed to be here. He congratulated me, and I guess he was one of the my advocates. He was talking me up. So where the hell where are you? All right? Thank you, appreciate your help. Jake. He said that I gotta get him fifteen percent of whatever I get because of his

good talk, so it might not be much. So we had that chip on our shoulder and that confidence, that quiet confidence about ourselves and belief in ourselves. So we were kindred spirits right away. Pat became a football player simply because of will and determination. He wasn't really big enough, strong enough, fast enough to play in the National Football League, but he willed himself to become a good enough football player to overcome those limitations. And it's something that Pat

had already done plenty of define the doubters. A quick personal note, I covered Pat during his years at ASU, and then his early years were the Cardinals. Before that, I'd known of Pat through our high school alma mater, Leland High School in South San Jose. We were both from the Almond and Valley, which you might have seen featured in some of the Pat Tilman documentaries. His future

father in law was my high school baseball coach. We were seven or eight years apart or so, and I still remember my dad called me during Pat's senior year of high school. Hey you guess what he said? Leland is in this section title game. And I cut off my dad. I say, come on, now, Pop, have you been drinking more of your red wine again? Come on? No, no, no, They've got this Tillman kid. He's a running back and nobody can tackle him, and he's a better middle linebacker.

He's all over the field. So when people talk about Pat's ability to inspire and lift others. People rightfully cite the fact that the last time ASU went to the Rolls Bowl, it was Pat Tillman and Jake Plummer. During Pat's rookie year in the NFL nineteen ninety eight, the Arizona Cardinals won their first playoff game in half a century. And my response is always, you know what, though, Pat's greatest team achievement was leading his high school to a title, because,

believe me, the degree of difficulty there. Pat's high school hasn't come close to winning before or after Pat Bolt Towers so the World Trade Center have been hitched by aircraft. Both are in flane, black smoke coming from both of the towers. It's a horrific scene here. There are fire crews just screaming into this area from every conceivable direction. You know, times like this you stop and think about just how not only how good we have it, but what kind of a system we live under, what freedoms

were allowed? You know, my great grandfather was at Pearl Harbor and a lot of my family has given up, you know, has gone in foughten wars, and I really haven't done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that, and so I have a great deal of respect for those that have and what the flag stands for. The voice of Pat Tillman September twelfth, two thousand and one, the day after the horrific events

of nine to eleven. In fact, on September eleven, Pat Tillman was at the Cardinal's facility and he wandered through the media area and sat down to watch the news coverage as it unfolded. With Cardinals beat writer Darren Irbot. He was like, what we do playing in the NFL. He goes, We're worthless, We're actors. He goes, that means nothing.

This is so much bigger than that. There's probably no better time to talk about a guy who took nine one one to heart and made a life changing decision based on his feeling something he felt he needed to do. It was sort of the you know, man bites dog story, like this doesn't make any sense. He's right on the verge. We're in discussions with his agent about potentially extending his contract and he decided I'm going to walk away from this.

But you know, it was just six months after nine to eleven and It was only three weeks after he got married to Marie as high school sweetheart, and it was about one week after they got back from their honeymoon he joined the Army up in Colorado and then went on to become, you know, part of the Rangers and one of the leaders. Cardinals owner Michael Bidwell, as Patt had just set a team record for tackles in a season, his jersey was worn by fans all over town.

Plus there was the business of football, as Pat was on the verge of cashing in on a mega contract and he literally left it all behind. My reaction was just I just like I just kind of had this big smiling and started laughing to myself, like this is completely believable. I mean, I did not expect him to join the army, but as I process it, Yeah, Okay, of all the guys in professional sports in the world,

he's the one who would do that. Pat would leave that Cardinals locker room to join a different team with a different plan, defending his country. And his former teammates remember their reactions like it was yesterday. Frank Sanders, Jake Plummer, and former head coach Bence Toby. I saw Pat coming out of the bill and I was coming in where the players don't to go into the lord area. I was coming into the gates he was going out and say, Pat,

are you doing? What's up with your contract? He said, Bro, I'm probably gonna go to the military. I said, what he said, I'm gonna go to the army and be arranged with my brother. So what you're gonna do? What I want to serve my country, That's what I'm gonna do. I say, brother, God bless you. I just kind of liked that sounds like, Pat, what can you do? I remember getting a call from Mike Devlin, who was my senter in my rookie year and now I was a

coach with the Cardinals. He said, Hey, you gotta call Pat. He's about to do something that you know, I don't know if he should do this. It's you know, he's giving up all this money and giving up the game, and I don't know. You should give him a shout. And I kind of chuckled because I was like, if Pat makes his mind up, he's made this decision and his wife hasn't changed his mind, then what good am I going to be to go try to change his mind? I'm not gonna piss him off before he goes to

fight for our country. I gave him a hug and told him I loved him and he'd be safe out there man, because there was no change in his mind. Well, he was all in. He believed in. He blaved in and believed it very strongly, and acted on what he's blazed where a lot of people have blazed, but they don't act on him. And he did no matter what he was doing, whether it's on the field or not.

