Mentee by chance, friends by choice

covnews.com
Mentee by chance, friends by choice
Matt Smith msmith@covnews.com
In an empty gym at Memorial Middle School Thursday morning, a
familiar face was shooting baskets as students hurried to lunch.
In front of a few cameras and onlookers, Rockdale County Sheriff’s
Deputy Oliver Taylor sank free throw after free throw, with an old
friend by his side.
The unlikely pair formed a friendship over 20 years ago in New York
City, but Thursday, Taylor and renowned pianist and composer
David Gurwitz reunited after a decade apart.
“Look at him; he’s packing heat and he’s shooting,” Gurwitz joked.
“Do the Hawks have anyone who can shoot as well as him?”
As Taylor squared up for his next shot, his 11th make in a row, he
joked back with Gurwitz.
“The last thing you lose is shooting,” Taylor said.
“I never had it,” Gurwitz quipped.
Friendship begins
Mentee by chance, friends by choice about:reader?url=http://www.covnews.com/archives/47670/
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Taylor's basketball career had humble beginnings; he grew up in
Queens, New York, with a dream just like thousands of others. But
Taylor soon realized that he had a special skill on the court, and in
high school, it made his name known throughout the country.
“I was just an inner-city kid from Far Rockaway, New York,” Taylor
said. “I was a kid with a dream. I took a chance on something I
loved. People felt that I was pretty good and I played in high school
and became a ‘high-school star.’”
Taylor did star at the high-school level, averaging 38 points a game
his senior year at Far Rockaway High School.
He wanted to continue his career at the collegiate level, but there
was a roadblock.
Taylor didn’t do well on the SAT, the college entrance exam that
most colleges and universities use to determine a student’s
readiness for college work.
But a stroke of luck, and timing, changed Taylor’s life forever.
In another part of New York City, Gurwitz was celebrating the birth
of his son, one of four, when he saw a New York Times article about
a top area basketball player who was struggling to progress in his
career.
Never one to turn down an opportunity to help another, Gurwitz
took a liking to this prep basketball star he had never met.
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Gurwitz' kindness
“I guess the timing was great,” Gurwitz said. “My son (was just
born) … You’re just so amazed that all of his hands and feet are all
there and you’re like, ‘God, you’ve given me a child; what can I do?’
I saw the article (on Oliver) and so the timing was a major part of it.
Also, I come from a family that’s always been giving … you live
from giving.”
For Gurwitz, kindness wasn’t taken lightly. He owed his own
existence to the kindness of strangers.
During World War II, Gurwitz’s grandfather lost most of his money
in Europe. He purchased a car that allowed him to help feed
starving civilians, and during that time, Gurwitz’s father learned how
to dismantle the car and fix scrap parts.
Gurwitz’s father eventually served in the Russian army, using his
automotive know-how to save his life.
Gurwitz’s father had been given a chance to live, and now Gurwitz
had the opportunity to help Taylor.
“It all hit me at once,” Gurwitz said. “If I could help him, maybe he
could go places…”
First contact
So with this idea of helping Taylor, Gurwitz made first contact.
“David Gurwitz actually read the article (written about my struggle),”
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Taylor said. “He just wanted to give back. He contacted my school
and talked to my coach. I came to school the following day and my
coach said some guy named David Gurwitz wants to tutor you.”
Taylor and Gurwitz talked on the phone, and their relationship grew
from there.
“It was great,” Taylor said. “You have to think, (this was) someone
you knew nothing about. A different culture. A different background.
A different mind frame. (David) shared a lot of stuff with me and
made me see things differently, especially coming from the
inner-city.
“Just knowing that I had to continue working hard (helped push
me),” he said. “The standardized test said I wasn’t ready for
college-material work. David told me that I was working hard, and
they can’t tell (me) that. As long as you continue working hard, you
can succeed.”
Gurwitz said that getting Taylor to buy into what he was trying to
share was easy, and that the impact of his mentoring was not lost
on his star shooting guard.
