Daily Diary: The Story Behind William’s Patrick Tillman #40 Jersey

When I was pregnant back in 2004, I knew (if “it” was a boy) that his name would be William, after my maternal grandfather.  I had always LOVED the name and I prayed to my grandfather throughout my pregnancy with William to keep an eye on us. 🙂

It was just his middle name we were stuck on.

We wanted something meaningful and strong, and we literally went back and forth on so many different names for weeks.

Right around this time back in 2004 the story of Patrick Tillman was very public.  He was the NFL football player who left the team for a higher calling and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. He joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Patrick Tillman’s story really struck Matt and I.  We couldn’t get over how much he truly exemplified a true American Hero… through and through.  We knew that we wanted to somehow bring a piece of this truly incredible man and his story to our baby-by-to-be… so we decided to make “Tillman” William’s middle name.

Our William Tillman McClelland.

Strong name.  Perfect name, with great meaning.

One of my dear friend’s Susan Cross had always taken a photo of her son in a man’s dress shirt from the time he turned 1, and on every single birthday.  She said that someday he would grow into the shirt and she would have the series of photos throughout his life to show him.

I LOVED that idea, so we decided to do that with William, but in a Patrick Tillman #40 jersey.

This was William’s 1st birthday…

And we have done it every year.

This is William last night on his 8th birthday…

It’s a tradition that I’m so proud to do with my son. We don’t know the Tillman family, and I’ve never reached out to them to let them know what we have been doing for the last 8 years… but their son’s legacy is living on through a child that they don’t even know. It’s pretty incredible to hear our own William explain to someone how his name came to be, it’s very special to hear. He’s old enough to understand.

This Patrick Tillman jersey will be hung in William’s closet throughout his life… and I love that someday, yes… someday it will fit him perfectly. 🙂