-end potential. Busch has finished ninth or better in the pas

PHOENIX -- There are teachers, doctors, nurses and lawyers.They are a diverse bunch, these Tillman scholars. Their common denominator is a life dedicated to service to their communities and society at large.About 60 scholarships are awarded each year -- out of about 2,000 applications -- by the Pat Tillman Foundation, the organization founded following the combat death of the man who abandoned an NFL career to join the military.Given to veterans or their spouses, the scholarships average about $15,000. Some $12 million has been awarded over the years. Much of the money comes from the NFL through its Salute to Service program.Through the Tillman Scholars program, were able to see Salute to Service come to life and witness the many ways this work impacts the military community, said Anna Isaacson, the NFLs senior vice president of social responsibility.Marie Tillman, the foundations president, believes her late husband would approve of the scholarship effort.Id hope that he would be happy about the fact that his life continues to inspire people, she said, and continues to give so many people opportunities to go on in the world and do great things.A dozen years after his death, Tillman is a name thats become synonymous with sacrifice and service. After a standout career at Arizona State, he played four seasons for the Arizona Cardinals.Then came Sept. 11, 2001, which led Tillman to abandon his athletic career to join the Army Rangers. He already had been to Iraq and was on tour in Afghanistan when he was killed.Family and friends created the Tillman Foundation in 2004, pledging $1.25 million to create the ASU Leadership Through Action program, a scholarship offered through the universitys business school.In 2009, the Tillman Scholars program was launched.One requirement is past service to the community, through the military or some other avenue.Were also looking at what it is that they want to do with their experience and the education that theyre looking to get, Marie Tillman said. What is the impact that theyre hoping to have as they move forward with that education.Joseph Wheaton was an Army Ranger in the same battalion as Tillman, though they never met.Wheaton was deployed four times to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. In his later tours, he oversaw a team of snipers.After leaving the military, Wheaton graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State before attending law school.He went to work in the gang unit of the Maricopa County prosecutors office but said he found that all he was doing was sending people to prison who deserved to be there.Wheaton wanted to reach youngsters before they got into trouble. So he decided to switch to teaching.His benefits exhausted, he couldnt afford to go back to school on his own, so he applied for and received a Tillman scholarship.Wheaton wants to someday affect national education policy but felt he needed some grass-roots experience.This year, he received his masters degree in secondary education from Arizona State. He teaches at a high school outside Phoenix, where many of his students come from low-income households.Only experience at the ground level will help highlight the problem and therefore better direct the path toward effective solutions, he said.Blake Schroeder was 20 when he first arrived in Iraq.Our unit took a pretty heavy toll, he said. There were about 160 of us, all National Guardsmen from Illinois, young. All of us had initially joined to go to college. We had about 35 wounded and five killed, the first being within 16 hours arriving in Iraq.When he came back, he couldnt adjust. Visits with a Veterans Affairs counselor did no good. The only thing that worked, he said, was re-enlisting. It was a much less intense trip to Iraq this time. When he returned, recalling his troubled first time back from the war, Schroeder chose to become a clinical psychologist.They covered a pretty significant portion of my education, he said, that allowed me to keep going.Now, with a doctorate from The Adler School of Professional Psychology, he treats people with post-combat conditions.Each year, new scholarship recipients as well as many of the earlier ones gather for the Tilllman Summit.It kind of blows your mind when youre surrounded by all these like-minded individuals, Schroeder said.Emily Thompson-Schelberg enlisted in the Marines in 2005 and deployed to Iraq with an artillery unit. She was a turret gunner on a 7-ton vehicle moving supplies and people.During down time, she helped with humanitarian aid missions, an experience that solidified her decision to follow in her mothers footsteps and become a nurse.She graduated from Penn State with a degree in sports medicine, worked for a year doing concussion research there, then attended Johns Hopkins, something she said she never could have done without the Tillman aid.Now she works as a nurse practitioner in Annapolis, Maryland, where many of her patients are retired Navy personnel. On the side she is a CrossFit coach and nutrition counselor at a gym.And she is training with the U.S. developmental skeleton team, an event in which she lies facedown and careens down a mountain on a sled. Her target is the 2022 Olympics.The scholarship opened doors that I would never have had access to, she said.Veterans get a lot of media attention for the troubles they have, Thompson-Schelberg said.The Tillman Foundation, she said, is showing that veterans have something to offer ... we can do a lot for our communities.