Linda Holliday On The Other Side Of Bill Belichick
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00:00It is what it is. That's Bill Belichick's familiar wave after victories in Foxborough.
00:05It is the most personal public moment for the Patriots coach on game days.
00:09A wave is for his longtime girlfriend.
00:12Linda Holliday is the executive director of the Bill Belichick Foundation,
00:15and she sat down with our Paula Eben.
00:18On any given Sunday...
00:20When you come out and see the field for the first time on game day,
00:24what kinds of thoughts go through your mind?
00:28It's breathtaking, isn't it?
00:30You'll find Linda Holliday here, high above Gillette Stadium.
00:34From where I sit, I have a direct view of Bill and the team, right on the benches over there.
00:38Can you kind of read the body language?
00:40At times, at times.
00:42The thing is, being this far away, you still, you know, it's hard to see. You can't see expressions.
00:47Cheering on the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick, her life partner of more than a decade.
00:53Feel like a second home to you now?
00:54It is a second home. Maybe not so much for me as it is for Bill, but...
00:59You might spend a few more hours.
01:01Their partnership includes giving back together through the Bill Belichick Foundation and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
01:08Both of those are near and dear to my heart. I mean, those, besides the Patriots, those are my two other teams.
01:13Belichick always sponsored a scholarship for a college football player, but Holliday got the idea to go bigger.
01:19For his 60th birthday, I said, you know, in love of gifts, why don't we expand this? So we did.
01:24This year, the Belichick Foundation will give away $350,000 to youth football and lacrosse programs around the country.
01:32Sunday, a raffle winner gets access to the field before the Pats game against the Bills.
01:37Money raised with ideas like this Be My VIP photo Holliday posted on Instagram.
01:42It struck me that it kind of brings out a softer side of Bill Belichick that you know.
01:47It doesn't take much to make him smile, actually.
01:50This spring, Belichick agreed to be the honoree, along with Holliday, at Boston's Hot Pink Party for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
01:58You don't picture the coach at a hot pink party.
02:01In 12 years together, Bill has been so dynamic in supporting the causes that are close to me, and actually just supporting me.
02:07And I value and love that about him. We're just honored and privileged.
02:11This is a lovely portrait of a nice moment at the end of every home game.
02:15That's the wave. He'll turn around on his way out to shake the opposing team's coach's hand, and you'll see him glance up, and he gives myself a wave, and he gives his daughter, who's in another suite, a wave.
02:25A reminder that at the end of every game, no matter the outcome, he's thinking about the home team.
02:31It's kind of within the family that it makes you feel good that you're supporting him, and you saw the happiness from this win, and the love that he has for this game and for the family.
02:41In Foxborough, Paula Eben, WBZ News.