He believed in himself so much so that he did something that no one could fathom he would do and go give up millions of dollars to go fight for our country. Well, for Pat, it was just life. That was what life was about, was doing what you believed and living your life. And what's amazing is as media friendly as Pat was as a player, all the interviews that Pat did when he was at ASU and the Cardinals.

You can search the internet all you want, good luck trying to find any interview that Pat did as a soldier. Once again, Ken Summers from the Arizona Republic. One of the things that really resonated with me was his refusal to talk about it. Ever, it's like I'm not in it for that. I'm not in it for the stories. I'm not in it for a future movie or to set myself up for business later. I have my reasons for doing it. I'm not going to share them. They're

my reasons. So Pat left his Cardinal's locker behind for a foot locker. One more aspect of a person who could have done virtually anything he said his mind to, and quite often Pat did just that. Former teammate, a long time Cardinal staffer, Anthony Edwards, on Pat's selfless act to serve that's humility. I choose to serve my country. I choose to go disc route instead of this one. The more popular vote would be stay where you at, continue to do what you're doing. But he didn't feel

that was enough. That wasn't satisfying to him. Slee chose the other. And that's former Cardinals receiver Anthony Edwards, who said it so well in Cardinal's Fall Tales that Pat was all about service to his team, to his community, to his country. I think, like a lot of media members, we walk into that Cardinals locker room, you can still hear Pat's laugh, you can still picture him with his teammates,

you know. And it was that locker of Pats that was spared the wrecking ball from the demolition crew in

last second, dramatic fashion. And when we come back, we'll hear how that locker saving play, how it unfolded, how Pat's lasting legacy is memorialized in other ways as we continue with his encore presentation of Cardinals Folk Tales Legendary Locker on the Big Red Rage, presented by santan Ford and Gilbert, we are santan Ford, and welcome back to our special encore presentation of Cardinals Folk Tales Legendary Locker. Here on the Big Red Rage, presented by santan Ford

and Gilbert. We are santan Ford. On Paul Calvi scene. If you go to State Farm Stadium, you'll see the Pat Alman's statue. There's Pat Tilman's name and number in the ring of honor. At Cardinal's headquarters, there's Pat's locker. And that's what we're talking about here tonight, the legendary locker. And last we left you here during Cardinal's Folk Tales, Pat Tilman was making that selfless decision to leave football and a multimillion dollar contract behind to serve his country.

As we know, Pat lost his life in action while serving with the Army Rangers in Afghanistan and not only hit all of us in Arizona hornor a lot of us vividly remember that April morning, but our nation mourned as well, and we pick up the story of how Pat's legendary locker still stands today with a salute from Tom Cruise at the SP's The news came out of Afghanistan that an athlete turned soldier was gone. And when we heard the news on that April day, it stopped

us all in a long and profound silence. And we all know why, because Pat Tillman was a transcendent figure in the life of this nation. Word of Pat Tillman's death came out early on the morning of April twenty second, two thousand and four. Fans created memorials at the Cardinals facility and in Pat's hometown of San Jose. I remember waiting a line at Sundeville Stadium to pay respects at

an impromptu memorial. The news hit with the ferocity of a Tillman tackle, and it struck owner of Michael Bidwell and fullback Larry Centers the same way. It was a I mean it was a gut punch. It was a kick to the stomach, and I remember I was. I was standing in my closet that day, getting ready for work and to head into the office, and my phone rang. You know, it sent shivers down my spine and we realized it's gonna be shocking news to everybody. Was in

