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| Tillman death rekindles memories of Kalsu |
| 2004-04-26 |
| The death of former NFL player Pat Tillman on Thursday in Afghanistan marked the first fatality of a pro football player in combat since Buffalo Bills guard Bob Kalsu was killed in 1970. Tillman and Kalsu shared a common bond in serving their country: Neither was forced to go to the front lines. Tillman turned down a three-year, $3.6 million contract offer to join the Army in 2001. Kalsu was called to active duty after his rookie season with the Bills in 1968. He very likely could have opted for reserve service in the United States. Most other draftable pro athletes elected to serve in the reserves, and friends of Kalsu urged him to seek the Bills’ help in finding a slot in the reserves. Kalsu refused, telling them, "I’m no better than anyone else." In fact, only seven active pro athletes served in Vietnam: six football players and a bowler. Kalsu was a first lieutenant in the Army when he was killed by mortar fire while defending Ripcord Base on an isolated jungle mountaintop near Vietnam’s A Shau Valley. The date was July 21, 1970. He was the only professional athlete killed while serving in Vietnam. Billy Shaw, one of the Bills’ six Pro Football Hall of Famers, played with Kalsu and was moved by the news Friday of Tillman’s death. "What a tremendous character makeup both of these individuals had to put their careers on hold to defend our country," Shaw said from his home in Georgia. "It makes me proud to be an NFL alumnus and an American to know that someone that is in our fraternity would sacrifice some or all of his career for us to enjoy our way of life in this country. They are the real Hall of Famers." Kalsu was a native of Oklahoma City and was an All-American tackle at Oklahoma. He served in the Reserve Officer Training Corps in college. Kalsu was an eighth-round pick of Buffalo in 1968. He started nine games that season and was voted the team’s top rookie. "What I remember most about Bob was he was a very, very smart kid and he was a happy kid; he always had a smile on his face," said former Bills trainer Ed Abramoski. "I remember the coaches saying if he made a mistake, he wasn’t going to make the same one twice." Kalsu was survived by his wife and two children, the second of which (Bob Kalsu Jr.) was born two days after Kalsu died in Vietnam. Kalsu’s name was inducted onto the Bills’ Wall of Fame in 2000, and his memory has been honored numerous times since. A community building at Fort Sill in Lawton, Okla., bears his name. So does Amvets Post 61 in Hamburg. The Jim Thorpe Association, a charitable group with ties to college football, hands out a patriotism award in his name. The replacement company at Fort Campbell in Kentucky became the 1st Lt. James Robert Kalsu Replacement Company. Part of that unit is serving in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Super Hose |