The Donald Huff Award
[Joy Taylor, D.C. Coaches Association]
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It's funny to hear Joy Taylor say that until a couple of years ago she had never been to a high school football or basketball game. Today, the games at D.C. public schools would not be the same without her influence.
Taylor has been a driving force behind the D.C. Council re-allocating $2.3 million from the schools budget last year to provide new equipment and uniforms for teams D.C. public school teams. She also was influential in helping Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) and the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission reach an agreement last spring on a $21.5 million project to add FieldTurf surfaces and dramatically renovate the facilities at six DCPS high schools. Plans are underway for four more schools' fields to receive similar facelifts this year.
Taylor does all of this as a volunteer. Even though her biography says she is Director of Membership for the D.C. Coaches Association, she is a voice and advocate for all children at D.C. Public Schools.
"She put a new face on D.C. high school sports," said Daryl Tilghman, the athletic director and football coach at Theodore Roosevelt. "At one point, this was a bad place to come to play. From her gumption, she went out and did things other people claimed they'd do, but never did. She actually did what she said she'd do."
When she's not pushing her ideas on city councilmembers and officials at the D.C. Public Schools headquarters on North Capitol Street, she can be found working the concessions stand at a school event or shepherding students on visits to college campuses, like she did in Philadelphia last month when more than 100 DCPS students went there to participate in the Penn Relays.
"Athletics is something that everyone gets on board," Taylor said. "It's such a great vehicle for success, and I don't want to let it slide because we don't have leadership. There are so many positive influences [in sports] that can give kids a chance, and we need to give them those opportunities."
-- Alan Goldenbach
