TILLMAN FOUNDATION PLANNING ITS GOALS

July 21, 2004
By Mark Emmons
Mercury News

Alex Garwood is opening boxes that have been neatly stacked in his Los Gatos garage. He carefully pulls out a medal here, a letter there.

He holds a Purple Heart -- one of 12 they've received. There's a football signed by kids from a reform school. Framed poems. American flags. Someone's combat boots. Heartfelt condolences.

Garwood doesn't need a reminder about the impact his brother-in-law Pat Tillman had on people. But the boxes are an example of why the family has created the Pat Tillman Foundation, an organization they hope will carry on the legacy of the NFL star turned Army Ranger who was killed in Afghanistan in April.

"The really damnable part of Pat's death is that we don't get to see the next chapter of his life," Garwood said. "He would have done something great. But we just don't know what it would have been."

This is a Silicon Valley garage start-up of a different kind. It has humble beginnings. Garwood, who left his sales job at Brocade Communications to become the foundation's unpaid executive director, has a makeshift office in a laundry room.

Yet they also are marketing -- for lack of a better word -- the most iconic sports figure of this generation.

Tillman, a Leland High School graduate, was a Renaissance man; a scholar-athlete who became a soldier-warrior. He walked away from an NFL career without a word when he and younger brother Kevin joined the Army after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He was 27 when he was killed April 22 in a firefight that later was determined to be a tragic case of friendly fire. Tillman's death was a thunderclap that created an outpouring of emotion from around the country.

It also drew checks.

"People told us from the get-go that we had to get a foundation set up because we would start getting checks," said Garwood, 32, whose wife, Christine, is the older sister of Tillman's widow, Marie.

He declines to say just how much has been given so far. But more than 500 donations have been made. The biggest check was for $10,000.

The smallest?

"Here's one for $4.47," he said, reading from a printout. "When you see a check like that, you assume it's a kid who broke his piggy bank."

Tributes for Tillman have included the Arizona Cardinals naming a plaza outside their new stadium in his honor, and the Pacific-10 Conference renaming its defensive player of the year award after him. But the family wants to create something that helps people.

The board, which includes Marie and Kevin, is still formulating its long-term goals. For now, it's setting up an education program where speakers -- likely athletes -- will visit schools with the goal of inspiring them to make positive changes in the world.

"Maybe something like scholarships will be an option," Garwood said. "But we want to do more. We want to give people tools to make the world a better place as opposed to just giving handouts."

The Tillmans consistently have declined interview requests. Garwood said the family continues to wrestle with grief and adds that he marvels at Marie's strength.

"I know I'm still in denial," he said.

Garwood has a thick folder containing pitches for books, movies and TV interviews on Tillman. The letterhead of one is from Dreamworks studio. There's even an offer from NASCAR. All received polite form-letter rejections.

"You think maybe selling the rights for Pat's story to somebody like Steven Spielberg for a movie with a star like Brad Pitt wouldn't help the foundation?" he asked. "Sure. Is it the right thing to do? No. We won't ever do something like that."

Don't expect to see Pat Tillman bobbleheads, either. But Garwood hopes the foundation will be able to sell Tillman's Cardinals and Arizona State Sun Devils jerseys.

They've filed for charitable organization status and have a consultant helping them get started. One goal is to have a place where they can display items sent to them.

"They're not going to gather dust here," Garwood said.