“I had been a teacher at Stanley Kaplan Educational Center … It
was the biggest test preparation company in the world,” Gurwitz
said. “So, I was a tutor. I knew how to teach math and writing and
that’s what we did. I drilled him.
“You’re dealing with someone with so much self-respect and drive,”
he said. “That makes it easier. He was willing to learn. He doesn’t
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have a big ego. He could have. He (wanted) the help.”
The basketball star from a single-parent home had never had a
mentor show so much interest in his activities off the court.
“Being the leading scorer in high school, everybody wants you for
something,” Taylor said. “(Gurwitz) was more concerned (about my
career) from an educational standpoint. (He was concerned with)
what I was going to do in life after basketball. If you don’t make it in
basketball, what can you do in life?”
Gurwitz, an avid Celtics fan, saw greatness in Taylor apart from his
basketball skill.
“(I wanted him to realize) that basketball stops,” Gurwitz said. “Even
Larry Bird retired. You have to go on and anticipate in advance. You
look at Magic (Johnson); what made him so great was the
anticipation. That’s something people need (to learn). It was not
difficult because his athletic training made it easier. A lot of athletics
is about decision-making."
Gurwitz, is no stranger to the basketball court himself, having
played basketball in Madrid after graduating from college. He used
his experience with other coaches to help guide Taylor.
“I (knew Celtics’ legendary coach) Red Auerbach,” he said. “I spent
a lot of time with him. (I’d pick his brain and find out) how’d you pick
Larry Bird? How’d you pick Bill Russell? How’d you pick Dave
Cowens? I learned from the master how he saw them before
anybody else did. I think that way naturally. Oliver got it right away.”
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Taylor remains appreciative of the guidance Gurwitz provided in his
youth, allowing him to reach his dream of playing at the collegiate
level.
“At the end of the day, (going to college and getting a degree) is
your own testimony,” Taylor said. “In your mind, you know what
you’ve been through (in) your experience. That’s the best teacher. I
can be successful in whatever I do.”
While Gurwitz's help allowed Taylor to get his collegiate career
moving, it was Taylor himself who jump-started his legend on the
court. After two seasons at Miami-Dade, he joined Seton Hall and
head coach P.J. Carlesimo.
College success
Taylor spent two seasons as a little-known point guard, but in 1991,
he made his splash on the national stage. Taylor averaged 10.9
points his senior year, helping the Seton Hall to a 19-8 regular
season record.
He helped the Pirates to the Big East Championship that season,
their first in 12 attempts, hitting a last-second layup in the
quarterfinals against Pittsburgh before sending Villanova packing
with a game-winning jumper in a 74-72 Pirates’ victory. In the
championship final against Georgetown, Seton Hall routed the
Hoyas 74-62, withTaylor earning the Big East’s Dave Gavitt Trophy
as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
With the title, Taylor earned a spot in history alongside Big East
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greats like Chris Mullin and Patrick Ewing.
“The Big East Tournament - that weekend was my shining
moment,” Taylor said. “People perform at the highest level there. To
be able to walk away with the MVP trophy in front of some of the
top draft picks in the NBA draft (that year), it proved my hard work.
(If) you work hard, you’re going to have your time.”
Even Taylor’s choice to attend Seton Hall had a bit of Gurwitz's
influence. Taylor said that the two remained close during his time in
college and that his decision to join the Pirates was in part due to
the lessons that Gurwitz taught him early in his career. Taylor
wanted to give back to others like his mentor.
“From the neighborhood I’m from, you see all these other players,
but no one comes from where you come from,” Taylor said. “So you
really can’t relate to them. So when you have someone from within
your town or city, it’s easy to go back home and give inspiration to
kids. I didn’t have that coming out of high school.”
Taylor finished his educational pursuit with two degrees – an
associate’s degree in general studies and a bachelor’s degree in
communication.
But as Taylor’s collegiate playing days came to a close, so did his
relationship with his mentor.
