Researching Lawrence Taylor

After an All-American career at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1978–1981), Taylor was drafted by the Giants as the second overall selection in the 1981 NFL Draft. Although controversy surrounded the selection due to Taylor's contract demands, the two sides quickly resolved the issue. Taylor won several defensive awards after his rookie season. Taylor is both the first and currently only NFL player to win the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award in his rookie season. Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Taylor was a disruptive force at outside linebacker, and is credited with changing defensive game plans, defensive pass rushing schemes, offensive line blocking schemes, and offensive formations used in the NFL. Taylor produced double-digit sacks each season from 1984 through 1990, including a career-high of 20.5 in 1986. He also won a record three AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards (a record now tied by J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald), and was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) for his performance during the 1986 season. Taylor is one of only two defensive players in the history of the NFL (the other one being Alan Page in 1971) to have ever won the NFL MVP award, and no defensive player has won since him. He was named First-Team All-Pro in eight of his first ten seasons, and Second-team All-Pro in the other two. Taylor was a key member of the Giants' defense, nicknamed "The Big Blue Wrecking Crew", that led New York to victories in Super Bowls XXI and XXV. During the 1980s, Taylor, fellow linebackers Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, Brad Van Pelt, Brian Kelley, Pepper Johnson, and Hall of Famer Harry Carson gave the Giants linebacking corps a reputation as one of the best in the NFL. He is widely regarded as the best defensive player of his generation, and one of the greatest defensive players of all time.

Taylor has lived a controversial lifestyle, during and after his playing career. He admitted to using drugs such as cocaine as early as his second year in the NFL, and was suspended for 30 days in 1988 by the league for failing drug tests. His drug abuse escalated after his retirement, and he was jailed three times for attempted drug possession. From 1998 to 2009, Taylor lived a sober, drug-free life. He worked as a color commentator on sporting events after his retirement, and pursued a career as an actor. His personal life came under public scrutiny in 2010 when he was arrested for having sex with a 16-year-old girl. After he pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, Taylor was registered as a low-risk sex offender.

Taylor served in the United States Marine Corps from 1961 to 1964.

He served as a Deputy District Attorney for Los Angeles County from 1970 to 1971 and as a Deputy Public Defender from 1971 to 1972.

In the case of the People v. Charles Manson, Taylor was the trial court's legal advisor. He was also counsel to the California Supreme Court in the Onion Field murder case, and an independent Special Prosecutor retained by the Attorney General of Montana to conduct a one-year grand jury probe of government corruption from 1975 to 1976. Taylor was voted "professor of the year" during his tenure at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington from 1982 to 1985. He was also a Fulbright Professor of Law at Osaka University in Japan in 1985 and a visiting professor at Pepperdine University School of Law.

He founded and served as dean of the National College for DUI Defense from 1995 to 1996. He has lectured at over 200 lawyers' seminars in 38 states. He is the author of 12 books, including the well-known textbook on the subject of DUI, now in its seventh edition. On July 25, 2002, Taylor was presented with the NCDD's "Lifetime Achievement Award" at Harvard Law School.

Ambassador Taylor joined the Foreign Service in 1969 and was posted as vice consul in Santo Domingo. He then served as staff assistant in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs from 1971–1972, becoming consul in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1973. Moving to the embassy in Belgrade, he served there for three years as economic officer. In 1977 he was stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia as energy attaché, moving to the embassy in Ottawa as economic officer from 1980–1984. He then served as economic counsellor in London until 1989, returning for a second tour in Ottawa as economic minister from 1989–1992.

Ambassador Taylor graduated from Ohio University and received a master's degree from American University and another from Harvard in addition to spending a year at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. His foreign languages are Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, and Slovenian. He was awarded the State Department's Distinguished Honor Award in 1995 and holds two Superior Honor Awards and three senior performance pay awards. He is married to Lynda Gorham Taylor and has two daughters and one son. The Taylors live in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where they avidly pursue a family interest in collecting antique maps and books and ephemera from the U.S. Civil War and the Boer War in South Africa.