Latest news with #HollidayFamily
The Independent
12-07-2025
- The Independent
Father-of-three suing Tui at High Court over quad bike crash ‘not same person'
A father-of-three who is suing holiday provider Tui at the High Court after a quad bike crash is 'not the same person' after the incident, and the pain he suffers can be 'unbearable', he has said. Tony Holliday, 57, needed two operations on his fractured right leg and also suffered head, shoulder and hand injuries, after his quad bike crashed into rocks and he was thrown from the vehicle while on holiday in Cape Verde in March 2023. The property developer, who travelled to the island off the coast of west Africa with his wife, Bev, and two of his daughters, Keeley and Rhianna, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is taking legal action against Tui UK and seeking more than £500,000 in damages, claiming the quad bike excursion, which was provided as compensation for lost luggage and their original rooms smelling of sewage, was misrepresented as suitable for beginners and came without adequate safety instructions. Tui is understood to be opposing the claim and is due to file its defence at the High Court later this year. Speaking to the PA news agency from his home near Cockermouth, in the Lake District, Cumbria, Mr Holliday said: 'It has affected the full family. 'I'm not the same person I was. I have anxiety, I struggle sleeping at night, going over the same accident, or similar events like that. 'I haven't got the confidence I used to have, and I'm always worrying (about) what's going to happen next with my injury.' Mrs Holliday said: 'It's turned our lives upside down, really.' The family flew to Sal, Cape Verde, on March 1, 2023, for a week-long holiday costing £4,166.72, their first time visiting the country. In court documents filed by law firm Stewarts, which is representing Mr Holliday, Sarah Prager KC said that on arrival, the family found their luggage had been lost, although it was later found. They then found their rooms 'smelled very strongly of sewage', and replacement rooms were offered. Ms Prager said Tui representatives offered a free excursion to compensate for the issues and recommended quad biking, claiming this was 'suitable for total beginners'. She said that 'in reliance on this representation' the family booked a two-hour trip for March 6. She said Tui described the excursion online as an 'off-road adventure', an 'action-packed excursion', and 'four adrenaline-pumping hours' on 'very powerful machines'. Mr Holliday believed the excursion was provided by Tui, but later found out it was organised by a local provider. Ms Prager said that at the start of the trip, the family were shown the location of the quad bikes' ignition, accelerator, throttle and brake, and were advised to keep a five-metre distance between each other, but received no other instructions and were not offered a test drive. She said that after ascending a mountain on a volcanic trail, the family then descended, but the bikes lost grip and Mr Holliday's brakes did not work. This caused him to swerve to avoid the bike ridden by one of his daughters, he collided with rocks and was thrown from the vehicle. Ms Prager said the accident was caused by the route being 'unsuitable for beginners', Mr Holliday and his family being given 'wholly inadequate instruction', and the quad bike being 'defective'. Mr Holliday returned to the UK the next day and underwent two surgeries. His insurance provider did not cover the cost of his medical treatment and repatriation, as quad biking is considered a hazardous activity. While his right leg was saved, he continues to experience pain and discomfort, and occasionally needs crutches. He claimed he joined the excursion as he trusted the Tui brand, and was bringing legal action to raise awareness of health and safety issues on similar trips. He said: 'I just want this to stop. I think that health and safety should be a key issue. 'What we went through, had it not been for Tui's name and brand, I don't think we would have gone through with it. It was shocking.' Mr Holliday – an 'avid' runner before the crash – said he has tried to get back into the sport despite suffering from 'unbearable' pain, with his leg sometimes swelling 'like a football'. He completed a local parkrun last summer, supported by family and friends, as he described himself as 'somebody who just can't use the words where they say 'you can't, you never will''. He said: 'The surgeon said I would never run, I would never be able to walk without the limp. 'I had to prove to myself, I will fight everything to try and get there.' A spokesperson for Tui said: 'We are sorry that Mr Holliday was injured during his holiday to Cape Verde. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment any further at this time.'
