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spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "The death of Pat Tillman was a shock to Americans, but his decision to give up an NFL career in order to serve his country was also highly unexpected. In these days of multi-million-dollar contracts, that type of selflessness doesn't happen much.But in past years, it occurred quite often. Many from the world of sports have answered the call to arms. The military newspaper \"Stars and Stripes\" estimated that over 800 sports stars at both the college and pro level were killed during World War II alone.
In recognition of Veterans Day, here are 10 sports stars who distinguished themselves in service to their country. Although their exploits are commendable and heroic, they are listed here in no particular order. And they are not meant to be mentioned because their service was more important than anyone else's. The following people were the types who probably would have shunned attention anyway. These are just 10 from the ranks of athletes with interesting backgrounds who served and made a difference.
Lots of others could also be mentioned, including Ted Williams, Yogi Berra, Gil Hodges, Gene Tunney, Bill Veeck, Bum Phillips, Art Donovan, Charley Conerly, Ernie Nevers, Charley Paddock, Buck O’Neil, Lloyd Merriman, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Bauer, Angelo Bertelli, Chuck Behan, Tony Lema, Joe Louis and many more.
But the following sampling of courageous veterans will serve as a reminder of the many who sacrificed for their country:";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Jerry Coleman","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
He is probably best known by recent generations as the longtime play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres with a penchant for malapropism and the catchphrase, \"Oh, Doctor!\"
But Coleman also was a former Rookie of the Year and two-time World Series MVP as a Yankees’ second baseman. He interrupted his playing career twice for stints as a Marine pilot, in World War II and Korea. On one mission over Korea, he crash-landed with a full bomb load and was almost strangled by his own helmet straps as the plane flipped over.
He flew 120 missions, received two distinguished flying crosses, 13 Air Medals and three Navy citations.
Said Coleman in a 2000 interview: \"The most important thing in my life was not what I did in baseball, but what I did in the service of the Marines in five years and two wars. I still consider that the most important part of my life.\"";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Bob Feller","","http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/060503/pitcherApp/pitcherApp_BobFeller.vsmall.jpg","","", "", "", "", "", "left", "Mlb Photos", "MLB Photos via Getty Images", "198", "133", "#000000", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
At the peak of his pitching career, \"Rapid Robert\" Feller enlisted in the Navy two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
\"I didn’t have to go,\" he recalled much later. \"My father was dying of cancer and I was my family’s sole means of support. But I thought that any red-blooded American would do what needed to be done. We were losing big; we were getting the hell kicked out of us in Europe, and were hurt pretty bad over in Pearl Harbor. We needed to step up.\"
Feller missed almost four seasons. He served mostly on the U.S.S. Alabama as an anti-aircraft gunner and earned eight battle stars. When he returned to baseball for the Cleveland Indians in 1946, many thought he would never regain his form. But in ’46 he pitched an incredible 36 complete games in 42 starts and led the American League in victories, shutouts, strikeouts, games pitched and innings.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Warren Spahn","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
The former Boston and Milwaukee Braves pitcher was the only one of Major League Baseball's representatives in World War II to earn a battlefield commission. He served in the Army and was wounded by shrapnel, earning the Purple Heart as well as the Bronze Star for bravery. Spahn participated in some of the most crucial battles of the war, including the Battle of the Bulge and the bridge at Remagen.
He won 363 games =– making him the winningest left-hander in history -- even though he missed almost four seasons because of his military duties.
Spahn said later: \"After what I went through overseas, I never thought of anything I was told to do in baseball as hard work. You get over a feeling like that when you spend days on end sleeping in frozen tank tracks in enemy-threatened territory. The Army taught me something about challenges and about what’s important and what isn’t.\"";
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spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
He never said much about his decision to leave a lucrative NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals, turning down a three-year, $3.6 million contract, to join the Army and train to become an elite Army Ranger shortly after Sept. 11. But that’s the kind of guy he was. He didn’t do it for attention, he did it because he felt it was his duty.
Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Center, Tillman told NBC News: \"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.\"
Tillman joined the Army along with his brother Kevin. They declined interview requests and said they wanted no special treatment. Pat was killed on April 22, 2004, in Afghanistan in a friendly fire incident. He was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.
Before Pat, the last pro football player to die in combat was Bob Kalsu, an offensive tackle for the Buffalo Bills who was killed by mortar fire in Vietnam.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Johnny Petraglia","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
A champion bowler who won his first PBA title when he was 19, Petraglia was called to duty in Vietnam in 1967 during the Tet Offensive. He served in the Army, losing several friends in battle, and watched as others came home as amputees.
