Sports Editor's Note: This story came out of an interview when Johnny Taylor was hired during June to replace Beau Thompson, who took over as Farmington athletic director July 1. Since then Lane Taylor has become a starter on the Cardinal basketball varsity as a freshman.
FARMINGTON -- Every boy dreams of catching his father's ear affirming his personal, unique value as a son, trumping whatever dad may be preoccupied with at any given moment.
That may be a particularly daunting task for sons of a basketball coach while dad's actively engaged trying to win a down-to-the-wire ball game when the teams trade baskets and the lead changes hands late in the fourth quarter.
This exact scenario became a shining memory in the hearts of Farmington's first-year head boys basketball coach, Johnny Taylor, and his sons, Lane, 14, and Press, 10, while Johnny was coaching Valley Springs.
Lane, then 11, sat beside Johnny on the Valley Springs bench when the game took a couple of extraordinary turns in the final seconds.
The opponents were coached by Kelby Drennan, who is now at West Fork, and he pulled a rabbit out of the hat by calling time-out and when play resumed ran one of Johnny's plays to score a go-ahead basket.
Drennan had just served up the ultimate compliment by running one of Johnny's plays, but the result felt like a slap in the face and Johnny didn't have time to file an infringement of copyright lawsuit.
Boxing would term that a blow below the belt. Dazed, Johnny almost fell victim to the tactic.
"I'm sitting there saying, 'I can't believe this guy ran my play.' I was just in awe," Johnny said.
The clock was about to run out and Lane realized dad needed to set something up so he yelled, "Call time-out, call time-out."
Johnny did so and got the clock stopped with the ball still in the back-court -- saving just enough time to get one shot off.
Sometimes basketball comes down to who gets the last shot and in the huddle Johnny organized his squad. Preparation and a will to win infused a sense of hope as Johnny laid out the Xs and Os.
Valley Springs executed beautifully as Lane recalls, "I just told him to call a time-out. Some kid banked in a half-court shot and we won the game."
Press describes the outcome as the coolest thing he's ever seen his dad do in a basketball game to upstage an opponent.
"Listening to my brother during a basketball game. My brother told my father to call a time-out and they ended up winning the game because of that," Press said.
Lane admits he bragged on himself quite a bit after getting Johnny to call time-out, but acknowledges his dad had the right play to overcome that situation.
"It was last-second. I just told him to call a time-out," Lane said. "He drew up the play. It was all him."
Johnny, however, credits Lane with saving the game.
"He loves to tell that story. He was my helper that night," Johnny said.
The final score is lost among the sheer volume of games Johnny has coached in, yet the memory of taking back a win that looked like it had been stolen right out of Johnny's playbook remains fresh for the family.
Now Johnny laughs when he thinks back on what Drennan dared.
"He called a time-out -- and out of the time-out -- ran one of our plays and scored," Johnny said.
With Lane's help, Johnny was able to guide his team to victory and impress upon his sons a sense of worth in their father's heart. The brothers countenances light up like a glorious Fourth of July fireworks display every time they tell the story celebrating their father's affirmation.
Because he listened to his son's urgent plea, Johnny avoided defeat, achieving a triumph that ranks right up there with the two state championships he won at Star City.
"We won, though, that's all that matters," Johnny said. "We didn't run out of time and a kid made a half-court shot for us and we beat them."
