I Am Closed - Part 2 #empathyforgrief podcast

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I AM Closed (Continued from Part 1) University of Michigan Days

Debra Hester: Now, tell me a little bit about your time at Michigan. I said you got your Michigan stuff on and, you know, I asked you for your playlist and I am going to add your playlist and I am going to take the liberty of, uh, adding the Michigan fight song to your playlist.

Dr. Billy Taylor: Sure. Yeah.

Debra Hester: I'm sure that got you riled up a many days, right? Oh

Dr. Billy Taylor: Yeah. Yeah. I had a great career at Michigan. I, played under the great hall of fame, Coach Glenn E. "Bo" Schembechler. And at the time I didn't like Coach Schembechler. He recruited me along with a lot of Ohio athletes. We're both from Barberton, Ohio, by the way. On a recruiting trip, you know, he squeezed your arms or asked if "your're soft, "how did you run all those touchdowns?" Made us lift weights and do pushups and other calisthenics. Under the clock, we have to run the 40 and the hundred-yard dash and all of that. And I had, I was a recruit with 57 offers. I had been traveling around the country. I'd never been treated like that. You know, all the coaches bring you in and wine and dine you. Assign a couple of players to you to show you around and you hang out and you have fun.

Dr. Billy Taylor: And then you, you know, you close it out with a meeting with the coach and that sort of thing. But with Coach Schembechler, it was work, work, work. Myself and one of my teammates, Tom Darden, uh, he's out of Sandusky, Ohio. We became roommates at Michigan, but we met on a recruiting trip and we talked about this Bo Schembechler. We said, we're never going to go to school there and play for this man. We said, he's crazy. He's out of his mind and all of that. But you know, destiny hit, we signed our letter of intent for the University of Michigan. We decided not to go to Miami of Ohio, where Bo was the head coach. After our freshman year at the university, Head Coach Bump Elliot resigned took another job actually at Iowa, Bo Schembechler was named head coach at the University of Michigan.

Dr. Billy Taylor: That's how he became our coach. And it was, I never would have went anywhere that he was the head coach to play for him. But, you know, God has a plan. You know, it was destiny, it turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen because, he became more than a coach, a father image, a mentor. He told us that those who stay will be champions, but it took a lot to stay because he pushed us so hard.

Dr. Billy Taylor: We lost maybe 15, 20 guys off the varsity. [Wow]. Because it was just too tough for them. You know, being a bright-eyed Sophomore we thought that's what it took to play ball at Michigan. And he always said those who stay will be champions. And it was true. We won two Big 10 championships. And we were undefeated. Our senior year, I was blessed to score the winning touchdown against Ohio State. I was an All-American, three years in a row and first-team all-Big 10, three years in a row. So I had a great career at Michigan and I have to contribute a lot of that to Bo Schembechler. I mean, I have to get out there and play and do these things, but I probably wouldn't have played as hard. I probably would not have been as successful if I wasn't coached by Bo. He pushed us physically, mentally.

Debra Hester: That's sort of how you got the title of your book, right?

Dr. Billy Taylor: Well, you know, he was my biggest cheerleader. I'm running the ball, you know, I get tackled, get up, Taylor, get up, get through the hole, get back up, you know.

The Knockdown After the Touchdowns

Dr, Billy Taylor: So, uh, fast-forwarding after the Michigan career, I got knocked down in many ways. And most people do in life, you know, there's, you don't have to be playing sports to get knocked down. So you can, you can get knocked down financially, physically of course, mentally, emotionally, socially, all of those things. And I experienced all of it, you know, and I had to get back up, get my life in order and to go on and be successful in life. You know, I don't wish the extremes that I went through on anybody, but like I say, who knows life's itinerary, but the almighty and so in my mom always told me there was a reason, a purpose for everything.

Dr. Billy Taylor: And I still struggle with that, but I accept it, you know. I questioned God, why take my mom my one and only mother, you know, at, uh, and she was only 60 years old. That's not old, you know? Yeah. And I'm like 19, 20 and I needed her, you know. And I'm sure my life would have turned out different had she lived, from a standpoint of a lot of the negative things that I went through. But once again, mom said everything happens for a reason and a purpose, you know? And I still wrestle with that today, you know?

Debra Hester: Okay. All right. But you stil...