The Independent
12-07-2025
- The Independent
Traveller urges others to take precautions on excursions after quad bike crash
A holidaymaker who is suing provider Tui at the High Court following a quad bike crash has warned tourists to take precautions while on excursions abroad after he suffered serious injuries which 'should never have happened'. Tony Holliday, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, required two operations on his right leg after he collided with rocks and was thrown from a quad bike while on an excursion in Cape Verde in March 2023. The property developer travelled to the island, off the coast of west Africa, with his wife, Bev, and two of his daughters, Keeley and Rhianna. The 57-year-old, from Cockermouth, Cumbria, is suing Tui UK, claiming it misrepresented the nature of the excursion and was negligent, and is seeking more than £500,000 in damages. Tui is understood to be opposing the claim and is due to file its defence at the High Court later this year. Speaking to the PA news agency, he urged travellers to take precautions while abroad. He said: 'Please check everything. If something doesn't feel right… take the full checks, make sure everything's there (and) the health and safety looks like it's in place.' He continued: 'We asked questions at the time but were not given the correct answers.' Mrs Holliday, 54, said: 'Make sure that you've got the right insurance in place, that you're going through your tour operator, and just think carefully about the excursions that you take your family on and that you go on, and just to try and look out for things that we didn't see.' The family agreed to go on the free quad bike excursion as compensation for issues with lost luggage and rooms smelling of sewage earlier in the trip. In court documents filed by law firm Stewarts, which is representing Mr Holliday, Sarah Prager KC said that Tui staff described the excursion as 'suitable for total beginners', despite the company saying online that it was an 'off-road adventure', an 'action-packed excursion', and 'four adrenaline-pumping hours' on 'very powerful machines'. Mr Holliday believed the excursion was provided by Tui but later found out it was organised by a local provider. Mr Holliday continues to suffer from anxiety and issues with sleep following the incident, and said he 'feels a second slower than where I should be'. He said: 'Although I went through it, I didn't witness what my family had to witness, and I don't think they'll ever get that image out of their head. 'So it's not just me who has suffered. I think the full family has suffered through this. 'It should never have happened.' Mrs Holliday said: 'It's really strange when you've got a partner who has no fear… he gets himself out there and he loves the challenge, work-wise. 'It's really strange to then find yourself in the position where he hasn't got that confidence any more, and your life completely changes. 'He will get back, he will get back to where he is. We'll make sure he does.' Chris Deacon, international injury lawyer at Stewarts, said: 'Sadly, every year I see cases like Tony's, of people sustaining serious, life-changing injuries on holiday excursions. ' One of the key factors which influences whether a person can bring a compensation claim for their injuries is how the excursion (is) booked. 'This is because booking your excursion through your tour operator as part of your package holiday brings with it certain protections under the package travel regulations. 'If you book through a small, local provider, there is a risk they won't be insured, fully or at all, with no safeguard that the tour operator may have risk assessed the provider or activity, and the added complication of potentially having to bring your legal case in a foreign jurisdiction. 'What is also worth knowing is that many travel insurance policies exclude high-risk activities such as quad biking, parachuting, bungee jumping and certain watersports. 'So even if you have travel insurance, don't assume it will cover you for everything.' A spokesperson for Tui said: 'We are sorry that Mr Holliday was injured during his holiday to Cape Verde. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment any further at this time.'
