ExtremeMonday, July 16, 2007 9:20 PM CDT

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Taylor an asset on football field and in Springfield

By Todd Engle
todd.engle@lee.net

BLOOMINGTON -- Winston Taylor’s office during the week is in Springfield, where he serves as a legislative liaison for the Capital Development Board. It’s how the University of Illinois product is putting his degree to use.

“We build everything vertical for the state. If things are going on in legislators’ districts, they’ll call me and I’ll give them the answers,” Taylor said.

Taylor helps to get bills passed that help his department and amend those that could hurt.

But on Saturdays, his office has padded walls and artificial turf over a hockey rink, where he’s serving a second stint as the middle linebacker for the Bloomington Extreme. There he’s able to showcase the skills that helped get him to Illinois in the first place.

When asked how he was doing during a midday break last week, Taylor responded “sleepy”.

It’s understandable, considering chaotic combination of indoor football in Bloomington and special sessions in Springfield, even working some Saturdays as he did two weeks ago before the Extreme’s home finale.

“The governor called a special session, all the way until they pass the budget,” Taylor said. “I was lucky enough that everything finished in time to go play. As long as the legislators are in session, I have to be here.”

His career in government is sure to outlast his football job, though he appears to have a spot with the Extreme for as long as he wants it. He led the team in tackles last year and has recorded 26 tackles, an interception, a sack and a safety in three games.

His impact with the Extreme was nothing short of immediate.

“It was just like putting on an old shoe. After one night of practice to review everything, he was ready to go,” Bloomington coach Ted Schmitz said. “That was an outstanding defensive game (against Billings). If we didn’t have him in the middle, I’m not sure we’d win, let alone dominate. That’s how good we are with him.”

Taylor had the chance to pursue football last year, when rules in the Arena Football League finally allowed players to play on only one side of the ball.

“My agent got a call from the Columbus Destroyers and Austin Wranglers. When that happened, I had to sit down and see if I wanted to make these teams, and plus I’d have to leave my daughter,” Taylor said. “As I weighed pros and cons, it wasn’t worth it. So I decided to stay here and keep working.”

Taylor’s daughter, Tori, is enough to keep him busy when he’s away from both offices.

“She’s 3, but you can’t tell her that. She thinks she’s 15,” Taylor said with a laugh.

Taylor is 25, and there’s a chance his football career might end after the UIF playoffs conclude. He likes stability, and the schedule of a football player looking for a shot is anything but.

And though he’s a young man — even by football standards — he’s noticing the strain.

“It takes more out of you than running on a full-size field. You still have these 6-4, 300-pound linemen, and they take up more space. It’s harder to avoid contact, and that wall does not give at all,” Taylor said. “The turf takes a toll on your body, too. It’s a combination of all of that, and it takes me longer to recover after a game.”

If these are the last games of his career, then he’s going out right, starting with the win over Billings.

“Everything we did, it was working. The energy of the team was unbelievable,” Taylor said. “They have a lot of trash-talkers on that team, and I love talking trash, so that was fun. They got quiet real quick when we started to really roll.”

Taylor went to college to get a job in the government, so substituting a helmet and shoulder pads for shirt and tie isn’t all bad. Besides, trash talk on the football field has nothing on partisan politics.

“If you talk to different people about the same subject, their views are so different, it’s amazing,” Taylor said. “This experience is unbelievable because there’s so much you find you don’t know about the government.”

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Winston Taylor, Bloomington Exteme, linebacker, celebrates after recovering a Rock River Raptors turnover, Saturday, June 16, 2007. (Pantagraph, David Proeber)

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