Dallas on a golf course. I was playing with a couple of guys who played in the NFL, and one of them got a call or text and said, hey, man, Pat's him and just died in Afghanistan. It was a jaw dropping moment. I remember exactly where I was, like, I'm sure a lot of the teammates can tell you

exactly what they were when they heard the news. As news traveled through the Cardinals facility, he'd reached the locker room a long time trainer, John o'mahondrom It weighed on us, impacted us a lot, and the thoughts started going through my mind a way that we could memorialize him or remember him in some fashion. In the training room, I went down to pr ask him to give me a photo of Pat. I took it and had it framed,

put it up over the tape table. So every day everybody that came in got overseen by Pat, and guys would get up on the table able to get taped and they could maybe this past thought on trying to live up to his standards of toughness and dedication, being a warrior, just all things that Pat was. The Tillman Player photo that John o'mahundro referenced, well, if you walk into the training room today, that frame picture sits in this same exact spot, just like it did days after

Pat's death. I think there's a wow factor to it. I take, for instance, J. J. Watt when he signed with the Cardinals, he took a picture in front of it. It means something to him. He's very familiar with the story. He's involved at the Pat Tilman Foundation. I've obviously long been a fan of Pat Tilman. What he stood for, who he was, and everything about his legacy is unbelievable to me. So to be here, to be walking the same hall as that he walked and to see his

locker was special for me. It made me feel good to see him, the guy of his level, standing in front of that and it means something to him. That's the voice of Jim o'mohandro, long time Cardinals broadcast producer more than two decades on the job, while his father, the aforementioned John o'mahondro, spent forty two seasons as a Cardinals athletic trainer. A couple of other long time Cards employees, Darren Urban and Dave Pash, give us the scattered report.

I would paint Jim o'mohandro in this way. He works for the team, but I feel like in a lot of ways, Cardinals DNA is literally in him. So I've been around the Cardinals my entire life. My dad was an athletic trainer for the team for forty two seasons. I like to say I was negative nine when he started with the team, and I was literally born into this organization. I couldn't imagine it any other way. Cardinal

football means so much to him. Outside of the Bidwells who grew up with Cardinal football, I can't think of anybody who has a closer connection than the Bidwell family than the old Hundro family because of the time and the energy that's been spent rooting for the team. So when people ask how exactly did the Tilman locker end up encased in glass when every other locker is no moss? Well glad, yes, because remember earlier the story that we

thought we knew but didn't. Well, here we go twenty fifteen. The Cardinals locker room. It's a hard hat area, not your typical football helmets, but construction workers. It's a day after the Super Bowl, kind of slow around the facility. So I come over here to Oreganos just to get a normal lunch. So I order a slice and a salad, and I'm waiting for the food. So I'm scrolling through Twitter. I see a tweet by Darren Urban that alerts me to the renovation starting at our Tempi facility. So I

freak out. There's a photo with a destroyed locker on the ground. So I had ordered my lunch, it hadn't come yet, and I'm like, I gotta get out of here. So I throw twenty dollars down onto the table and I'm out of there. I just run to my car, drive down, get to the facility, run through the parking lot, run through the auditorium, the weight room, the training room, step into the locker room. The carpet is all torn up. The glue from the carpet is there, and it rips

my shoe off my foot. So I'm hopping around the corner to see two lockers on one wall and about four lockers on the other. There's a guy with a saw walking directly for Pat Tillman's locker. I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, don't cut that one out. That's Pat Tillman's locker. So that's what happened and prevented it from being destroyed. And that is quite a series of events. I mean, think of how Razor thin margin was one more stop like around so or almost stopping to unglue his shoe, and

that Silman locker would have been turned into lumber. That caught the attention of Cardinal's owner. Michael found out an hour after it happened that Jim on the Hunter was walking through and said, wait, don't touch that. And so we're like, okay, we don't know what to do with it right now, but we're going to do something. And then because we were doing a renovation of the building, we looked for an area where we could put it, and the designers found what I think is a perfect

entry area right outside the locker room. So it's it's a perfect area, and it's really a landmark within our building and serves as an important reminder for his sacrifice but also his spirit. Everybody who goes out to the practice field, they walk by it. Everyone who comes in from the practice field, they walk by it. And if you look at the old foot front of the locker room, it's literally on the other side of the wall, kind of diagonal from where it was, and I think that's

pretty cool. It's kind of hallowed ground in a way. Remember it'd been over a dozen years since Pat had left his locker, so over those years, a number of other players use that locker. Pat's final year in the locker room was two thousand and one, so every year after that I would kind of look to see who had that locker, and I'd make it a point to go up to him and say, Hey, you know who's locker you are sitting in, And they're like, who said Pat Tillman. Some of them looked at me like I

was nuts, Like what this is Pat's locker? You know? Someone that come to mind. Gabe Watson, former defensive tackle oh Majandro, told me you shared the same locker that Pat Tillman hand. I'm like, are you serious? You know you hearing the stories behind him, and it's only a few people that can say I shared the same locker. It's just honored to just be in any company with them.