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Yahoo
Traveller urges others to take precautions on excursions after quad bike crash
A holidaymaker who is suing provider Tui at the High Court following a quad bike crash has warned tourists to take precautions while on excursions abroad after he suffered serious injuries which 'should never have happened'. Tony Holliday, who now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, required two operations on his right leg after he collided with rocks and was thrown from a quad bike while on an excursion in Cape Verde in March 2023. The property developer travelled to the island, off the coast of west Africa, with his wife, Bev, and two of his daughters, Keeley and Rhianna. The 57-year-old, from Cockermouth, Cumbria, is suing Tui UK, claiming it misrepresented the nature of the excursion and was negligent, and is seeking more than £500,000 in damages. Tui is understood to be opposing the claim and is due to file its defence at the High Court later this year. Speaking to the PA news agency, he urged travellers to take precautions while abroad. He said: 'Please check everything. If something doesn't feel right… take the full checks, make sure everything's there (and) the health and safety looks like it's in place.' He continued: 'We asked questions at the time but were not given the correct answers.' Mrs Holliday, 54, said: 'Make sure that you've got the right insurance in place, that you're going through your tour operator, and just think carefully about the excursions that you take your family on and that you go on, and just to try and look out for things that we didn't see.' The family agreed to go on the free quad bike excursion as compensation for issues with lost luggage and rooms smelling of sewage earlier in the trip. In court documents filed by law firm Stewarts, which is representing Mr Holliday, Sarah Prager KC said that Tui staff described the excursion as 'suitable for total beginners', despite the company saying online that it was an 'off-road adventure', an 'action-packed excursion', and 'four adrenaline-pumping hours' on 'very powerful machines'. Mr Holliday believed the excursion was provided by Tui but later found out it was organised by a local provider. Mr Holliday continues to suffer from anxiety and issues with sleep following the incident, and said he 'feels a second slower than where I should be'. He said: 'Although I went through it, I didn't witness what my family had to witness, and I don't think they'll ever get that image out of their head. 'So it's not just me who has suffered. I think the full family has suffered through this. 'It should never have happened.' Mrs Holliday said: 'It's really strange when you've got a partner who has no fear… he gets himself out there and he loves the challenge, work-wise. 'It's really strange to then find yourself in the position where he hasn't got that confidence any more, and your life completely changes. 'He will get back, he will get back to where he is. We'll make sure he does.' Chris Deacon, international injury lawyer at Stewarts, said: 'Sadly, every year I see cases like Tony's, of people sustaining serious, life-changing injuries on holiday excursions. 'One of the key factors which influences whether a person can bring a compensation claim for their injuries is how the excursion (is) booked. 'This is because booking your excursion through your tour operator as part of your package holiday brings with it certain protections under the package travel regulations. 'If you book through a small, local provider, there is a risk they won't be insured, fully or at all, with no safeguard that the tour operator may have risk assessed the provider or activity, and the added complication of potentially having to bring your legal case in a foreign jurisdiction. 'What is also worth knowing is that many travel insurance policies exclude high-risk activities such as quad biking, parachuting, bungee jumping and certain watersports. 'So even if you have travel insurance, don't assume it will cover you for everything.' A spokesperson for Tui said: 'We are sorry that Mr Holliday was injured during his holiday to Cape Verde. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment any further at this time.'
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Yahoo
Father-of-three suing Tui at High Court over quad bike crash ‘not same person'
A father-of-three who is suing holiday provider Tui at the High Court after a quad bike crash is 'not the same person' after the incident, and the pain he suffers can be 'unbearable', he has said. Tony Holliday, 57, needed two operations on his fractured right leg and also suffered head, shoulder and hand injuries, after his quad bike crashed into rocks and he was thrown from the vehicle while on holiday in Cape Verde in March 2023. The property developer, who travelled to the island off the coast of west Africa with his wife, Bev, and two of his daughters, Keeley and Rhianna, now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. He is taking legal action against Tui UK and seeking more than £500,000 in damages, claiming the quad bike excursion, which was provided as compensation for lost luggage and their original rooms smelling of sewage, was misrepresented as suitable for beginners and came without adequate safety instructions. Tui is understood to be opposing the claim and is due to file its defence at the High Court later this year. Speaking to the PA news agency from his home near Cockermouth, in the Lake District, Cumbria, Mr Holliday said: 'It has affected the full family. 