PAYSON, Ariz. — Camp Tontozona is truly a special place. An ASU Football tradition that dates back to the 1950s and legendary coach Frank Kush. Finally, the Sun Devils will make their long-awaited return this summer for the first time since 2019.
To celebrate going back to the White Mountains, ASU Senior Associate Athletic Director Doug Tammaro posted a photo of Pat Tillman signing an autograph for a kid at Camp T. We and others had the same question, where is that kid now? Well – we found him.
Meet 33-year-old Justin Ling and his mom Sandra Hernandez-Ling. Life long ASU fans holding on to a special photo that always come ups when people mention Tillman or Camp T.
"The infamous picture," says Sandra. "Pat Tillman and my son Justin. Pat had actually autographed it"
26 years since it was taken and the picture still talks.
"All these years later, that picture just seems to like every so often, it's got like a life of its own," Justin said with a big smile on his face.
Justin and his mom remember the moment with Pat like it was yesterday. It still gives the family goosebumps.
"I'm sure I was running around like a crazy child before this picture," says Justin.
True story. That afternoon in 1997, Justin doing normal 7-year-old things at Camp T. Running around after practice trying to talk to as many players as possible. He got to talk and take pictures with former Devils like Ricky Boyer, Lenzie Jackson and Kenny Mitchell.
Justin remembers, "Some of them would give us their gloves and like, you know, as a kid, it's like, 'Oh my God.'"
Then came the face-to-face with a Tillman. Sandra capturing the moment. She loved the photo so much, later that year, she brought Tillman a copy.
“We went to fanfare day,” Sandra said. “I gave him (Tillman) a copy. He goes, “Look at you. Everybody here wants something from us, and you bring me something.” Every time I think about it, I just almost fall apart because it he's my hero.”
It wasn’t until watching the national news coverage of his death in April 2004, that Sandra learned her hero had kept the photo. She new exactly where they got the photo from. “My sister calls me up and says, “How could someone have a picture of Justin and Pat on TV?,”” says Sandra. “And I’m like, well, I know I gave him a copy a long time ago. And I saw it and I was amazed. Totally amazed that he held on to the picture for as long as he had.”
Sun Devil ties run deep. Those memories connecting generations together. They see that passion in new head coach Kenny Dillingham. They grew up tailgating in the same spot.
“He told his story about tailgating before the games and dodging cars in the parking lot,” Justin says. “It's like I almost see like a little bit of my brother, a little bit of myself, a little bit of my family (in Coach Dillingham). Feels like there's one of us kind of running this program.”
As for the photo, no Justin doesn’t have the XL blue shirt anymore or what Pat signed for him on that day, but the family loves seeing it pop up on social media, because it represents everything ASU.
“I think you can just see kind of in the picture like the kindness that Pat had and the kind of person (he was),” said Justin.
“I thank God, that He gave us the opportunity to meet somebody like Pat, and that Pat was the special person that he is,” said Sandra.
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