A good life lost; a good friend remembered: Pat Tillman (1976-2004).(Obituary)

Former Cardinals head coach Dave McGinnis shares his thoughts on onetime Cardinals safety Pat Tillman, who was killed in action in Afghanistan last week McGinnis is now the linebackers coach for the Titans.

I remember vividly the day Pat Tillman came into my office two years ago and said, "Mac, we need to talk." He had decided to forgo his football career and enlist as a U.S. Army Ranger. He was ready to walk away from a three-year, $3.6 million football contract because he felt a greater sense of need somewhere else at that moment in his life.

I didn't question it--I could sense his conviction. Pat never made rash decisions. He had a very clear vision of what he wanted to do and why he wanted to do it. The essence of the words honesty, integrity, dignity and commitment did not just float around Pat. That's how he lived his life.

Before the 1998 draft, when I was the Cardinals' defensive coordinator and Larry Marmie was the secondary coach, we went over to Arizona State to work out Pat. We felt he might be able to make the move from linebacker in college to safety in our league. What was intended to be a 15-minute workout turned into 45 minutes because Pat Tillman would not let us stop the drills until he had executed every one of them perfectly.

He evolved from college walk-on to Pac-10 defensive player of the year; from a seventh-round draft pick to an upper-echelon special teams player to a starting safety in the NFL.

During his rookie season, we put in a special defensive package designed around Pat that we ...