Athlete’s Short Life Eulogized

NEWHALL — The last act of Heath Ray Taylor’s life reflected the way he lived his 17 years, according to friends and family: trying to meet new goals.

Taylor embraced challenges, paying no mind to the risks his sports posed, or indeed the risks life posed, his family and friends said.

He loved slashing down mountain slopes on his snowboard and learning new stunts on his skateboard. He was also a pole vaulter, a sport that rewards the jumper who catapults to the greatest heights with a fiberglass pole, risking injury in the fall back to earth.

About 900 friends, schoolmates and family gathered Tuesday at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in Newhall to say goodbye to Taylor, who was killed April 29 when he slipped off a landing pad after a successful 10-foot vault and struck his head on asphalt.

But in their grieving, the congregation committed themselves to living life more as Taylor did.

“Heath cared about improving himself,” said Hart Track Coach Larry David, one of the dozen speakers who eulogized the youth. “Please live your own lives like Heath would have lived his.”

His sister, Melanie Catalde, talked about her brother’s humor. “I will always remember him sneaking to watch TV when he was grounded and singing commercials to put himself to sleep,” she said.

Taylor, who lived in Valencia with his father and stepmother, was the second of three high school athletes killed on Los Angeles playing fields in the past two weeks.

A week before Taylor was killed, Craig Kelford III from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School died after a discus struck him in the head at a track meet. Last weekend, Kriston Palomo, a 16-year-old baseball player at St. Bernard Roman Catholic High School in Playa del Rey, was killed when the brim of another player’s batting helmet crushed Palomo’s throat after the two collided.

Providing inspiration may have been Taylor’s role in life.

Some of his teammates spoke of hearing his voice barking out encouragement while they were competing, or his constant good-natured ribbing during practice. “That was just his way of getting you pumped up,” said one of Taylor’s teammates.

Friends recalled Taylor’s trying out for Hart’s sophomore football team, though he was “a little on the small side” and how he proved himself with bigger athletes “by playing with his heart.”

Taylor’s was probably the first experience of death for many of his classmates, but the theme of his funeral was to continue striving. Almost to underscore that, the Hart track team left the funeral services and headed straight to the Foothill League Preliminaries meet at College of the Canyons.