The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Herd the inspirational leader for Quinnipiac
HAMDEN — The countless hours spent firing up shot after shot garnered Taylor Herd many trophies and unforgettable memories from Pennsylvania’s challenging AAU circuit, leading to an injury-shortened run at Lansdale Catholic High and most recently as a key contributor on three NCAA tournament teams at Quinnipiac.
With all due respect to the myriad of honors bestowed upon her, there is nothing that warms the Quinnipiac senior guard’s heart more than an item she just recently rediscovered.
Not long after her father Glenn, who doubled as her first coach and biggest supporter died, Herd stumbled upon some words scribbled by her dad at a time when all the stars were not aligning in her basketball world.
“He wrote me a letter back in AAU and it was when I was doing so bad in AAU, I wasn’t taking shots and I wasn’t playing like myself and I remember he wrote it to me,” Herd said. “It was something I had probably read once. I found it after he passed and it was just so timely and everything he said in there was like getting back to how I used to play, let the game come to me, and I had a lot of opportunities
with basketball ahead of me. And he signed it your biggest fan. Now, looking back, I want to get it tattooed and look at it forever.”
When Herd arrived at Quinnipiac, veteran coach Tricia Fabbri nicknamed her “sunshine.” Not even losing the final two high school basketball seasons due to a pair of torn ACLs could wipe the omnipresent smile off of Herd’s face. However, circumstances that make something like a serious knee injury seem rather inconsequential rattled even the seemingly unshakeable Herd.
Her father had a silent heart attack in between her freshman and sophomore seasons at Quinnipiac. For three years, he fought the good fight.
But without the needed heart and kidney transplants, he died in January.
Herd did miss a pair of games this season, including one immediately after his passing while dealing with the cruelest hand that she ever thought would come her way. However, she remained strong and committed to making her final collegiate season one that would make her father proud.
“From day one, Taylor has been so positive when facing adversity,” Quinnipiac redshirt junior forward Vanessa Udoji said. “You would never think anything was going on with her and her family. The way she handled her family situation and was still able to maintain her poise and composure when leading the team was very admirable. She is the definition of mental toughness. Over the course of our four years here, she has encompassed the definition of a true leader.”
Herd’s parents were only able to make a select number of games in the latter stages of Taylor’s Quinnipiac career. Those circumstances only made the family appreciate the most fortunate scheduling circumstance. The Bobcats agreed to a home-and-home series with UCF, with the Knights coming to Hamden late in 2018. The decision to have Glenn Herd transferred to a facility in Orlando to await a double transplant wasn’t even planned when the return engagement was booked for Dec. 17 this season.
Taylor’s mom Brenda vividly recalls how officials from UCF were ready to make any arrangements necessary so she could join her husband watching Quinnipiac play at the 10,000-seat Addition Financial Arena. While Glenn needed to watch the live stream of the game from a hospital bed, it was a 48- to 72-hour experience the Herd family will never forget.
“Looking back, I could cry because it was extended time for us and at that point. He really wasn’t awake, but I showed him that News8 had done a story on the [Hartford Healthcare Connecticut] Courage Award and even though he was out of it, when he saw that he perked up and was making all these facial expressions,” Herd said. “That was his motivation, my brother and I giving him and doing things that we could report back to him, and bring a smile to his face and give him something else to concentrate on while he was in the hospital. Looking back on that trip, just so thankful for the extended time and knowing that the timeline after that was short.”
Brenda Herd walked into the AdventHealth facility in Orlando one day proudly wearing a Quinnipiac hat when she discovered a physician’s assistant was a Quinnipiac graduate.
Even if she hadn’t worn the QU hat, the wall of pictures featuring Taylor in action at Quinnipiac and her younger brother Ashton on the football field at Ithaca College would have left little doubt about his connection to the university . The school that has become a place for his oldest child to not only enjoy incredible basketball success, but earn a 4.0 gradepoint average while being involved in countless organizations both on campus and in the community.
Glenn would call Taylor before and after each game and would always have the live stream going when the Bobcats were in action. That would lead to emotional outbursts from the former football player at Shippensburg University, resulting in concerned health-care professionals racing into his room.
“I think both of our children have handled it better than I ever thought they would,” Brenda Herd said. “My husband was always very adamant that they don’t slow down in school or in their sports. It was actually the highlight for my husband when we were in the hospital getting to watch her games. He would cheer so loud that the nurses would come running in and say, ‘Are you OK?’ He said, ‘No, my daughter just made a 3,’ so it not only helped her by having basketball, but it helped my husband and I get through our difficult times, gave us something to look forward to.
“It gave my husband every game day something to look forward to and to talk to her before and after games and in between games. It was a blessing for both our kids and us as well.”
Nobody would have blamed Herd if she decided all of this was simply too much and took a hiatus from basketball. However, her teammates were there to support her and give her a sense of normalcy. .
“This has encapsulated her entire career here outside of her freshman year,” Fabbri said. “How the family handled it and how she handled a difficult situation taught me how to handle it and have perspective moving forward. They taught me grace, dignity and what real toughness is in the most ultimate tragic situation. She is an amazing young person who loves her family, is deep with her faith and continues to teach us all through the toughest time how to handle it. I know she has battled those [emotions], but you would never know it.”
Herd switched her number from 35 to 2 when she got to Quinnipiac because Morgan Manz had the number she wore throughout her basketball career. It proved to be the perfect way to honor her grandfather, who had that number during his baseball-playing days. She has a necklace with the No. 2 that she has on every waking moment except when she hits the court. Now the memories of her grandfather are joined by those of her father in the moments before every game .
“During the National Anthem, before games I do my prayer and in prayer, I say hi to my dad, say hi to his pop,” Herd said. “That is my time to kind of check in with him and find him in the stands, I guess in my mind, so that is when I check in with him and pray that the game does come naturally to me and that he is with me.”
Time is winding down on Herd’s basketball career with the Bobcats. She has been a member of regular season and tournamentwinning MAAC teams in each of her first three seasons. The MAAC Sixth Player of the Year a season ago, Herd is in the top 10 on Quinnipiac’s career 3-point list. With the graduation of all five starters, it has been more of a struggle this season, with the Bobcats losing eight games in the MAAC — five more than in Herd’s first three seasons.
When the MAAC tournament kicks off Tuesday, Rider and Marist will be favored to win the title. With three of the Bobcats’ top seven scorers being freshmen, there have been inevitable growing pains. But Herd has seen enough growth to think another tournament run is possible.
“Looking at the MAAC tournament and looking at some of the lulls we had this season, I see it as a new season,” Herd said. “It is anybody’s game but you have to win and keep winning. I think it is doable, I am looking forward to getting the freshmen their first ring and our fourth ring.”
UConn’s Megan Walker (3) shoots against Temple’s Asonah Alexander during an American Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal at Mohegan Sun Arena.