A love for baseball and Detroit youths is still a winning recipe for Coach Norm Taylor

Perhaps as much as any sport, baseball is strongly associated with numbers.

Numbers presented as batting averages, on-base percentages, quality starts and a plethora of other statistical compilations are often used to measure the performance of individual players and teams.

But for longtime Detroit Public School League baseball coach Norm Taylor, it is the No.

3 that has a special significance he places above any other number connected to the game.

That's because it represents the three impeccable mentors who inspired Taylor as a young man growing up on Detroits west side to love the game of baseball and his community for life.

I stand on the shoulders of some great men that gave their lives for the betterment of our community, the 61-year-old Taylor said while paying tribute to the late Ron Thompson, whose unrelenting guidance to student-athletes representing the West Side Cubs, St.

Cecilia Beacons, Mackenzie High School and Detroit St.

Martin De Porres earned his enshrinement into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame; Charlie Moore, a retired Detroit Public Schools administrator, U.S.

Army veteran and founder of the Yankees Little League Baseball Organization in Detroit; and, his big brother Thomas Taylor, who introduced baseball to a young Norm Taylor at the tender age of 4.

Because of those men, I believe in legacies and being a part of a cause bigger than myself.

During the afternoon of April 9, a distinctive black and gold jacket worn by Taylor with his name and title embroidered on the front, along with the baseball equipment he was unloading from his vehicle parked next to the baseball diamond at Martin Luther King Jr.

Senior High School, made it clear that one of the most important causes in Taylors life is coaching the boys baseball team.

On this day, there was no recording of scores or statistics.

However, the fact that the ballplayers and coaches were totally locked-in on the task at hand throughout a two-hour practice, in conditions that felt considerably colder than the 41-degree reading that the Weather Channel reported at the time, spoke to how seriously the entire King team takes the game of baseball.

My brother always said that the best time to practice is when you dont want to, stated Taylor, who received some of his earliest baseball lessons from his brother Thomas 15 years Norms senior while throwing a rubber ball against a wall outside the former McKerrow Elementary School, 4800 Collingwood, in the Nardin Park neighborhood.

Its important that we learn how to persevere and push through.

We use this type of language with our children, but rarely are they placed in a position where they have to do this.

So, I tell our guys when times are tough, or when the weather is rough, we get tougher.

Its just one of those core values from my brother that I try to pass on to my teams because it worked for me.For 36 years, Taylor has shared his core values with scholar athletes he has coached in basketball and baseball at five different Detroit high schools.

Taylors high school coaching journey began in 1989 seven years after his own high school graduation from Cass Tech (Class of 1982) where he was a standout on the basketball and baseball teams when he became the head coach of the junior varsity basketball team and assistant varsity basketball coach at Mumford High School.

Fast-forward to 1995 and Taylor would receive an opportunity to focus his high school coaching solely on his favorite sport growing up baseball when he became the head baseball coach at Henry Ford High School.

As a head high school baseball coach in Detroit, Taylor has seen several of his players earn scholarships and many more become productive members of the Detroit community by applying life lessons they learned from baseball.

There have been big wins for Taylors teams on the playing field as well, including when his Henry Ford Trojans defeated the Southwestern Prospectors, 8-2, to win the first Detroit Public School League baseball championship played at Comerica Park in 2000.

Still, despite everything Taylor has witnessed through the years, he says that, as a coach, there is always an opportunity for him to see something new.

And when that happens, Taylor has been known to get very excited, which was the case on April 9 as his current shortstop at King, Tyler Hill, looked mighty comfortable gobbling up grounders despite the cold weather.

Ive never seen a kid get that good that quick; he didnt even know what a double was before he started playing for us, Taylor said about Hill, a senior, who also has gotten good enough to be the Crusaders' No.

2 pitcher.

Tylers freshman year, I saw him throwing a tennis ball in front of the school and I said, Son, have you ever played baseball? He said: No sir.' And he had me right there with his respectful reply.But thats not all, Tyler has a 3.9 grade point average.

Hes an AAU boxer who does his roadwork in the morning.

And Tyler leads by example.

Any man alive would love to have him for a son, and he can be my son right now.

During a brief pause in the action at practice moments before batting practice began Hill said he also was proud to be a part of the King Crusaders baseball family.

When I met Coach, he told me I should come to practice and ever since then Ive been dedicated to it.

I gave him my word, said Hill, a student in Kings MSAT (Mathematics, Science and Technology) program, who looks forward to studying computer engineering in college.

What I get out of this is the teamwork and the team morale I love these guys.

Unlike Coach Taylors childhood days on Detroits west side where one summer he says he proudly rode his trusty five-speed bike with his baseball glove on the handlebars to games and practices affiliated with programs sponsored by the Diehl Boys Club (now Diehl Boys & Girls Club), Detroit PAL, Kronk Recreation Center and the Detroit Parks & Recreation Department most students today enter high school with far less exposure to baseball than Taylor had.

Therefore, the ability to spot students that may be interested in giving baseball an honest try, is a talent that Taylor has had to lean into more in recent years.Nonetheless, there was a special time where Taylor found himself sending one of his baseball players over to Kings nationally recognized football program, which, at the time, was coached by the late, great Dale Harvel.