'I'm not the same person I was. I have anxiety, I struggle sleeping at night, going over the same accident, or similar events like that. 'I haven't got the confidence I used to have, and I'm always worrying (about) what's going to happen next with my injury.' Mrs Holliday said: 'It's turned our lives upside down, really.' The family flew to Sal, Cape Verde, on March 1, 2023, for a week-long holiday costing £4,166.72, their first time visiting the country. In court documents filed by law firm Stewarts, which is representing Mr Holliday, Sarah Prager KC said that on arrival, the family found their luggage had been lost, although it was later found. They then found their rooms 'smelled very strongly of sewage', and replacement rooms were offered. Ms Prager said Tui representatives offered a free excursion to compensate for the issues and recommended quad biking, claiming this was 'suitable for total beginners'. She said that 'in reliance on this representation' the family booked a two-hour trip for March 6. She said Tui described the excursion online as an 'off-road adventure', an 'action-packed excursion', and 'four adrenaline-pumping hours' on 'very powerful machines'. Mr Holliday believed the excursion was provided by Tui, but later found out it was organised by a local provider. Ms Prager said that at the start of the trip, the family were shown the location of the quad bikes' ignition, accelerator, throttle and brake, and were advised to keep a five-metre distance between each other, but received no other instructions and were not offered a test drive. She said that after ascending a mountain on a volcanic trail, the family then descended, but the bikes lost grip and Mr Holliday's brakes did not work. This caused him to swerve to avoid the bike ridden by one of his daughters, he collided with rocks and was thrown from the vehicle. Ms Prager said the accident was caused by the route being 'unsuitable for beginners', Mr Holliday and his family being given 'wholly inadequate instruction', and the quad bike being 'defective'. Mr Holliday returned to the UK the next day and underwent two surgeries. His insurance provider did not cover the cost of his medical treatment and repatriation, as quad biking is considered a hazardous activity. While his right leg was saved, he continues to experience pain and discomfort, and occasionally needs crutches. He claimed he joined the excursion as he trusted the Tui brand, and was bringing legal action to raise awareness of health and safety issues on similar trips. He said: 'I just want this to stop. I think that health and safety should be a key issue. 'What we went through, had it not been for Tui's name and brand, I don't think we would have gone through with it. It was shocking.' Mr Holliday – an 'avid' runner before the crash – said he has tried to get back into the sport despite suffering from 'unbearable' pain, with his leg sometimes swelling 'like a football'. He completed a local parkrun last summer, supported by family and friends, as he described himself as 'somebody who just can't use the words where they say 'you can't, you never will''. He said: 'The surgeon said I would never run, I would never be able to walk without the limp. 'I had to prove to myself, I will fight everything to try and get there.' A spokesperson for Tui said: 'We are sorry that Mr Holliday was injured during his holiday to Cape Verde. 'As this is now a legal matter, we are unable to comment any further at this time.'
New York Times
10-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ethan Holliday could go No. 1 in the MLB Draft. It would be a pick 4 generations in the making
STILLWATER, Okla. — In the leadup to Sunday's MLB Draft, many pundits will note the Holliday family's deep baseball ties. Matt Holliday played 15 years in the major leagues and made seven All-Star games. His oldest son, Jackson, was drafted first overall three years ago and is now the second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. Advertisement Now, Ethan Holliday is next in line for a baseball dynasty forged under the endless skies of Oklahoma. He is a gifted 6-foot-4 shortstop with tremendous raw power from the left side. He has a chance to go to the Washington Nationals first overall, and if he doesn't go there, draft experts predict he will go fourth to the Colorado Rockies, the same organization that drafted his father. Some may mention that the line doesn't actually start with Matt, Jackson, and Ethan. Tom Holliday — Matt's father and Jackson's and Ethan's grandfather — was a longtime Division I baseball coach, including a seven-year run as the coach at Oklahoma State. His brother, Dave, is a veteran scout for the Philadelphia Phillies. Matt's brother, Josh, is now the coach at OSU. There are other families out there who have made baseball their business. The Alous, the Boones, the Griffeys. Thirteen pairs of brothers have been drafted as first-round picks. B.J. Upton went second in 2002, and Justin Upton went first in 2005. But if Ethan were to go No. 1, it would be the first time in baseball history two brothers have both been 1-1 picks. Only Peyton and Eli Manning have done that in any major American sport. Try to explain how Jackson and Ethan both grew up to be so good, and everyone in the family shrugs. Part nature, part nurture. 