Taylor inducted in Hall
Taylor was one of seven people — six players and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — inducted into the Hall of Fame Saturday night. The others included quarterback Kurt Warner, running backs Terrell Davis and LaDanian Tomlinson, safety Kenny Easley and placekicker Morten Andersen,
How to sum up a lifelong journey? How to condense this ride to Canton in a 31minute speech? With heartfelt words. With tears and laughter. And by pointing out to those in the crowd who helped you along the ride.
There, Taylor said, was Jim Meacus — “A father figure when I needed one the most.” There was George Novak, the Woodland Hills football coach who saw Taylor cutting grass one day and, “pulled over to ask this tall, lanky, 6-foot kid who was about 160 pounds if I wanted to play football.”
There, too, was his Akron coach, Gerry Faust, and his late agent, Gary Wichard, and his Hall presenter, Jimmy Johnson, who drafted and worked him so hard he told a story.
“After about the fifth day of training camp my rookie year, after the heat, the twoa-days, Jimmy yelling, I called my mom and said, ‘You know, mom, I don’t know if this NFL thing is for me.’ ” Taylor said. She said, ‘Well, you can come home and get a job or [go] in the military — or you can get your butt back to bed and get to practice.’ “
He chuckled then. Everyone did. He then asked everyone who played with him with the Dolphins to stand up. They all did, from active Dolphins Cameron Wake, John Denny and Mike Pouncey to retired teammates like Sam Madison, Patrick Surtain, Todd Wade and Channing Crowder.
“This is your time too, fellas,” Taylor said.
He called some out. O.J. McDuffie, for, “teaching me every snap mattered,” he said. Richmond Webb, for, “having to practice against you every (day) — you’d totally destroy my confidence with a smile.” He thanked Zach Thomas, because, “Nobody prepared harder than you. You refused to be outworked.” (Thomas, the brother of Taylor’s ex-wife, Katina, did not attend the ceremony).
“And of course Dan Marino,” Taylor said. “You know Dan. As a Pittsburgh kid walking into the Dolphins locker room, it was like visiting the Hall of Fame and a Hollywood movie premiere.”
He thanked most of his coaches — “And there were a lot of them” — leaving out only Cam Cameron, who went 1-15 in his only season with the Dolphins. He thanked his team’s owners, even Washington’s Dan Snyder.
“I know I didn’t give you much— 2½ sacks,” he said. “I stole a lot of money from you but I appreciate (it).”
Finally, he got to his siblings and children. One sister, Grace, is in the Army and flew from the demilitarized zone in South Korea. His three children, Isaiah, (14), Mason (12) and Zoe (11) brought more tears from Taylor.
“I never had a father, but there’s no bigger honor, no bigger blessing and no greater job in this world than being a father,” he said.
“I made it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But all I want in this world is for my kids to say, ‘He was a Hall of Fame dad.’ ”