Tim Tebow was closely connected with one of the many victims of the Pulse nightclub shootings earlier this month in Orlando.
The former NFL quarterback's high school teammate, Rodney Sumter, is a bartender at the club and was shot three times during the tragic night on June 12. The two played football together at Ponte Vedra Beach Nease High School in Florida.
Sumter took to Instagram and shared that Tebow left a Bahamas vacation with his family to come visit him in the hospital after he heard the news of the shootings. He also wrote in the caption that Tebow has "always been an awesome person."
Tebow is one of many athletes who visited the Orlando Regional Medical Center, including Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston. NBA legend Shaquille O'Neil, former MLB star Johnny Damon and European soccer sensation Kaka are also among those who have made the rounds to try to cheer up the injured clubgoers.
"Timmy has a lot of relationships in Orlando," a representative of the former NFL star told TMZ Sports. "Family. Friends. Friends of some of the victims. He wants to do what he can."
A photo posted by Rodney Sumter (@ihollyrod) on Jun 21, 2016 at 7:43am PDT
On top of making appearances to try and lift the spirits of the Orlando victims, Tebow has been very busy as of late. Though he isn't in the NFL, he is currently co-hosting the Fox show "Home Free," which premiered its first episode of Season 2 last Thursday.
In the reality show, 11 contestants will vie for a free house for a person who is a personal hero to them. Tebow recently talked about landing the gig.
"Every single one of them will get a home," Tebow told Fox31 of the heroes. "You understand that each of them are playing for their personal heroes who have done amazing things. One of our contestants was a war hero in Afghanistan and got blown up and the man he's playing for was the person who came back in battle and picked him up and carried him off the battle field and saved his life. Another one of our contestants is playing for a woman who randomly donated her kidney to his father when he was on dialysis ...They really are real life heroes and they deserve to be celebrated."
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