'This was all by accident,' Tom says. No amount of nature, though, guarantees this level of familial athletic success. No amount of nurture ensures that even two physically gifted boys will become elite prospects at this level. That kind of feat takes generations to build. To grasp how all this came to be, you have to rewind more than 100 years. To understand how the Hollidays built a foundation where baseball is intertwined with family, where relentless work is assumed and exceptional achievement is expected, you have to leave Oklahoma's red-dirt plains, take an oblong detour through the desert and head to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. That's where a man named Donald Holliday had a dream. Donald Holliday was born in 1918 in the little town of Somerfield, Pa., a place they later razed and flooded to create the Youghiogheny Dam. He was one of 11 children. Most of his siblings were into fishing or hunting, the mountain life. Donald had an affinity for baseball. As the family legend goes, the famed Yankees scout Paul Krichell discovered Don. He was a talented catcher, and the scout began making arrangements for Don to report to spring training. But this was the outset of World War II. Don was called into the Army. He was in North Africa when a blast went off and ruptured his left eardrum. By the time the war was over, he still had dreams of showing up to Yankees spring training and sliding into pinstripes. But his hearing was permanently damaged. He was older now and could hardly get into a squat. Real life beckoned. He never stopped following the Yankees. Advertisement Donald became a truck driver in Uniontown, 55 miles outside Pittsburgh. He worked from 4 a.m. until sundown. For his youngest boys Tom and Dave, baseball was a way to capture his attention. 'A way to connect with him,' Dave said. The boys stood on the porch under Pennsylvania stars, swinging a bat while Pittsburgh Pirates games sounded over the radio. Sometimes Donald sat in the kitchen, radio to his right ear, barely able to decipher the crackling signal of the Yankees game. On the rare occasions Donald got off early on a Friday, he would bound through the door, smile on his face, pep in his voice. 'Get in the car,' he'd say, 'We're going to New York.' They made the pilgrimage to old Yankee Stadium, stayed for the games Saturday and Sunday, then drove back to Pennsylvania. 'He was so into baseball,' Tom said all these years later. 'We had to explore it.' In 1971, a letter from the desert helped Tom set a new trajectory. Don sat across the kitchen table, smoke billowing from a cigarette in his hand, while his son shuffled through a stack of mail. Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan State, Pitt and more. Tom was a terrific high school quarterback on a losing team with a shoddy offensive line. He was also an all-region baseball player. At that table, Tom weighed his options. He wanted to play baseball, but he was from a cold-weather state, and only one place wanted him on a baseball-only offer. That was Yavapai College, a small school in the middle of Arizona with a swashbuckling coach named Gary Ward. Sometimes Tom saw the letters, assumed they were advertisements for a strange school whose name he couldn't pronounce. Something in Donald Holliday's gut told him Tom should take those letters more seriously. 'That guy writes you all the time,' he said. 'Maybe give that guy a chance.' 'He didn't say much,' Tom says of his father. 'But when he did, you listened.' It's a Thursday morning in Jenks, Okla., south of Tulsa, at the 6A state baseball tournament. Matt Holliday leans forward and grabs onto a black chain-link fence. Cowbells ring from the stands, and Stillwater High players run onto the field. None of them move with quite the same grace as Ethan Holliday. He's tall and sleek, with long hair, all-American looks and one hell of a pedigree. Advertisement 'I want my kids to pursue their passion,' Matt says. 'The fact that it matches up with something I'm passionate about, it makes it all the better. If they had picked music or something like that, I would be able to stand by and clap but not necessarily able to help.' Tom, Josh and all of Matt's family live within a 10-mile radius in Stillwater, the kind of college town where people come back and measure time against the institutions that remain. The Hollidays are one of those institutions. Ethan hits left-handed and grades out with easy plus power. He's bigger and a more aggressive swinger than his older brother. Their games differ, and so do their personalities. Jackson, slowly finding his groove in his second season with the Orioles, is level-headed and serious, a lot like Matt. Everyone says Ethan is more emotional, maybe like his mother, Leslee. Maybe more like Tom. 