Said Petraglia upon looking back: \"In terms of my career, (Vietnam) helped me put things in perspective. If I need to throw a clutch strike on TV to win, I tell myself that this isn’t tough. Tough is going through the war experience.\"
Upon his return, he would go on to win the Tournament of Champions, the U.S. Open and the PBA National Championship, making him only the second to capture the Triple Crown of bowling. He continued to serve after his Army tenure as a volunteer with Bowlers to Veterans Link (BVL), an organization that teaches bowling to veterans receiving care in V.A. hospitals.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Hank Greenberg","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
\"Hammerin’ Hank,\" who hit 58 home runs in 1938 and was the American League MVP in 1940, had two great excuses to skip the military and continue his baseball career. He was originally classified by the draft board as \"4F\" for having flat feet, but somehow argued his way to be re-examined and was finally approved, becoming the first baseball star drafted to serve in World War II. Then he was honorably discharged when Congress released those 28 and older from service.
But Greenberg got his release Dec. 5, 1941, two days before Pearl Harbor. He quickly enlisted in another branch of service, the Army Air Corp, giving up his $55,000 annual salary for $21 per month military pay. He graduated from officer candidate school and rose to the rank of captain, commanding a B-29 bomber squadron in the Pacific Theater.
The first Jewish baseball star, he is only one of two Jewish players along with Sandy Koufax in the Hall of Fame.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Nile Kinnick","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
He was a star halfback at the University of Iowa and won the Heisman Trophy in 1939. He declined offers to play pro football and instead entered law school. But he left after one year to enlist in the Naval Air Reserve.
Kinnick wrote of his decision: \"There is no reason in the world why we shouldn’t fight for the preservation of a chance to live freely, no reason why we shouldn’t suffer to uphold that which we want to endure.\"
Kinnick was called to active duty just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1943 he was on a routine training flight off the coast of Venezuela when his plane’s engine developed an oil leak and it went down. Although the plane was located much later, in 1996, his body was never found.
For many years Iowa wanted to rename its stadium after him but his father resisted, feeling it was wrong to single out one brave American from so many who died in the war, including Nile’s brother Ben. But in 1972 he relented and the field was called Kinnick Stadium.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Jack Lummus","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
A star in both football and track at Baylor, Lummus signed with the New York Giants as an end in 1941. After his rookie season, he joined the Marines, went through Officers Training School and was commissioned as a lieutenant.
Lummus was on the first wave of troops that landed on Iwo Jima on Feb. 19, 1945. For two weeks he helped fight the Japanese. On March 8, 1945, he single-handedly knocked out two Japanese gun emplacements, but then was mortally wounded when he stepped on a land mine.
Lummus is reported to have said to a battlefield surgeon: \"Well, doc, the New York Giants lost a mighty good end today.\"
He died on the operating table at a field hospital. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman.";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Barney Ross","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
The first fighter to hold both the lightweight and welterweight titles simultaneously, Ross joined the Marines in 1942 at the age of 32. The Marines originally wanted to keep him in the States to teach boxing to trainees, but Ross resisted and wanted action. He eventually was sent to Guadacanal.
In one battle, he and three fellow Marines were isolated and pinned down by the enemy. The other three were wounded and two died on the battlefield. But Ross fought back, shooting over 400 bullets and tossing more than 20 grenades, killing 22 of the enemy. Then the 140-pound Ross carried his 230-pound wounded comrade on his back to safety. He was later awarded the Silver Star.
During his stay in a military hospital afterward, he developed an addiction to morphine, but later beat the habit and gave lectures to young people on the dangers of drugs.
Ross' experiences were chronicled in the 1957 film, \"Monkey On My Back.\"";
spt_1109_veteransday[i++] = new Array("","Eddie LeBaron","","","","", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "");
spt_1109_veteransday[i-1].body = "
At 5-foot-7, he was notable for being the shortest quarterback ever elected to the Pro Bowl. He was an All-America from the University of the Pacific and later played for the Redskins and Cowboys as well as in the Canadian league.
But before that, LeBaron earned the nickname the \"Littlest General\" because of his service as a Marine officer in Korea. He spent nine months there, much of it in front-line combat, and was wounded twice. During the battle known as Heartbreak Ridge, he endured heavy fire to contact the forward observation post of a mortar platoon. He then took over the leadership of an assaulting rifle platoon when it lost its commander.
For his efforts he was awarded the Bronze Star."; // END editorial data