Tebow Calls Teen Injured From Crash After Twitter Campaign Goes Viral
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow called a New York teenager on Monday night after hearing about the injuries he suffered as a result of a two-car crash, according to ESPN.
Tebow, who did not play in Sunday's game because of his own injuries, reached out to 17-year-old Matt Hardy, a Shenendehowa High School student who plays football and was hospitalized with injuries suffered Saturday night from a car accident that killed two fellow students. The football player, 25, heard about Hardy's condition when the Twitter hashtag #TebowCallMatt started trending nationally at around 7 p.m. on Monday.
Thousands of Twitter users began retweeting the message and when Tebow found out about it, he called Hardy in his hospital room after 9 p.m., according to the news report. Hardy's brother, Michael, later tweeted, "TIM TEBOW JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MATT! SUCH A CLASS ACT!!"
Tebow himself tweeted, "Thanks to everyone who got #TebowCallMatt trending & helped connect us. Matt truly inspired me. God bless y'all."
Hardy suffered a concussion and broken bones but was upgraded to stable condition in Albany Medical Center on Monday night.
Olympic gold medalist and swimmer Missy Franklin also called one of the accident victims, Bailey Wind, after the Twitter hashtag #MissyCallBailey started trending. She later posted on her Twitter account that she left a voicemail message for the student.
"Called Bailey and left her a voicemail. Would still love to talk to her. Bailey and her community are in my thoughts and prayers #staystrong," Franklin wrote.
The Tebow hashtag had 106,290 mentions, while the Franklin one had 42,483, according to Yahoo! Sports. The Jets play on Sunday in Jacksonville, Fl., and the question is if Tebow can recover in time from the rib injuries that made his inactive this past week.
Tebow won two NCAA National Football Championships and became the first sophomore to win the Heisman Trophy, according to the player's website.