'A little bit more life of the party, wears his emotions a little bit more on his sleeve,' Matt says. 'I think that's part of having kids. All your kids are different.' Leslee is the great-niece of Bob Fenimore, an All-American football player at Oklahoma State who finished third in the 1945 Heisman Trophy race. It is not only the Holliday genes that make Ethan and Jackson preternaturally gifted. But the baseball aptitude? That's a distinctly Holliday trait. Before the 2022 season, Matt accepted the job to become the St. Louis Cardinals' bench coach. He resigned from the post before the season started, deciding he needed to spend more time with his family. MLB players still trek to Oklahoma to hit with Matt, who — if he wants it — could still have a future as an MLB coach or manager. 'If you want to feel bad about where you are as a hitter, go hit with the Holliday family,' said 14-year major leaguer Matt Carpenter, who once rebuilt his swing in Stillwater. Advertisement The Stillwater High Pioneers wear blue and yellow, but in the stands, multiple kids wear Orioles jerseys with Jackson's No. 7 — the same number Matt wore for much of his career and the same number Ethan wears now — on the back. Three years ago, Jackson and Ethan played on the Stillwater High team, just like Josh and Matt did way back when. Now Brady Holliday, Josh's son and Ethan's cousin, hits leadoff and plays second base as a sophomore. 'I graduate next week, and it's hard to believe,' Ethan said after his final high-school game. 'I'm proud of my time in Stillwater, and I'm looking forward to what's next. But Stillwater is my home. It's home forever. Nothing can take that away.' Sitting at a breakfast joint in Stillwater, Tom twists his head left, then right. The boy who once yearned for his father's attention is now the patriarch of a baseball dynasty. Those letters from Ward led to Tom playing two seasons as a catcher at Yavapai College. He finished his college career at Miami, then played one professional season in the Pirates system. There was a job at Miami, then a year at Arizona State. Ward won junior college national titles in '75 and '77, and after that 1977 season, he practically had his pick of DI jobs. Wherever he went, Ward wanted Holliday to be his top assistant. Tom favored UCLA or Cal. But Ward was from a tiny Oklahoma railroad town called Ramona, and he liked the school in Stillwater. 'Oklahoma State?' Tom said. 'Where the hell is that?' With a wife and baby in the car, Tom arrived in Stillwater, 15 miles that feels like an eternity off Interstate 35, and went straight to the baseball field off Knoblock Street. It was called University Park back then, and it was a travesty. Grass grew in the baselines. Weeds, six feet high, covered the infield. There was a massive pile of dirt between second and third. Advertisement Tom found a pay phone. 'Well,' Ward told him, 'get it ready for practice. We got a lot of work to do.' They sifted the dirt, pulled the weeds, bled and sweat under a sweltering summer sun. That first year, they won 40 games. Over the next 19 seasons, Oklahoma State went to the College World Series 11 times. Pete Incaviglia pinged home runs that scraped the sky. Robin Ventura stacked hits like the bricks they used to build the new Allie P. Reynolds Stadium. All the while, two small boys soaked it all in. Josh and Matt Holliday grew up living and breathing Oklahoma State baseball. They chased foul balls, mimicked players' stances, stole cookies out of Ward's desk. OSU players were their heroes. They played on a big stage. Their world felt small. 'There was never a time that baseball wasn't anything other than a passion that we learned to work at and respect,' Josh said. '(Dad) taught us to do that. He prepared us. He pushed us. He toughened us up and made us competitors. He never sugarcoated anything but he made us believe anything was possible.' Josh grew into a quarterback, star baseball player and valedictorian at Stillwater High. Matt went on to become a star quarterback, too. Unlike his father and brother, he was tall and sculpted, taking more after Kathy's side of the family. They all still laugh about the time Matt came home with a C on his report card. Josh, who once tossed his younger brother's Nintendo over the back fence thinking it would help keep him focused, was yelling. 'C is for average. You're not average.' The two nearly came to blows, one of the only times they ever fought. That night, Matt came to his parents' bedroom said, 'I won't get any more C's.' In a recruiting class that featured Michael Vick and Carson Palmer, some services considered Matt the best quarterback recruit in the country. He had offers from all over but committed to play two sports at Oklahoma State. Advertisement When the first round of the MLB draft came, teams shied away, fearing he wouldn't sign. Dave Holliday, Tom's brother, worked for the Rockies back then. Long story short: Colorado drafted Matt in the seventh round. He received an $840,000 signing bonus and a contract clause that would allow him to return to football after three years. Matt chose baseball and never looked back. Tom was Ward's pitching coach and ace recruiter for 19 