Ex-NFL Player Pat Tillman Killed in Afghanistan

[Topper Harley]

Company to return jersey to family

The back room in an office in Arlington, Texas, is the place where game-used jerseys are momentarily stored until they're brought to the cutting room. The jerseys are then diced and sliced into little squares that are attached to Donruss cards.


In the past three years, more than 20,000 jerseys have left the room ... and yet Pat Tillman's Arizona Cardinals jersey, one that arrived in the room shortly after the 2000 season, never made it out.


Monday, it was found lying in the very same place where a company official put it more than three years ago.


\"We cut up 4,000 jerseys every four months,\" said Bill Dully, president and chief operating officer of Donruss. \"For a jersey to still be there for that period of time is nearly impossible.\"


In fact, it's almost impossible to find a Tillman game-used jersey anywhere. Dully believes no more than six of them exist.


Just one could sell at auction for at least $25,000, and if inserted into packs as a lure to collectors, the Tillman game-used cards could lead to as much as $4 million in incremental sales over a three-year period, according to Dully.


Instead, as a tribute to what Tillman stood for, company officials decided Monday to donate the jersey to his family.