From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman Jr.(November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American football player who left his professional career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. He joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan. The Army at first reported that Tillman had been killed by enemy fire, and Lieutenant General Stanley A. McChrystal approved the award of a Silver Star. The actual cause of Tillman's death was later revealed to be from friendly fire. Description above from the Wikipedia article  Pat Tillman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.