seasons, until one day in 1996, Ward told his old protege his back hurt and he had seen enough. Tom was soon named head coach, tasked with taming the monster they built. Josh played for his dad at Oklahoma State, then spent two years in the Blue Jays system. More than the grinding existence of a fringe prospect, he wanted the life he watched every day growing up. Teaching, coaching, helping. He came back and worked for Tom as an assistant. While Matt rose up the pro ranks, they lived this baseball life together. Until 2003, when — another long story short — school politics got messy, and Tom Holliday's contract was not renewed. The Cowboys had missed the postseason in three of his final four years. Josh has called it one of the hardest times of his life, the family thrust out of the place where they had invested so much. 'In many ways, looking back, it was a blessing,' Josh said. 'But it didn't feel like one. It felt like something you loved didn't love you back anymore.' Tom went on to be Augie Garrido's pitching coach at Texas. Josh went out on his own coaching odyssey, including stops at Georgia Tech, Arizona State and Vanderbilt. Matt, meanwhile, blossomed into an All-Star outfielder, revered both for his hitting prowess and his savvy leadership. He traveled the big-league circuit with his family. A young Jackson grew up hitting rolled-up straw wrappers with butter knives at the dinner table. He smacked sock balls over the fish tank in Tom and Kathy's living room. He was a sideshow in major-league clubhouses, where Matt's teammates marveled at his innate ability to mimic any swing. Then, one day in 2012, another twist of fate. Tom Holliday got a call from Mike Holder, the AD at Oklahoma State. Holder told Tom he was going to hire a new baseball coach. He wanted Josh, but only with Tom's blessing. Tom gave his approval. Josh brought back the interlocking O and S on the team's caps and restored the team's old-school jerseys. He once said his only hesitation was that he might care about the place too much. Advertisement 'This is my major leagues,' he said. A few years later, after Tom was done coaching at Auburn, he and Kathy loaded the trucks and moved back to Stillwater. 'I was worried about being around,' Tom said. 'But we said, 'To hell with it. We're gonna go, because we're gonna be together.'' At the end of Matt's playing career — which, toward the end, took him to Donald Holliday's beloved Yankees — he, too, moved his family from their home by the ocean in Jupiter, Fla. 'We're coming to Stillwater,' he told his father. 'To visit?' Tom asked. 'No,' Matt said. 'To stay.' Baseball molded this family, scattered them across the country, then brought them all back together. 'In the end,' Josh said, 'you only go out and work so you can come back home and be with your people.' Tom Holliday watches his grandsons less through a sentimental eye and more with the hardened focus of an old coach. But his eyes still get misty when he thinks of his father. What might Donald Holliday think of all this? That one elicits a laugh. 'Probably,' Tom said, 'he would light a cigarette, sit there and say, 'You know, we need to get Jackson traded to the Yankees. Or, don't let Ethan go to anybody but the Yankees.'' Here in Stillwater, the next generation took to the game because it was interlaced with life. Tom threw batting practice to Jackson, took Ethan down in the garage to vent and hit soft toss after a bad day at school. As they grew older, Jackson, Ethan and cousin Brady gathered each morning to take grounders and hit BP. 'Everyone in our family lives in Oklahoma, so being able to go back and go out to their land, be around all my cousins and uncles, it was pretty cool,' Jackson said. Out at Matt Holliday's property, there's a Wiffle Ball field and five No. 7s stuck on orange walls. Matt spent a season on Josh's staff at Oklahoma State. Tom spent summers coaching dozens of draft picks on Cape Cod. Uncle Dave lives about an hour away in Bixby. To this day, Matt, Ethan and Jackson hit and work out at OSU. The kids grew up on home-run derbies and competitions in the cage. Advertisement Matt has another son, Reed, who is not yet in high school. Josh has a daughter, Olivia. Matt's daughter, Gracyn, watches every game, talks baseball on the ride home like the rest of them. 'Man,' Tom says, laughing. 'We really ruined these kids.' Five hours after Ethan Holliday's last high school baseball game, he stood on the concourse at the shining O'Brate Stadium with his father and a handful of teammates, watching Oklahoma State play. Tom was up in the booth broadcasting for ESPN+. 'They have my back no matter what,' Ethan said of his family. 'If I didn't have my circle, I'd be out of whack. They're my people, and I'm really thankful.' Donald Holliday died in 2001 and never met his great-grandchildren. But Josh has memories of visits to the house in Pennsylvania, playing Wiffle Ball and listening to the Pirates on the radio. In this odd little town where everything is painted orange, Tom Holliday's boys recreated their childhood. And maybe without knowing it, they built the kind of life Donald Holliday wanted. (Top photo of Matt, Ethan and Jackson: Daniel Shirey / MLB Photos via Getty Images)