The player was King Class of 2014 graduate Avonte Maddox, who signed with the Detroit Lions in March as a defensive back after playing seven seasons for the 2025 Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles.

Before then, Maddox played collegiately at the University of Pittsburgh.

And Taylor, who had an opportunity to coach Maddox in youth baseball before Maddox entered high school, watched it all evolve.

It was before Avontes junior year in high school and we were coming back from playing baseball in the summer, and Avonte was telling me that he might need a little break and that he wasnt ready to play football, recalls Taylor, who played baseball with Maddoxs father, Michael Maddox, as a kid with the Yankees Little League Baseball Organization.

But his dad and his Uncle Charles, along with myself, had been talking to Avonte about playing football that season because he put in so much work with his dad on the (Detroit) Dolphins (youth football team).

Everyone had come to an agreement because it was all about choosing the best route to get him to college.

It really didnt take a whole lot to convince Avonte to come out for football after we talked about it some more, and then I spoke to Coach Harvel and told him that Avonte would be coming out that Friday.

Coach Harvel was a little wary because Avonte was coming out at a late date before the season.

But when I checked back with Coach Harvel after the practice, he said: Where did you get this kid from? Hes the baddest joker on the field.

And the rest is history.

More: Detroit police guarding 'castle' complex whose owner sparred with city on social mediaMore: At Southfield Target, protesters call for boycott after retailer rolls back DEIThe joy in Taylors voice as he tells that story cannot be denied.

And Taylor says the challenge of trying to help all of his scholar-athletes find positive outcomes regardless of their strengths and weaknesses is what continues to drive the mission he has been on at King, which began in 2001.

I enjoy the challenge of trying to make everyone better, and not just in baseball, said Taylor, who also is the proud husband of Regina Taylor, and proud father of Gregory Johnson and Nylah E.

Taylor.

Ill never leave the city of Detroit.

And baseball is a great sport to help mold the characters of young people, and help Black boys grow.

Thats why we try to travel the country in the summer, so that our young people can elevate their experience in baseball and life.

Summer conditions seemed to be a long way off on April 9 as the Crusaders prepared to host their opening Public School League game of the season scheduled for April 11 against Mumford.

But working with the team alongside Coach Taylor were two assistants that shared his optimism and long-term vision for the young men they mentor.

I dont have any kids out there anymore, but I come here to help out because I know how important it is for our young men to have someone teaching positive things to them, Ron Cleveland, a 64-year-old retired DTE employee said.

Coach Norm preaches to the young men about being an asset, not only to your family and school, also your community.

But he says first be an asset to yourself.

Clevelands statement was echoed by Maurice Yanish, who was as active as any player throughout the practice.

My intention was to be a spectator when my oldest son was playing here in 2015.

But Coach Norm thought I had enough knowledge to really help these young men, so I have been coaching here ever since, said the 59-year-old Yanish, a 1984 graduate of Cody High School, who Taylor credited with keeping the King baseball program alive during a time when Taylor was dealing with health issues.

Its been very fulfilling.

I enjoy working with these young guys because I had someone working with me when I was younger, and I try to pour into them what was poured into me.As long as theyre willing to listen, Im willing to share the information.

Ill probably come out here until they bury me.Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms.

In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the citys neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities.

Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep.

Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/.

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A baseball journey made In Detroit Norm Taylor, 61, has been a part of Detroits baseball community virtually all of his life.

Growing up he played for multiple youth teams long before high school.

A proud Cass Technician (Class of 1982), Taylor still managed to receive additional baseball experience during his high school years, when he attended Detroit St.

Martin De Porres for a year and was coached by Hall of Famer Ron Thompson.

Taylor takes pride in discussing his current team at Martin Luther King Jr.

Senior High School.

Conversations with Taylor also provide him an opportunity to reflect on the players and teams he has witnessed in the Detroit Public School League spanning from 1979 to the present.

To capture some of the rich Detroit PSL baseball history that Taylor has been a part of, he was asked to name some of the best Detroit PSL baseball players from the past that he witnessed as a player and a coach.

That list, along with King High Schools 2025 baseball roster appears below: 2025 Detroit Martin Luther King Jr.

Senior High School baseball rosterBrian EllumTyler HillTristian JamesDaniel Jamison Demetrius JohnsonKhalil JordanKaden LynnMihlan McKenneyNoah RichardsonJermaine RodgersJaden SmithCamari VarnadoBrandon Walker Jr.Norm Taylors short list of all-time Detroit PSL favorites listed with their high schools:Derrick Walker, Jamel Terry, Mark Brown, Avonte Maddox, King; Lenard Wallace, Carl Burns, William Nash, Eddie Eady, Marvin Fields, Chadsey; Shawn Crockett, Antonio Mitchell, Derron Washington, Mumford; Hector Gutierrez, William Holmes, Nolan Wilson, Emanuel Clark, Western; Raymond Stephens, Jason Cannon, Cass; Gregory Johnson, Joseph Norman, Jeff Laflavor, Renaissance; Mark Gamage, Osborn; Steve Beck, Cuba Gregory, Southeastern; Mark Washington, Cordell Ross, Northwestern; Damon Webb, Mackenzie; Anthony Etter, Joseph Cole, Henry Ford; Vaughn Calloway, Kettering.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Given a choice, Norm Taylor picks baseball and coaching Detroit youth.

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