Slain Omahan remembered as standout player, teammate at Millard North

Jun 02, 2024

It was fitting that Adrrell Taylor wore a red, white and blue Captain America T-shirt beneath his pads when he played football for Millard North, as he pretty much did it all for the Mustangs.

He almost never left the field, playing both offense and defense. And he stood out just as much in the locker room, a leader who treated his coaches and teammates like a second family.

Adrrell Taylor wore a Captain America T-shirt under his pads when he played for Millard North. “He was right in front and led by example all the time,” said Fred Petito, his coach at Millard North.

“He was a talented young man who played hard for other people and was all in for the team,” said Fred Petito, his coach at Millard North. “He was right in front and led by example all the time.”

Now both his family and his football family are mourning the loss of the 27-year-old Omahan.

Police responding to a report of a shooting found Taylor suffering from gunshot wounds early Thursday at a home near 17th and S Streets. He was taken to Nebraska Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Taylor left behind 5-year-old daughter, Ava. Based on the outpouring on his Facebook page, he touched a lot of other lives, too, his mother said.

“He was an amazing son, an amazing brother, an amazing uncle and an absolutely amazing father,” said his mother, Tammy Taylor. “He was just a big supporter of anyone he came in contact with. I have so many people calling me, it’s unreal.”

The loss is a doubly bitter blow for his family, with Adrrell having lost his own father to a shooting 12 years ago in southwest Omaha. That homicide was never solved.

Adrrell Taylor was a high school freshman when his father was killed. That forced the second of four boys in the family to grow up quickly.

“It was very difficult, but he stepped up and took a fatherly role for his brothers,” his mother said.

During his sophomore year at Millard North in the fall of 2012, he was promoted to the varsity early in the season, contributing to a team that went on to win a state championship.

Adrrell Taylor with his daughter Ava. Taylor was shot and killed in Omaha Thursday.

“He was kind of struggling with attendance, and we told him, ‘We want you to be a part of this,’” said Mark Chavez, an assistant coach with the Mustangs. “He got cruising with school and football, we went on a run, and he was really instrumental in that. He was a great teammate and solid guy.”

It was impossible to keep Taylor off the field after that. The hard-nosed player started as both a linebacker and running back the next two seasons for the Mustangs.

“He could run with it, he could block you,” Petito said. “There wasn’t much in a game he did not do, and do extremely well.”

Taylor was named first-team World-Herald all-state his senior year. In the spring of 2015, he signed a letter of intent with Ohio University, coached by former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich.

His mother said he made the dean’s list his first year in college, but he decided to return to Omaha.

He worked construction and then became an electrical apprentice. At the time of his death, he was taking classes at Metropolitan Community College and working, appropriately, for Omaha’s Mustang Electric.

“He was a bright star who brought energy wherever he was,” said Darrell Coleman Sr., owner of Mustang Electric.

Besides being a father in his own right, his mother said, Taylor continued to be like a father to his siblings. That includes brother Antrell, who is now a wrestler with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Adrrell screamed last month when he learned his brother had won an under-20 Pan-American championship at a meet in Chile.

“It will be tough not having him in his corner,” his mother said.

Petito said he last saw Taylor a couple weeks ago. The coach at times talked to Taylor about coming back to help out with the team at Millard North, but Taylor had his hands full and it never worked out.

On Friday, Petito was looking at a picture of Taylor. The legendary coach who has been on the sidelines at Millard North for three decades has pictures of all his all-state players hanging in his office. Taylor’s was there along with Eric Crouch and many others.

In the picture, Taylor is flashing a big smile — the same one Petito sees in his mind whenever he thinks of Taylor.

“He was a guy I think about a lot,” he said. “This has hit us as hard as anything I’ve gone through.”

Taylor was survived by mother, his daughter and brothers Darrell, Antrell and Andrell.

A memorial service is planned Saturday Aug. 5 at 6 p.m. at Millard North, 1010 S. 144th Street.

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[email protected], 402-444-1130, twitter.com/henrycordes

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