National Football League

Ex-NFL player reacts to trashed house

Published Sep. 18, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

Sam Gardner

An estimated 300 teenagers threw a party at the house of Brian Holloway over Labor Day weekend, authorities say, causing a reported $20,000 in damage to the property of the former New England Patriots and Los Angeles Raiders left tackle.

That sentence might normally make Holloway sound like the coolest irresponsible uncle ever, except there’s a catch: Holloway spends most of his time these days in Florida and wasn’t at the Stephentown, N.Y., vacation home at the time of the rager.

Fortunately for the 54-year-old Holloway, who last played in the NFL in 1988, kids can tend to be irresponsible on social media, and several of the ones accused of taking part in the party also reportedly took to Twitter to talk about it.

So Holloway took it upon himself to teach some of the kids a lesson, posting their tweets and pictures to a website he created called HelpMeSave300.com:

He also posted several pictures of the aftermath of what must have been quite the bash (there are many, many more photos of the damage and the culprits on the site):

Holloway wants it to be clear, though, that he didn’t post the images to shame the kids or get them in trouble — hopefully they’re already in enough of that with their parents — but rather, to encourage people to get these kids to change their lives for the better.

"I believe that they can be turned around," Holloway wrote on the site. "I believe that this event that was marked with spray paint on our home — can be turned into a declaration of change, transformation and new beginnings."

Here’s more from Holloway's letter on the site:

I believe that “their ultimate party” of crimes can in fact become the ultimate Turning Point in the lives of these 300.

I really do.

Tammy and I have 8 children, and we’ve also live and pray during those long nights when our children go out, for them to make good decision.

For 30 years I’ve worked with Governors of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis and New York’s, Mario Cuomo’s DARE programs; to provide the support, education and leadership to students who are at risk; peer pressure is real.

Students do die from drugs and alcohol.

It’s the most painful thing in the world.

Like all parents; every time I have looked down at the caskets of my children’s classmates...I am haunted by a single question —

Could I have done something to prevent this?

Well, I am still haunted…

Today, I know I can do something; I know we can do something; to turn these kids around.

I do know for a fact, if I do nothing, if we do nothing regarding these 300 students, we will have missed our chance to take a stand for their future.

In addition to trying to spread his message, Holloway — who told WNYT he’s been getting threats from parents over his posting of their kids’ pictures — also organized a clean-up event at his house. And sure enough, some kids (who were not at the party) showed up to help:

Former NE Patriot Brian Holloway and the teens who came to clean his trashed home in Stephentown, NY, today. pic.twitter.com/lZtq8tuGtl
— Phil Demers (@BE_PhilD) September 17, 2013

As for the rest of the teens? Though Holloway says his goal isn’t to get them in trouble, they’re not out of the woods just yet. A spokeswoman for the Rensselaer County Sheriff's Office told The Associated Press Wednesday that there is a "very large investigation" underway but that no arrests have been made.