Just call it Taylor Town.
Three generations are represented when the Oak Bay High School Breakers girls’ basketball team plays at home this season.
Lynden Taylor plays on a floor named in honour of her grandfather, while her father coaches.
Graham Taylor jumped at the chance to coach his Grade 12 daughter when the opportunity presented itself this season.
Legendary Oak Bay coach Gary Taylor, 87, takes in as many games as he can to watch his granddaughter play and his son coach.
The floor in the main gym is named Gary Taylor Court to commemorate his many successes in leading the Bays to high school glory in the late 1950s and 1960s with six Island titles and four B.C. championship game appearances, including two provincial titles, before becoming head coach of the University of Victoria Vikings.
Son Graham Taylor played at Oak Bay before winning three national titles with Ken Shields’ UVic Vikes dynasty.
“It’s an awesome feeling, and a true honour, to play on a floor named after my grandfather for all he did for this school,” said Lynden Taylor.
With dad on the bench.
“It was a great opportunity to get involved again,” said Graham Taylor, who coached the Oak Bay boys’ team from 1998 to 2003.
“It’s fun and very special to be coaching my daughter on a floor named after my dad because he was such a great mentor to me.”
Graham Taylor said he has taken away something from not only his dad, but also every coach he played for, including Shields and Don Horwood.
“It was a great experience and I was fortunate to have played for Ken [Shields].”
Although Graham Taylor came to Oak Bay after Horwood’s halcyon era of the 1970s — the floor in the other Oak Bay gym is named for Horwood — he got to play for Horwood on Team B.C. at the Canada Games.
“I took my former coaches’ teaching styles and adapted them into my own style,” said Graham Taylor.
You would think Gary and wife Margot Taylor — an Oak Bay graduate herself — have had their fill of hoops in gyms, but they try to watch as many Oak Bay girls’ and boys’ games as they can, especially this season.
“It doesn’t get any better than this. I still love it,” said Gary Taylor, who later as principal, also built up the powerhouse sports teams at Lambrick Park Secondary.
He said he always felt the heartbeat of a school emanated from the gym.
Oak Bay (5-2), meanwhile, was back on Gary Taylor Court on Tuesday evening taking on the Royal Bay Ravens (7-0) in a battle of Island girls’ heavyweight teams. The Ravens won 69-47 to capture the Lower Island Triple-A title ahead of the Lower Islands tournament next week at Royal Bay. The Island championship is Feb. 14-16 at Nanaimo District Secondary and B.C. championships Feb. 27 to March 2 at the Langley Events Centre.
The Double-A girls’ Island championship is Feb. 14-16 at Lambrick Park and the provincials Feb. 27 to March 3 at the LEC. The Single-A Island tournament is Feb. 22-23 in Duncan.
