{"id":408557,"date":"2026-07-22T22:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408557\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T22:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T22:08:08","slug":"house-passes-bill-to-rename-san-jose-va-clinic-after-late-nfl-star-veteran-pat-tillman-the-mercury-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/408557\/","title":{"rendered":"House passes bill to rename San Jose VA clinic after late NFL star, veteran Pat Tillman \u2013 The Mercury News"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Jose Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic may be renamed in honor of Bay Area native Pat Tillman \u2014 a former NFL player<\/a> and U.S. Army veteran who died while serving in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The House of Representatives has passed a bill to rename the clinic in South San Jose\u2019s Silver Creek area to the Corporal Patrick D. Tillman VA Clinic. Monterey Bay lawmaker Jimmy Panetta \u2013 who represents parts of Santa Clara County \u2013 and Southern California Rep. Ken Calvert spearheaded the pending legislation.<\/p>\n

Tillman, a Bay Area native from South San Jose, was a starting safety for the Arizona Cardinals, and played for four seasons before walking\u00a0away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract<\/a> to enlist in the U.S. Army following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was killed in action in southeastern Afghanistan in 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cRenaming the San Jose VA clinic after Corporal Pat Tillman is about carrying on his legacy of patriotism and passion, as well as the progress we must make as a nation,\u201d Panetta said on the house floor earlier this month . \u201cTillman\u2019s service, his ultimate sacrifice, and commitment to our country embodies the very spirit of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

He and his younger brother, Kevin, joined the army together, both serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment.<\/p>\n

Following his death, his family established the Pat Tillman Foundation, which provides college scholarships to military veterans, current service members, and their spouses. The organization hosts \u201cPat\u2019s Run,\u201d an annual 4.2-mile race in Tempe, Arizona, that draws tens of thousands of participants each spring.<\/p>\n

VA clinics provide outpatient medical and mental health services to eligible veterans and are the primary contact point for veterans\u2019 health needs apart from VA hospitals.<\/p>\n

Panetta said every member of California\u2019s congressional delegation co-sponsored the bill, while Sen. Adam Schiff has introduced companion legislation in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat did nothing half-baked, did everything with a full heart, and represented the very best of our country in academics, athletics, and in service to the United States of America,\u201d Panetta said. \u201cIn this day of division and dysfunction, we must always be reminded of the service and sacrifice for our great nation that Corporal Tillman exemplified.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of three brothers, Tillman was born in Fremont but grew up in San Jose\u2019s Almaden Valley. The stadium at Leland High School, his alma mater, now bears his name.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat Tillman answered the call of his country in the wake of September 11th, exchanging his Arizona Cardinals uniform for an Army Ranger uniform,\u201d said Calvert. \u201cHis extraordinary sacrifice embodies the patriotism that inspires so many to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Jose Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic may be renamed in honor of Bay Area native Pat Tillman \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,400,1533,181,1703,2582,100,752,182,13,88,90,89,198,200,201,127,1649,513],"class_list":["post-408557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-bay-area","tag-california","tag-california-politics","tag-keywee","tag-latest-headlines","tag-military","tag-national-politics","tag-news","tag-nfl","tag-pm-report","tag-politics","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-santa-clara-county","tag-south-bay","tag-south-san-jose","tag-sports","tag-u-s-congress","tag-veterans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}