The former Leland football star, who played for the South team in the Silicon Valley Youth Classic Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Football Game in the summer of 1994, went on to star as an outside linebacker at Arizona State University before becoming a member of the Arizona Cardinals in the National Football League.

That in itself, though, doesn't make Tillman unique—many former summer all-stars have gone to play in the NFL and a great many have gone on to play at the collegiate level. And when the 29th annual game is played on July 23, 7:30 p.m., at San José City College, there will no doubt be more future college and professional stars on the field.

But what makes Tillman's story unlike any other is that he quit the NFL last year to join the U.S. Army Ranger corps and is now serving in Iraq. What's more, he didn't do it alone. He was joined by his brother Kevin, who quit professional baseball to join the Rangers.

For their sacrifice, the Tillman brothers were presented with the Arthur Ashe Courage Award on the July 16 ESPY Awards telecast. On hand in Hollywood to accept the award was their younger brother, Richard, who played in the 1999 summer all-star game.

Tillman's story is indeed unique among all-star alumni. Others have gone on to play college and professional football, and some have likely gone on to the military. But none have done both—and certainly no former all-star has won an ESPY Award.

All-stars have, though, gone in interesting directions following participation in the summer classic.

Doug Cosbie of St. Francis and Don Schwartz of Mitty both played in the first game in 1974 and went on to stardom in the NFL. Millard Hampton of Silver Creek, who ran back a kickoff for a touchdown in that first game, won gold and silver medals in the Olympic Games. And Gary Lynn, who starred for the South team that first year, went on to play for Stanford University and is now a successful doctor in Los Gatos.

Jeff Toews of Del Mar, Rich Campbell of Santa Teresa, Greg Woodard of Silver Creek, Ben Bennett of Peterson, John Faylor Mitty, Erik Howard and Randy Kirk of Bellarmine, and Nathan Jackson of Pioneer are among the other former summer all-stars who advanced to the NFL ranks.

Marty Mornhinweg of Oak Grove was a summer 'star who went on to become the head coach of the Detroit Lions in the NFL.

Carl Monroe of Overfelt and John Tuggle of Independence went on to play in the NFL, but both died prematurely.

Gilroy's Jeff Garcia was a defensive back in the 1988 game because the South team had too many quarterbacks—he's now starring as the quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

Ken Caminiti of Leigh and Bill Haselman of Saratoga both played in the summer classic, but pursued baseball at the collegiate level. Both went on to because successful Major League Baseball players.

The 2003 all-stars will no doubt follow some interesting paths of their own, and that journey will begin when the players take the field for the 29th game on Wednesday night.

Among the local players set to play for the North team in the summer game are Jesse Enchill of Fremont and Will Faules, Garren Strong and Ramont Thomas of Homestead.

The game, sponsored by the Almaden Valley Rotary Club, is named for local legend Charlie Wedemeyer, the Los Gatos football coach stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 1977. His story of survival and personal struggle has been told many times, and he serves as an inspiration for his courageous battle with the disease.

Wedemeyer will return for the July 23 games and will greet the players as they take the field, just as he has for more than a decade. Proceeds from the game will go to Charlie Wedemeyer Family Outreach, a Christian nonprofit organization founded in 1993 to fight ALS.

Tickets for the July 23 all-star clash will be available at the San José City College box office on game night. For more information, contact the Almaden Valley Rotary Club at 408.268.7196 or visit www.youthclassic.org.

Former local stars who participated in the summer classic include:

Homestead

1975— Jim Caldwell; 1976— Jim Berglund; 1978— William Pence, Jerry Brooks, Dave Mariner; 1979— Daniel Cordova; 1980— Joe Walker; 1981— Todd Dal Porto, Dave Johnson, Mike Pestana; 1982— Matt Delenikos, Mike Marengo; 1983— Fred Lewis, Jeff Lamson; 1984— Chris Vanni; 1985— Paul Marcy, David Williams; 1986— Daryl Johnson, Scott Erickson; 1987— Ed Devlin; 1988— Jim-Jim Grimes, Paul Maytorena; 1989— Jeff Field, Chris Tiernan; 1990— David Vieiler, Eteka Huckaby, Craig Smalley; 1991— Tim Malatesta; 1992— Kevin Kumagai, Jason Hilker, Kenneth Crawford; 1993— Michael Kenney; 1994— Clint Tada, Terrell Jones, Andy Holland; 1995— Pete Holland, Jason Tenner; 1996— Jeremie Braun, Leo Fisher; 1997— Andrew Delgado, Ben Amiwero, Tony Elam, Bo Gerth, David Atchison, Mark Glennon; 1998— Chris Brooker, Matt Kenney; 1999— Trumaine Green, Ben Mika; 2000— Tony Kiel; 2002— Steven Nichols.

Fremont

1975— Rick Armer, Keith Burcham, David Geppert, Steve Brown, Kevin Johnson; 1978— Rainy Meszaros, Steve Zankich; 1979— Sander Markel, Greg Hooper, Greg Reiley, Mike Shriner; 1980— Phil Graham; 1981— Ramon Barron, Terry Theodore, Todd Barraclough; 1982— Mitch Mariani; 1983— Karl Castles, Doug Rothschild, Darrin Crawford, Vincent Brigman, Don Shearon; 1984— Ulysses Vee; 1985— Ricky Samuelu; 1986— Kini Tufono, Dan Savage; 1987— Brian Theodore, Frank Bellucci; 1988— Steve Savage, Phil Davis, Stephen Robinson; 1989— Rich Bellucci, Daryl Sadowski, Jeff Chinn, Tim Wadholm; 1990— George Ulukivaiola, Scott Savage; 1991— Willie Harper, Manvir Sandhu, Tom Mendoza; 1992— Greg Perry, Andy Walczak, Jason Simontacchi; 1993— Jabari Snowden, Jeff Neal; 1995— Dennis Truong; 1996— Tom Jimenez; 1997— Art Alegria; 1998— Tully Banta-Cain, Justin Stichter, Steven Leslie, Warren Rick; 2000— Leo Saenz; 2001— Jorge O'Connor; 2002— Nick Arnold, Esteban Carbajal.

Sunnyvale

1978— Tim Thompson, John Ane, Don Thompson; 1979— Bob Scheibley; 1980— Brian Schaeffer, George Fletcher.

Peterson

1975— Mike Nash; 1976— Bob Duran; 1978— James Lavery, Darren Nill; 1979— Scott Campbell, Steve Nill, Kelly Pollock, Arni Thorsteinsson; 1980— Ben Bennett, Mel Cozby, Bill McAfee, Ed Smith; 1981— Rodger Johnson.