It was 20 years ago, on April 22, 2004, that Tillman was killed at age 27 by friendly fire in a firefight in Spera, Afghanistan, as part of the U.S. Army Second Ranger Battalion.
"I don't look at that as defying what I said," his Leland High football coach said of one line-stepping interaction with Tillman. "I look at it as his approach to the way he lived his life and the way he played the game."
Sports fans saw Braylon Noble shine on the football field, basketball court, and track this year. Behind the scenes, he was crushing it in the classroom. The Soquel High senior was named the 2023-24 Central Coast Section Male Scholar-Athletes of the Year.
"I don't look at that as defying what I said," his Leland High football coach said of one line-stepping interaction with Tillman. "I look at it as his approach to the way he lived his life and the way he played the game."