John Fullington was a reserve offensive lineman who was the final occupant of Pat's locker, and he was genuinely touched. I told him, and he was just like, I'm honored. If he didn't know what to say. So, you know, you see guys that maybe have that locker, then you see guys that in future years will walk past that locker and you kind of get the idea of what

they might feel about it. You know, the first time you see Pat's locker on displaying, and as someone who sees it on a daily basis now, it is a heck of a first impression that makes for a lasting impression. Here's BPM meter relations Mark Dalton, followed by former cardinals Larry Centers and Anthony Edwards. When you get to that spot,

it's almost a universal reaction. People just stop and conversation ceases and they just take it in and there's like a solemn moment of reflection, which is really cool keeping his legacy alive. I think that's a big step in the right direction. You know, the generations go on and the people the players come and the players go. But to see him immortalize in that way and appreciated by the organization, I think that's a really good by the team.

It's a reminder as a player that's leaving out of the locker room going to the practice field, here's someone was dedicated, committed to excellence and whatever he did, let us do the same thing and take it to the field today and be out very best. So it comes as a reminder I was driving for excellence. Each time a guy walks by, they're gonna see Pat and as locker there and remember, you know, hey, you could be

having a crappy day. You could be complaining about little things, and then you see that and you check yourself a little bit. Say, Okay, there's thousands upon thousands of men and women all over the world serving our country, and you know they can't afford to have a bad day. We can afford to have a bad day. So you've

got it pretty good. In the NFL, everyone is looking for impact players in Cardinals team history, and that is going back more than a century, not a single player on the field and off combined is at a bigger impact than Pat Tillman. Pat Tillman was all about team and if you can walk past that and not get something inside of you turning, we got some issues. Go back to the whole idea of you know, it's not what you say in life, it's what you do. And we can all talk, but ultimately it's what we do.

And I think the lasting legacy of Pat Tillman is this is someone who did, who believed in something and was willing to risk his life for it. It's voice of the Cardinals day pass preceded by former Cardinals linebacker Mark Maddox make an impact players today when they see Pat Tillman's locker, it says, challenge yourself to do as much with your life as Pat did in its twenty seven years. To me, that's what Pat's locker stands for, and that's why it still stands today for all to see.

To me, when they keep his locker alive and his legend alive there, it's telling the players to like, live your trueness, be who you are, and like, hey, you know, don't go against the grain just because you want to go against the grain. But if you have a feeling and it's a thought, and it's something you believe in, and if it's against the grain, do it and trust yourself,

because Pat was like that. And there you have it, Cardinals Folk Tales, legendary locker, the one locker that will never change name plates, the same locker where we used to witness Pat reclined between practices, taking a snooze to refresh for what was next. And that's just one tribute to Pat's greatness that seemingly everyone has a story. In fact, I'll share a quick one with you here. I knew a guy at Asu went to school with him, and he told me years later that he was Pat's next

door neighbor for a spell. One night he got home from work, he pulled into his driveway and he couldn't help a notice there's Pat on his roof. His buddy of mine gets out of his car. He's half stupefied and he yells out, hey, back, what are you doing on your roof? And Pat looked at him, just watching the sunset, dude, just watching the sunset. And that was Pat. He took nothing for granted, and he inspired others to do the same. But how do you convey that, how

do you pass that along? How do you honor that? Well, the Cardinals do just that every day by putting Pat's locker on display at their training facility. Thanks for joining us everyone on Paul calBC. This has been Cardinals Folk Tales Legendary Locker presented by seventy two soul. Thanks for listening. You know it's stories like that, and so many people have stories regarding Pat Tilman. That's how his legacy lives

on today. If you go to the Pat Tilman Foundation website and they state how Pat's life and principles and service, that's his true legacy. Pat's family and friends started the Pat Tilman Foundation to carry forward that legacy. If you go two days after his passing, it was the NFL Draft two thousand and four, and then Commissioner Paul Tagliboo wore a black ribbon with Tilman's name on it and

a helmet pin with his number forty. And there was Paul Tagliboo while flanked by five Marines and Madison Square Garden, and he told the audience quote, Pat Tillman personified the best values of Americans and the National Football League. And we know Pat's legacy is personified by Pat's Run, which is held annually in Tempe. And when we come back, we'll bring back and talk with someone who runs that race every year, our own Darren Urban, who covered Pat

Tillman during his playing career. As we continue with his encore presentation of Cardinals Folk Tales Legendary Locker here on the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford in Gilbert and welcome back to our encore presentation of Cardinals Folk Tales, which we have turned into this very special edition of the Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford and Gilbert.