Life in the way
After college, Taylor spent 11 successful years overseas playing
professional basketball in Puerto Rico and Israel. While the
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competition was great, life got in the way of his relationship with
Gurwitz.
Taylor was constantly on the move, changing numbers, playing ball
and raising a family, and the two grew apart and lost contact.
Then in 2001, Taylor returned to the United States to visit his
brother in Rockdale County, and fate forced him to stay. The
terrorist attacks of 9/11 happened just two days into Taylor’s visit,
and the point guard decided that his playing career was over.
Taylor liked Georgia, and Rockdale County especially, and decided
to make it his home.
He settled in Rockdale County, working for a security company
before joining the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office.
It was actually his brother, founder and CEO of HI ROC Records,
who found Gurwitz.
“(My brother asked) me one day, ‘Have you seen David Gurwitz?’
Taylor said. “I said no.
“‘Well,’ his brother said, ‘he’s doing music.’”
Taylor was shocked, because while he was overseas playing
basketball, Gurwitz was making a name for himself in music.
Gurwitz’s love for music began in college, but Taylor’s former
mentor had broken into the music industry, dazzling listeners with
his compositions on the piano.
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Taylor couldn’t believe it.
“I had to physically see that it was the same guy I knew,” he said.
Gurwitz’s musical talents weren’t just something he picked up. They
were there all along, unbeknownst to him.
A conversation with his cousin one day revealed to Gurwitz that his
mother had once played in Carnegie Hall, but it was a secret she
kept to herself.
“My mother never told me,” Gurwitz said. “So I have this blood in
me, of someone who was able to play in Carnegie Hall, and I have
this basketball (skill), so I developed this musical talent.”
The former college disc jockey released his first cassette 10 years
ago, and now, at the age of 54, his music is played throughout the
world.
The concert pianists’ light jazz arrangements have been used to
soothe children’s pain in hospitals, and he has performed at the
Special Olympics, bringing music to thousands of athletes trying to
chase their dreams, just like Taylor once did.
After gaining success in the music industry, Gurwitz set up a
personal website, allowing Taylor to track him down.
Finding a brother
Through Gurwitz’s personal website, Taylor contacted his former
mentor, almost sending Gurwitz off the road.
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“When I got (his) email, I was driving down the Palisades Parkway
in New York and almost had an accident,” Gurwitz said. “I contacted
him right away, and we’ve been back in touch since then.”
Taylor said that reuniting with Gurwitz was like passing your brother
on the street for the first time, and that the reunion was much
needed after a decade apart.
With smiles from ear to ear, the two entered the gym, a sort of
home away from home for the two unlikely friends, ready to share
their story of hope and determination.
“People come into your life for a reason,” Taylor said. “As a member
of the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office, we’re like a family; we’re
considered one. To be able to be in the schools and affect some of
the kids in any way, form or fashion, is a plus. I always reflect on
where it started with me.
“He (David) didn’t know one thing about me,” he said. “Who takes a
chance on that? You have to trust somebody and give them a
chance. I’m proof of that. All you have to do to people is be fair.”
Taylor is now using his position to help mentor Rockdale County
youths the same way Gurwitz mentored the former basketball
standout.
“When you have a positive, young male…who can have the life he’s
had and lead the life he is now leading, it’s very inspirational to an
agency and it’s good to know that he can touch other’s (lives),”
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Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said of Taylor. “As a mentor,
you don’t know which way your mentee is going to go. You don’t
know.
“He’s grabbed that (mentor) torch from David and he’s carried it on
to other young men and women,” he said. “It’s good to see him in
this role. Now he’s in a career where he’s … being an influence in
someone’s life. I know having him … should inspire, and is
inspiring, young people.”
With their bond renewed, Taylor and Gurwitz have both seen the
fruits of their labors rewarded. But, both know that neither could
have succeeded without the other when the seed of friendship was
planted so many years ago in New York.
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