Staff Writer
Nate Taylor, the former Georgia linebacker that his coach, Vince Dooley, nicknamed the "Tifton Termite," has a message for everyone reading this. Listen to your body. Listen to your doctors. Ask a lot of questions and get as much information as you can.
"I'm in full renal failure, I have no use of my kidneys at all, and that's due to diabetes," said Taylor, who walked on to the Bulldogs' squad in 1979 and wound up a four-year starter.
"If I could say anything to anybody, it would be to get tested if you feel you have a family history or anything of that nature. Just get tested. Go to the doctor and find out what's going on with your body. Listen to what they have to say, but also question it sometimes. It's not a bad thing to do and you're not being disrespectful, you're trying to find out what's going on."
Diabetes runs in the family on Taylor's father's side, he said, and last May, Taylor lost a leg due to a blood clot caused by diabetes. He's now on dialysis because his kidneys have stopped functioning.
Taylor is in need of a kidney transplant and is trying to raise money for the operation via a GoFundMe page: https://ift.tt/eb4C8c1. Any help Georgia fans can give to one of the top tacklers in school history, and a key figure in the Bulldogs' run to the 1980 national championship, would be appreciated.
"Even though I've had a rough go of it, I think I'm still in the fight," Taylor said. "I get up every morning and it's a new day to explore."
A native of Tifton, Ga., Taylor, who played from 1979-82, was a key part of three SEC championship teams and the 1980 national championship squad. He still ranks fifth on Georgia's career tackles list with 390. His 187 solo tackles rank ninth.
In 1979, after not playing in the first two games, injuries in the linebacker corps forced Taylor, a freshman listed at 5-foot-11 and 198 pounds, onto the field against South Carolina in the third game of the season. He not only played and played well the rest of the season, he led the team with 120 tackles, including 80 solo stops.
"I remember we were playing South Carolina here at home. I was No. 2 on the depth chart and (inside linebackers coach Chip Wilson) had told me, 'Nate, just go in and do the best you can until we figure something out.' And once I got a taste of it, I didn't want to lose it," Taylor said. "It was a wonderful feeling to me to be able to compete with the guys in the SEC, at such a high level."
The following season, during Georgia's undefeated march to the national championship, it was Taylor that led the Bulldogs' stout defense in tackles with 112.
"I just wanted to be a part of the team," he said. "I know that coaches used to say they weren't looking for the best 11 players on defense, they were looking for the best 11 players that play well together. And I wanted to be a part of that team that played well together.
Like Taylor, Robert Miles was a walk-on that earned a spot on the team and a scholarship. Both were starters on defense in 1980.
"He was a walk-on, I was a walk-on — now I came a couple of years before, but walk-ons stand tall with each other," said Miles, the longtime director of the Life Skills Program for the UGA Athletic Association.
"Nate came from a system that allowed him to come in as a freshman and get after it, and that's what he did. He was barely 200 pounds with all of his equipment on, but he had lifted weights and he was sound and strong, and he knew how to fill the hole. That's what I remember as much as anything else."
Twenty-six years after Taylor wrapped up his Georgia career, his son, Tony, as a senior led the 2006 defense with 96 tackles. Tony Taylor was also the Bulldogs' overall captain that season.
"We look alike, however, he's a lot faster than I was," Taylor said. "He did things on the field that I wished I could have done. It puts a smile on my face when I think about him and the career that he had here at Georgia.
"There are not a lot of guys that come as a father and a son and have an impact. He did a wonderful job and I'm proud of him."
It was heart and determination that helped Taylor achieve so much as a Georgia Bulldog, and now he's applying that same things to the medical challenges he's facing. He also wants others to learn from his situation so that they can avoid those challenges.
"People really need to take care of themselves because those parts don't grow back," he said of losing his leg. "You only get one set and you should do all you can to take care of what you have."
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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