Adult Championships in Lake Placid, New York, held at the Herb Brooks Arena, Holliday won his third consecutive title.

[13] One week before the Championships, Holliday broke his leg and was forced to undergo surgery to repair the patellar tendon, missing two years of competition.

[25] Holliday began skating in December 1976 after seeing an outdoor ice rink (Lake Shore Park) from the 72nd floor of a friends apartment in the John Hancock Center.

He attended classes there and met his first skating coach Jim Maier, who taught him all the basics of the sport, and gave him an excellent foundation to rise to the top.

[27] Holliday made his first National appearance at the 1982 United States Figure Skating Championships held in Indianapolis, Indiana at the Market Square Arena.

[28] In 1987, Holliday was invited to train in the Denver suburb of Littleton, Colorado with Norma Sahlin, the famed coach of World Champions Jill Trenary and Charlie Tickner.

[30] His overall 10th-place finish at the Nationals qualified him for the 1990 U.S. Olympic Festival competition, held at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota July 7–8, 1990.

There were dozens of articles on Holliday, countless radio spots, and at least four different television reports, including a segment on the Today show (Sportsman of the Week, narrated by Deborah Norville).

Father George Clements and Alderman Danny K. Davis (29th Ward) championed Holliday's cause, even Chicago's Mayor Richard M. Daley met the skater and donated $250 to his training expenses.

The business man Robert Crown from a wealthy Chicago family agreed to donate $20,000 toward Holliday's training expenses.

[34] From the generosity of the prominent businessman from Chicago, Holliday and his coach Les Hanson set out for the East Coast in the month of October.

Since the U.S. Nationals were to be held in Orlando, Florida at the Amway Arena in January 1992, coach Hanson thought it would be wise to get better acquainted with the east coast judges and competitors through a series of exhibitions.

The first stop was Clearwater, Florida, then progressed on to Providence, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and ended in New York City.