Tillman is the Cardinal player who gave up a multi-million dollar contract to join the army in 2001, and was killed in Afghanistan in 2004. <\/p>\n
Memory of Pat Tillman Lives On in Phoenix – NYTimes.com<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 The most visible Cardinal has been dead nearly five years. Pat Tillman<\/font><\/a>, the football player turned fallen soldier, is here, there and everywhere Arizona plays, the 2008 team embodying his selflessness and success against great odds.<\/p>\n Until this season, Tillman was the lone blossom on Arizona\u2019s blighted N.F.L.<\/font><\/a> franchise, filling the Phoenix community\u2019s collective heart with pride.<\/p>\n His No. 40 replica jersey \u2014 the top seller on the team Web site \u2014 hangs off the shoulders of grandmothers and bikers and businessmen who form a human ring of honor in the stands. Tillman is idolized by people who never saw him play. Journalists here are sizing him for a Super Bowl<\/font><\/a> ring.<\/p>\n Soldiers will watch the Cardinals play the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/font><\/a> on Sunday in Super Bowl XLIII from a U.S.O. center in Afghanistan that bears Tillman\u2019s name and was built with money donated by the N.F.L. in his memory.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d said the former quarterback Jake Plummer<\/font><\/a>, who was Tillman\u2019s college and Cardinals teammate and a close friend. \u201cBut in the grand scheme of things, it all kind of stinks because he\u2019s not around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n