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL John Shonk Jersey Store . LOUIS -- St. Mike Nott Jersey Store . Team physician Dr. Steve Traina performed the surgery Friday. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. https://www.chinacheapjerseys.net/ken-panfil-jersey-store/ . Their 38th instalment is arguably their biggest fight card to date, including three-title fights and a main event which was selected by the fans. The promotion boasts 14-straight years of business and is operated by MFC president Mark Pavelich, who is often overlooked in this country for the foundation hes established for MMA in Canada. Dennis McKinnon Jersey Store .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Peter Shorts Jersey Store .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. It was nice to see we picked up right where we left off on the 1.5-mile tracks.?Martin Truex Jr. was my top pick early in the week, and I stuck with him through the weekend as my top high-value pick. He didnt lead the most laps, but his 67 fastest laps were about double that of any other driver, and those are worth a half-point each, which gave Truex 92.5 DraftKings points per race.Hopefully you ran with my weekend midvalue picks,?Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Blaney, because they finished with the second-, third- and fourth-highest point totals. All were under $9,000, and all put up between 64 and 85.75 points.But now were moving away from the 1.5-mile tracks for a couple weeks and heading to New Hampshire this weekend. Its just barely over a mile and quite flat. Its a unique track, but Id lump it in with tracks such as Phoenix and Richmond -- flatter, shorter tracks.Passing is tough at New Hampshire, and thats evidenced by those stats I love so much. In the past five races at the track, no driver has started worse than 28th and finished inside the top 10. In fact, the only driver with a start-finish differential greater than 20 in the past five New Hampshire races is Greg Biffle, who has reached that mark in the past two races at the track.Tough passing also means youre likely to see drivers get out front for a chunk of laps. Earlier this year at New Hampshire, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. both went more than 120 laps led, and no other driver led more than 38. Last year, Kevin Harvick led 216 laps, and the second-most was 27.Another thing to keep in mind: A Joe Gibbs Racing or Team Penske car has won each of the past six races at this track, with Matt Kenseth picking up three of those victories.Heres what Im thinking early in the week, but check back after qualifying for my final picks and fades.Im starting my team with:I just talked up Gibbs and Penske, but Im going in a different direction to start my roster with?Kevin Harvick. Harvick finished 20th at Chicago and was fuming after a bad break that got him caught a lap down. Circumstances made it so that he couldnt make up that lap, so dont knock him for finishing 20th.In fact, I like Harvick coming off a middling Chase finish. The past two years with this format, he has shown an ability to come back and win to get into the next round of the Chase. Check out the 2014 Phoenix or 2015 Dover raaces for proof.ddddddddddddHarvicks performance recently at New Hampshire should be enough to help him move on. He didnt lead there earlier this season, but he did have 29 fastest laps and a fourth-place finish. The three races prior to that, he averaged 126.3 laps led, 63.3 fastest laps and 94.9 DraftKings points per race.Keep an eye on these four:Martin Truex Jr.: The pressures off for Truex, as his Chicago win punches his ticket into the next round of the Chase, NASCARs version of the playoffs. As per usual, dont look too deeply into Truexs history at any track; hes running entirely different than he did earlier in his career. Instead, look at the fact that he led 123 and 193 laps in the past two races at shorter, flatter tracks (New Hampshire in July and Richmond two weeks ago).Kyle Busch: I like to give three top-level drivers for this section, as I figure thats whom youll build your roster around for the week. I liked Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth here too but opted for Busch because he has higher top-end potential. Busch has finished ninth or better in the past seven races on short, flat tracks and has led at least 48 laps in six of the nine New Hampshire races, topped by the 133 he led earlier this season.Greg Biffle: This pick is 100 percent based on start-finish differential, so I like him only with a starting spot of 20th or lower. In four of the past five races at New Hampshire, he has started 25th-28th but finished 16th or better in all four, with a pair of top-five finishes. Despite totals of 12 laps led and one fastest lap in those races, he has an average of 41.9 DraftKings points per race.Ryan Newman: Newman is also available for a lower price, but he does some of his best work at New Hampshire. Picking up a fourth career win at the track is extremely unlikely for him, but he was seventh here earlier this year, and in the five races before that, he finished 10th, 11th, 18th, fifth and 16th. In three seasons with Richard Childress Racing (not the strongest equipment Newman has driven in his career), hes averaging 43.3 DraftKings points per race at New Hampshire, sixth among all drivers.Thats all I have for you this week. Its fall in the northeast, so get an apple pie -- a la mode if youre feeling adventurous. ' ' '