Lawrence Taylor
| Position | Outside Linebacker |
| College | University of North Carolina |
| NFL Draft | 1981, 2nd pick overall, New York Giants |
| Pro Career | 13 seasons |
| NFL Career Sacks | 132.5 |
Lawrence Julius Taylor (born February 4, 1959, in Williamsburg, Virginia) is a retired Hall of Fame American football player. He was also known by the nicknames "L.T." and "Godzilla".
The NFL years
In 1981, Taylor was drafted by the NFL's New York Giants as the # 2 pick overall. He was named 1981's " NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year" by the Associated Press. He produced double-digit sacks seasons consecutively from 1986 through 1990, with his career high of 20 1/2 sacks coming in 1986.
Taylor won the 1986 NFL's "Most Valuable Player" award, and is one of just two defensive players in history to receive that honor (former Minnesota Viking Alan Page is the other). Because of his dominance on the defensive side of the ball, he is widely acknowledged as one of the most feared players to ever step onto the football field. He was also a key player in the Giants defense, nicknamed "The Big Blue Wrecking Crew." Taylor helped lead the Giants to Super Bowl XXI and XXV victories. He won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award 3 times(1981, 1982, 1986) and was selected to play in 10 pro bowls
By the time Taylor retired in 1993, he had amassed 1,088 tackles, 132.5 sacks(not counting the 9.5 sacks he recorded as a rookie because sacks did not become an official statistic untill 1982), 9 interceptions, 134 return yards, 2 touchdowns, 33 forced fumbles, 11 fumble recoveries, and 34 fumble return yards.
Drugs, sex, and injuries
He often played with pain, taking the field and performing despite injuries, such as torn shoulder ligaments, a detached pectoral muscle, a hairline fractured tibia and a broken bone in the foot. However, he is perhaps best known for a sack on Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann's during a 1985 Monday Night Football game that inadvertently resulted in a compound fracture of Theismann's right leg. The image of a distraught Lawrence Taylor screaming for paramedics is one of sport's most heart-wrenching moments. Theismann never played again, and to his credit, he has never blamed Taylor for the injury. Taylor claims he has never seen the video clip of the play and says he never wants to.
A ruptured Achilles tendon sidelined him in 1992 and after only one more year of play, Taylor retired in 1993.
In contrast to his success on the football field, Taylor's personal life has been marred by drug usage and controversy. Once asked what he could do that no outside linebacker could, his answer was, "Drink", but his problems ran much deeper than alcohol. After admitting to cocaine abuse in 1985, he was suspended from football for 30 days in 1988 after failing a drug test. He went through drug rehab twice in 1995, only to later be arrested twice over a three year span for attempting to buy cocaine (from undercover officers).
In a November 2003 interview with the TV news magazine 60 Minutes, Taylor claimed that he hired prostitutes to opponents' hotel rooms the night before a game in an attempt to tire them out and that, at his peak, he spent thousands of dollars a day on narcotics.
Despite his damaged personal reputation courtesy of his drug use and run-ins with the law, his talents on the football field were spotlighted as he joined the Class of 1999 in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, after being selected the very first year of his eligibility.
After the NFL
Taylor once wrestled a match for the World Wrestling Federation against Bam Bam Bigelow. The match was a "special main event" at Wrestlemania XI, on April 2, 1995 in Hartford, Connecticut. Bigelow (after a loss and claims that Taylor was taunting him) had shoved Taylor when he was at ringside at a prior event, and the match was soon thereafter signed. Taylor ended up winning the match, fittingly with several shoulder tackles.
Taylor has recently been trying to start a career in acting, appearing in the Oliver Stone movie, Any Given Sunday where he played a character much like himself. He also appeared as himself on the HBO series The Sopranos. He added his voice to the controversial video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing the eccentric former football player B.J. Smith (catchphrase: "to succeed at the game of football, as in life, you've got to eliminate everything in your path in a blind rage"), poking fun at his tough-guy public image. He also added his voice to the the (unlicensed) Blitz: The League, the latter taking various claims from his book about the true nature of NFL Football and incorporating them into play.
Reference
Lawrence Taylor is actually one of four defensive players to win the AP MVP award.