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Tim Tebow calls teen crash victim after Twitter campaign

The NFL quarterback phoned high school football player and car crash survivor Matthew Hardy after Hardy's high school friends started the #TebowCallMatt hashtag.

 

Kris Holt

IRL

Posted on Dec 4, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 6:11 am CDT

Tim Tebow gave a crash victim a boost after he called high school football player Matthew Hardy on Monday.

The New York Jets quarterback called a grieving Hardy after the #TebowCallMatt hashtag hit Twitter’s trending topics list. Hardy’s girlfriend Deanna Rivers and friend Christopher Stewart were killed by a drunk driver Saturday, and Stewart’s girlfriend Bailey Wind was also injured in the crash.

Students at the group’s high school in the Albany, N.Y. area started the Twitter campaign to grab Tebow’s attention, and a similar campaign was started to get Olympic swimming champion Missy Franklin to call Wind.

“Thanks to everyone who got #TebowCallMatt trending & helped connect us. Matt truly inspired me. God bless y’all,” Tebow wrote on Twitter Monday.

Franklin said that while she’d attempted to talk to Wind and had left a voicemail message, she’d still like to speak with the student.

Photo by bradleygee/Flickr

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*First Published: Dec 4, 2012, 4:18 pm CST