NFL teams
Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer 11y

Tim Tebow calls injured teen

NFL, New York Jets

New York Jets backup quarterback Tim Tebow, who didn't play Sunday because of sore ribs, reached out Monday night to an upstate New York teenager who is hurting a lot more than he is.

Responding to a Twitter campaign that went viral, Tebow called Matt Hardy, a 17-year-old Shenendehowa High School student hospitalized with injuries suffered Saturday night in a two-car crash. Two fellow students were killed in the accident, Chris Stewart and Deanna Rivers, according to reports.

The driver of the other vehicle failed alcohol tests at the scene, reports said.

Around 7 p.m., the hashtag #TebowCallMatt trended nationally on Twitter. By then, more than 50,000 Twitter users had retweeted the hashtag. Another 16,000 retweeted #MissyCallBailey -- a reference to Olympic swimmer Missy Franklin and Bailey Wind, another teen from nearby Shaker High School who survived the crash.

Tebow called Hardy after 9 p.m. Afterward, Hardy's brother, Michael, tweeted: "TIM TEBOW JUST GOT OFF THE PHONE WITH MATT! SUCH A CLASS ACT!!"

A short time later, Tebow tweeted: "Thanks to everyone who got #TebowCallMatt trending & helped connect us. Matt truly inspired me. God bless y'all."

Hardy plays football, baseball and basketball at Shenendehowa, according to the Berkshire Eagle. He was upgraded to stable condition in Albany Medical Center on Monday night with a concussion and broken bones, the newspaper reported.

Around midnight, Franklin tweeted that she had left a phone message for Wind.

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