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Brilliant Light, Persistent Shadow
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But the sense of detachment lingered for years. Taylor's cousin, David Walsh, said Taylor felt like an outsider in his father's house, the half-brother from troubled Homestead suddenly thrust into a new family in a middle-class home. Pedro and Sean were not close for years, relatives say. Walsh, who was more than 10 years older than Sean, remembers Pedro used to call him to try to understand what his son was thinking.
Pedro admittedly was the taskmaster, pushing his son into sports, going as far as to make him run sprints after football games. Many who know the father say Sean's competitiveness came from Pedro, who was an aggressive guard on the church basketball team and was a good but undersize football player growing up in the Miami area. From Junor, who would not speak for this story, came his generous side, but also his skeptical nature.
"She's the sweetest person in the world, but she doesn't trust you," Walsh said. "She and Sean are identical. She's just like him. She has a small circle of trust."
A friend with ties to both parents surmised after Taylor's death that the fallout from the custody issue was probably the root of some of his more notorious public incidents, including an arrest after a fight over some all-terrain vehicles that had been stolen, two spitting incidents in the NFL and some of his disputes with the Redskins over contracts and offseason workouts. "I think if you look at it you will find that's the case," said the friend, who did not want to offend either parent and asked to remain anonymous.
"I think Sean going to live with his dad was the difference between being on the streets and being in the NFL," Walsh said. "His father taught him a work ethic. He sent him to Gulliver Prep," an expensive private high school where he met his girlfriend Jackie. "Pedro was really instrumental in Sean's success. But at the same time their relationship wasn't a father-son relationship. His father helped him, but Sean was always looking for the person to say: 'Sean don't do this. Sean don't do that.' "
There was always a sense Taylor was searching for family.
* * *
While some say Taylor struggled early with Jackie's father, Rene Garcia, a wealthy Miami businessman, the two men came to gain a healthy respect for each other when they each realized the other's devotion to Jackie.
After he became a professional football star and the money came pouring in, Taylor doted on the family members to whom he was the closest. He took Walsh on trips to places such as Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Las Vegas, often never revealing where they were going. "Don't bother packing. We'll just buy stuff when we get there," Taylor would tell his cousin.
When Taylor was considering buying the house in Palmetto Bay two years ago, he drove his great-grandmother to see the property, stopping at the gate outside for a peek in the yard. As Clarke gazed through the bars he said, "I'm getting this for you, my mother and Jamaal," his youngest half-brother.
Each of his three half-brothers and sisters had rooms in the house, as did Junor and Clarke. Taylor also bought Johnson a car. Still, despite his hopes of uniting his mother's side of the family under one roof, it did not happen. Clarke didn't want to leave her ackee trees and Junor, some family members say, found the house too big and preferred the home where she lived.
When he arrived in Washington in 2004, Taylor seemed unsure whom to believe in. For the first time, he was away from the few friends and family he trusted and thus rebelled against attempts to corral him. He left a rookie symposium and skipped voluntary minicamps because he thought anything that wasn't mandatory was unnecessary, those who know him best say.
