NFL star-turned-war hero Pat Tillman epitomizes Memorial Day

Those who knew him swear he could have been whatever he aspired to be, because he was among our best and brightest, and he believed that nothing could stand in his way from realizing whatever big dreams he dreamed.

Pat Tillman is one of the American heroes we must never forget on Memorial Day. He was the American hero who never fancied himself as one, who turned his back on NFL millions to carry the flag and the fight as an Army Ranger to the perpetrators of 9/11, first in Baghdad, then in Afghanistan, where he hunted Taliban and al Qaeda with even more Braveheart ferocity than he hunted ballcarriers, first at Arizona State, then for four seasons with the Cardinals.

He had been a seventh-round draft choice in 1998, supposedly too small at 5-foot-11, 195 pounds to be a linebacker and too slow to be a safety. He lived every day and played every play with passion, and an unremitting fury that often ignited fights in practice. He knew everything about the game plan. He wore flip flops and his hair long.

Sept. 11, 2001, changed everything for all of us … especially for Pat Tillman. He had been born with a raging curiosity, a relentless hunger for knowledge and discovery. He was an unfiltered daredevil whose fearlessness knew no bounds, who never met a challenge he didn’t welcome.

Dave McGinnis was the Cardinals head coach on 9/11.

“In the meeting rooms there, it’s divided offense and defense on either side of an auditorium and they’ve got huge glass windows,” McGinnis told The Post. “And on the defensive glass window the Arizona Republic, their whole back page, was an American flag.”

It was maybe 9/13.

“Pat had cut that American flag out,” McGinnis went on, “and he posted it on the meeting room of the defensive side of the building.”

This, from an ESPN SportsCentury clip, was Pat Tillman on 9/12:

“Times like this you stop and think about not only how good we have it, but what kind of a system we live under, what freedoms we’re allowed, and that wasn’t built overnight. My great-grandfather was at Pearl Harbor, and a lot of my family has gone and fought in wars, and I really haven’t done a damn thing, as far as laying myself on the line like that, and so I have a great deal of respect for those that have, and what the flag stands for.”

Tillman married his high school sweetheart, Marie, on May 4, 2002, and when he returned from his honeymoon, he informed McGinnis of his stunning career change, turning down a $9 million free-agent offer from Mike Martz and the Rams.

“He’s a historical figure because of his unselfish attitude, and giving up what most people believe is a dream of all dreams, to play in the NFL, to go fight for his country,” former Arizona State and Cardinals kindred spirit/teammate/quarterback Jake Plummer told The Post. “I think for him, it was he was fighting for his country, but it was something he was doing for his own inner peace and understanding.”

Tillman and his brother, Kevin, were stationed at Fort Lewis in Seattle before their deployment to Afghanistan, and McGinnis got them tickets to the Cardinals-Seahawks game. McGinnis asked Pat Tillman to talk to the team.

“It’s not about me,” Tillman told him. “I just want to watch the fellas play.”

Tillman did say goodbye to his old team in the postgame locker room, and hugged McGinnis.

“Coach Mac,” Tillman told him, “I love you. I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you too, Pat,” McGinnis said. And all these years later, McGinnis says sadly: “And that’s the last time I saw him.”

No one wanted to believe Pat Tillman had been ambushed and killed on April 22, 2004. If anyone could find Osama bin Laden, it would be Pat Tillman.

“I carry a letter in my briefcase still today that Pat sent to me from his boot camp,” former Cardinals defensive coordinator Larry Marmie told The Post. “Everybody loved Pat Tillman.”

“Pat Tillman was a very, very unique human being,” McGinnis said. “He was a Renaissance Man, he really was. He was as brilliant and as physically tough and as loyal as anybody you would ever want to be around. He was a man’s man, but at the same time, he appealed to all classes of people.”

He was a man of honor.

“No one human being,” says McGinnis, now a Titans radio analyst in his 35th NFL season, “has had more impact on my life than Pat Tillman.”

Tillman deserved better than the Army initially covering up the awful truth that he had been a victim of friendly fire.

“He was just a genuine badass human, you know?” Plummer said.

Plummer, wearing flip flops, delivered the eulogy.

“I hated doing that,” Plummer said. “Everyone wanted to paint him as this wicked, run-down-the-field-and-kill-ya warrior, and he was just so much more. So I had to speak about how I felt about him, the beauty of a person like him.”

Plummer to this day is motivated by Tillman’s memory.

“He’s gonna be remembered for hundreds of hundreds of years,” Plummer says. Hundreds and hundreds of Memorial Days.