Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
April 30, 2004, Washington Post

A Real Sports Hero

Lots of kids have posters of their favorite sports heroes on their bedroom walls. Allen Iverson. Mia Hamm. Tony Hawk. Sue Bird. Kevin Garnett. Derek Jeter. The list is long.

My guess is that no one has a Pat Tillman poster. Someone should, because Pat Tillman is a real sports hero.

Pat Tillman is the former Arizona Cardinals safety who set a team record for tackles during the 2000 season. Shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Tillman joined the U.S. Army to become a Ranger, one of the Army's most skilled infantry soldiers. He died last week serving his country in Afghanistan.

Everyone makes a big deal out of athletes. We think they are great and call them heroes without really thinking about it. We say that it takes "courage" to take a last-second shot or sink a pressure putt. But that's not really true.

What seems to be missing from this easy calculation is the idea of sacrifice. The idea that you would give up something you really treasure to make things a little better for others.

When you think of it, athletes usually get things, they don't give them up. Because they are bigger, faster and more skilled than the average Joe or Joan, athletes get attention and praise. People crowd around to see them kick a ball, swing a bat or run a race. And at the highest professional levels, athletes make money, lots of money.

As an athlete, Pat Tillman had reached that highest level. Still, Tillman turned down a $3.6 million professional football contract and all the glory and fun of playing a game that millions of people watch because he thought there were more important things to do with his life after 9/11 than to intercept passes and tackle people carrying a football. Last week, Tillman made the ultimate sacrifice. He died in an ambush in a dangerous, faraway country with the hope that people at home could live more safely.

Of course, soldiers are not the only heroes. Other people give up the chance to make more money and to have bigger, fancier cars and houses to help others. I am thinking about teachers who work with troubled kids in poor schools or doctors who perform medical research to find the cure for diseases. They are heroes, too.

Still, it is okay to have posters of your favorite sports stars on your walls. Plenty of athletes show admirable qualities when they play their games. Kevin Garnett is all hard work and hustle when he is on the hardwood. Mia Hamm has a wonderful sense of team play. And Derek Jeter is cool, oh so cool, under postseason pressure.

Just don't call them heroes. A hero is someone more than a person who can run or jump or shoot baskets. To me, a hero is someone who is willing to sacrifice something, maybe everything, to make things better.

Someone like Pat Tillman.