‘Angrier and angrier’: Pat Tillman’s response to the news of the 9/11 attacks

By Mark Carlisle
Mail | X: @mwcarlisle

This week, Valley residents are gathering to remember the 9/11 attacks a quarter-century ago that took nearly 3,000 American lives and many more from health complications afterward.

For many Valley residents, the memories are still vivid.

Independent Newsmedia Opinions Associate Lee Shappell was sitting next to Pat Tillman when Tillman first heard the news of the attacks.

Shappell was also on a work trip to New York on Nov. 7, 2001. He walked to Ground Zero to see the wreckage. At dusk, flood lights illuminated the rubble in a way that gave it harsh, eerie glow. There was still some smoke coming off the wreckage nearly two months after the attacks as workers continued to sift through the debris.

The feeling was “unbelievably moving,” Shappell said.

It left him speechless. He had started to dial his wife’s number on his cell phone to talk about what he was looking at, but he had to stop.

“I couldn’t talk,” Shappell said.

Seeing the rubble of the World Trade Center was a completely different experience in person.

“To see that in person was just almost beyond comprehension. I’d seen it on TV, but to be standing right there was incredible,” Shappell said.

Ira Scott was an NYPD detective who responded to the Twin Towers on 9/11. He is now an Arizona resident and volunteer for the 100 Club of Arizona, a nonprofit that supports police and firefighters and their families.

He said the scene on Sept. 11, 2001, was also impossible to portray to someone who was not there.

“You can’t describe what you saw. The smell, the sounds, the dust — the dust was so thick that it was like being in a blizzard,” Scott said in a 100 Club video shared last month.

Pat Tillman’s reaction

Shappell was in Arizona on the day of the attacks, but his experience that day ended up being part of a story well-known to many Arizonans.

Shappell was sitting next to Pat Tillman when Tillman saw the news of the 9/11 attacks.

Shappell was the Arizona Cardinals beat reporter for another Valley newspaper at the time. He was in the media room of the team’s practice facility on an off day for the players, but Tillman was at the facility working out and had not yet heard the news. The Cardinals safety and former Arizona State star stopped by the media room for a quick hello to media and team staff, but stopped when he saw what was on the TV in the room.

“He sat down next to me,” Shappell said. “We’re watching it, and he’s like furious. He’s getting angrier and angrier the longer we watch it.”

Tillman said some epithets and hit the arm of his chair a few times. While everyone in the room was struck by the news, Tillman’s reaction was the most expressive, Shappell said, which was typical for Tillman.

Shappell described Tillman as a man of character and a “free spirit.” He once climbed a light pole at ASU just to hang out at the top for a while. Shappell wrote a story about Tillman riding his bicycle to Cardinals practice — not common among NFL players — and a local car dealer asked Shappell to put him in touch with Tillman to offer to fix him up with a car deal. Even after he got the car, Tillman still rode his bicycle to practice most days.

One summer, Shappell was taking his young son on a tour of the Cardinals practice facility. Tillman was working out there and told their tour guide he’d take it from there and continued as the family’s tour guide. He even let them into the locker room after checking to see that it was empty.

Tillman had a big personality and a big response to the 9/11 attacks watching them on the TV that day. He had a big response in the months and years to come, too.

The following spring in 2002, Tillman had a three-year, $3.6 million offer to stay with the Cardinals and a five-year, $9 million offer to go to the St. Louis Rams. He turned them both down and opted to join the Army Rangers instead.

Many across the country were shocked to see an NFL player turn down millions to go fight for his country. Knowing Tillman, Shappell wasn’t.

On the day Tillman came to the practice facility to say his goodbyes, Shappell ran out to catch Tillman loading up his car in the parking lot before he left. He told him that he respected what he was doing.

“Well thanks, I just hope I come home in one piece,” Tillman responded.

Shappell wasn’t surprised that Tillman decided to enlist. He also wasn’t surprised when, two years later, he heard the news that Tillman had died.

“Unfortunately, you almost expect that when you go into a war zone,” Shappell said.

It was upsetting news to receive, nonetheless. Shappell was driving when he heard the news. He drove to the end of Chandler Boulevard, stopped the car, looked at the Estrella Mountains and sobbed.

“We need more people like Pat, who are solid individuals, who care about the country, who follow through with action and who have the kind of character that is something to be proud of and emulated,” Shappell said.

At the time, Tillman was believed to be killed in combat. Later, it was revealed that he died in a friendly fire incident after Tillman’s portion of the platoon was mistakenly believed to be enemy combatants.

A triumphant return

During his 2001 trip to Ground Zero, Shappell thought it ironic to see the horrific scene next to street signs that said “Liberty” and “Church.”

He next returned to the site in 2019 to see the One World Trade Center building and the memorial in the footprint of the Twin Towers.

He saw the “Liberty” street sign in a new light. It wasn’t the feeling of revenge that many Americans sought in the aftermath of the attacks, but the feeling was “uplifting” and “triumphant.”

“They knocked us down, but they didn’t knock us out,” he said.

Voices Across Generations

The largest remembrance event this week in the city of Phoenix is scheduled for Thursday night at Memorial Hall at Steele Indian School Park. "Voices Across Generations" is planned to be a conversation between local youth and search and rescue members of Arizona Task Force 1 who responded to Ground Zero after 9/11.

Read more here.

City Councilmember Ann O’Brien organized the event.

“Our young people are asking thoughtful questions because they understand that remembering is not just about looking back. It’s about understanding who we were as a country in that moment, what brought us together, and how we can carry the values of service, sacrifice, and unity forward,” O’Brien stated in a news release.

Shappell said his message to those too young to remember the 9/11 attacks was first that people need to learn to work out their differences and second that you cannot take your liberty for granted.

“You may have to be willing to defend it, and it’s worth defending,” he said.

Biggest Tower Challenge yet

Glendale hosts the 9/11 Tower Challenge each year, where participants climb the 110 flights of stairs to emulate the climb New York City firefighters took during the World Trade Center attacks. It is normally at Desert Diamond Arena, but this year it will be at the much larger State Farm Stadium, home of the Cardinals.

Scott, the former NYPD detective who responded to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, said he thinks the tower climb is a nice way to honor what was done that day, replicating the climb that many first responders never came down from.

“Whenever it comes around to near 9/11, I feel guilty. Because I’m here. I’m not sick. I don’t know why,” Scott said in the 100 Club video.

Phoenix Fire Assistant Chief Reda Riddle-Bigler said doing the climb makes the rescue efforts on 9/11 feel real, like more than just a story.

“It has a visceral effect, gives you the goosebumps, makes you emotional and says, ‘I can get myself up these stairs. They did it,’” Riddle-Bigler said in the 100 Club video.

For Shappell, the anniversary of 9/11 is a reminder to be grateful to live in the United States.

“Warts and all, this is still the best country on earth. We’ve got issues, clearly, but name someplace else you’d rather be.”

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Mark Carlisle
Associate Editor | Phoenix

mcarlisle@iniusa.org

Meet Mark

Mark Carlisle joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, covering Glendale. He has since moved to the Daily Independent team, primarily covering the city of Phoenix along with other topics affecting the Valley at-large.

Community: Mark enjoys taking his two young sons to parks, the Phoenix Zoo, the Phoenix Public Library  and other fun events around the Valley. He also participates in a local book club.

Education: Chapman University with a BA in English Journalism and one in Screenwriting.

Random Fact: Mark worked at a tuxedo shop in college. Just don’t ask him to tie a bowtie.

 Hobbies: Spending time with his wife, sons and dog, watching sports and TV shows, listening to audiobooks and occasionally writing fiction or designing a board game.