John Mabry: QB's sister guiding force in Taylor family
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BY JOHN MABRY / Lincoln Journal Star
I don’t about KU’s chances tonight against Nebraska, but I do know the Jayhawks had better be ready when Zac Taylor calls “326 Z Streak.”
“Works every time,” Taylor said.
The play was suggested by Taylor’s sister Kathryn, who picked it up watching television. Apparently that call — or some variation of it, Zac said with a smile — produced NU’s lone touchdown against USC.
When she’s not calling plays, Kathryn is providing guidance for Zac and the rest of the Taylor family in other ways.
“She keeps us all humble,” Zac said. “She doesn’t have any negatives in her life when it comes to how she looks at things.
“She really makes you think about how you treat other people.”
Kathryn is 21, and she has Down syndrome. Today, she and her parents — Julie and Sherwood — will be taking part in the Capital City Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome (9 a.m., Antelope Park).
My guess is that they won’t be crowning a winner of the Buddy Walk, but don’t think Kathryn won’t be looking for a chance to make a race of it.
You think Zac is a competitor? Kathryn is an Oklahoma Special Olympics state champ in swimming.
“She’s a really good swimmer. She’s just been that way, ever since she was little,” Julie Taylor said from the family’s home in Norman, Okla. “I was kind of concerned about Kathryn. I didn’t know how that would go. She learned when she was probably 3 and I mean never looked back. I’ve never had to worry about her in the water.”
Kathryn’s father calls her The Dominator because of her swimming prowess. The family, which includes younger brother Press and younger sister Quincy, is just as proud of Kathryn’s accomplishments out of the pool.
She graduated from high school last year.
“It was pretty cool,” Kathryn said. “There was a big party. Everybody came.”
Julie said Zac, who is 21 months older than Kathryn, is “real good” about checking in with his sister a few times a week.
“When they were little, they were just best buddies,” Julie said. “They were always together.”
Kathryn likes football but isn’t always glued to the action.
“She likes to come to the games, if she has enough to do at the game,” Julie said. “If she has her binoculars and we’ve bought her a program and all that, then she loves it.”
As for Kathryn’s Down syndrome, it has never been a big issue for the Taylors.
“She was just kind of thrown into life, you know?” Julie said. “She was kind of dragged everywhere and expected to go with us everywhere and expected to behave, and nobody really cut her much slack.
“It just hasn’t been that big of a deal. I know that sounds weird. It just hasn’t.”
The big deal is in the rare instance Kathryn loses a swimming event. It happened once, believe it or not.
“That was not pretty,” Julie said. “That did not go over well.”
Kathryn’s activities include working at the student cafeteria at OU and keeping up with the weather. In addition to her talents as a football strategist, she is fascinated with the study of meteorology.
“I’m really good at it,” she said. “I’m always on the computer looking it up.”
I predict a lot of sunshine in Lincoln today.
Kathryn Taylor is in town.
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com.
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