We are Santanford, Paul CALVC, Darren Urban from ac Cardinals dot com and what we're designated as the fifty fourth locker, that locker just outside the Cardinals locker room, Darren, where the name plate will never change Pat Tillman, and it

was this close to demolition. We got that sense in that edition there are Cardinals Folk Tales legendary locker that you know what, if it wasn't for one Jim Omndro, our fine producer who was quick of foot and quick of mind, if it would have been one more stoplight, for example, as he raced back to the facility on that faithful day, it would not have been saved. But

there it is for all to see every single day. Well, I'm going to take a little bit of the credit here, okay, all, because I was the one who took the photo that was in the on the post that Olms saw that made him realize, oh, I better get back to the facility.

That's what it was. A two man game. You're right, But you know, I think I think it's so incredibly awesome to see that locker every day, to see how they've preserved it, to see players pass it, and JJ Way upon his first visit to the facility, it stopped him in his try As there's been a couple of players not always the name of JJ Watt, I mean, Dennis Gardick. It maanned something to him when he first saw it. There was a linebacker and his name escapes

me right now. He was an undrafted rookie, did not make it through training camp, but he was a huge admirer of Pat Tillman, and I remember doing a story about him, and he had read a Tilman book after Tilman's death and it was very important for him to be in a in a locker room where this locker existed. So I mean, I do think it has an impact even as we get past these years, Paul. I mean, we're getting to the point now where most of the players that come into the league were too young to

remember Pat Tillman or him dying. I mean, they're certainly, you know, two thousand and four was when they were in diapers at best. And you know what, and that's when you explained to him who Pat Tilman was and the legacy and for everything that Pat Tilman was to all of us those who covered him. And I think anybody who's been a long time resident of Arizona, you have a poignant memory at the very least, if not

a story. I know, the first and only jersey I've ever purchased for my son was a Pat Tillman jersey and it will be the only one I purchased for him. And it's it is that legacy that if nothing else, it's to challenge yourself, think for yourself, speak for yourself, Just get the most out of yourself. Can you ever begin to get enough out of your life that pack out out of his twenty seven years. To me, that's

what that locker says to every incoming Cardinals player. I mean, the best part about the locker, and really to me about Pat's legacy is it can mean so many different

things to so many different people. I mean, whether it's you know, getting the most out of your life, as you were saying, Paul, even if it's something as relatively basic as you know, you might be a long shot to be on this team, but it can happen because Pat Tillman was somebody who did that, you know, a seventh pick that probably overachieved a little bit in terms of doing what he did in the NFL. So I think it can represent a lot of things to a

lot of people. Dave McGinnis told a story recently former Cardinals defensive coordinator and head coach, that when he first met Pat Tillman, Pat pulled him aside and said, look, I know why you drafted me. I'm a local kid. You're trying to get some fans in the stands. You probably think I have no shot other than special teams. He said, just give me a shot. I can be a darn good defensive player for you and Dave McGinnis said he never forgot that he gave a shot in

training camp. We all know not only did he make the team, he started ten of sixteen games his rookie year, Pat Tillman, and so you know, but once again football did not define Pat Tillman, and he went on to serve his country, become an American hero. And now that legacy is encased in that locker for all to see outside the Cardinals locker room. And it was great to revisit that addition to Cardinals Folk Tales and we're just getting starter. We're gonna do it each of the next

two weeks as well. Special thanks to our Jim Almahandro not only for tonight on The Big Red Rage, but as the fine producer of the Cardinals Folk Tales podcast series, Cody Fincher, Thank you. Special thanks to Darren Irman of Paul KALBCI. This has been The Big Red Rage presented by santan Ford in Gilbert. Number one. Kil You've been listening to The Big Red Rage presented by Santanford in Gilbert?

Are you Santanford State Farm talk to an Agent today at eight hundred State Farm and by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts visit Acy cardinals dot com slash podcasts. This has been an exclusive presentation of the Arizona Cardinals football Club