Lawrence Taylor was a lifelong Democrat. And then the Hall-of-Fame linebacker met Donald Trump.
‘I just wanted to say I grew up a Democrat and I’ve always been a Democrat until I met this man right here,’ the 65-year-old Taylor told Trump supporters at a campaign event along the Jersey Shore on Saturday. ‘He will not have to worry nobody in my family ever voting for a Democrat again.’
Taylor is a beloved figure in New Jersey, where helped lead the East Rutherford-based New York Giants to a pair of Super Bowl titles during his decorated – and troubled – NFL career.
It’s unclear when he and Trump first met, although the real estate mogul did own a USFL team in the 1980s that shared a stadium with Taylor’s New York Giants.
Taylor was joined on stage by his former teammate, retired running back Otis Anderson.
Taylor (in maroon) is pictured alongside Trump and his ex-Giants teammate Ottis Anderson
Former NFL football player Lawrence Taylor arrives for a Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump campaign rally in Wildwood Beach on Saturday
‘Don’t you just love that guy?’ Anderson asked, referring to Trump. ‘Don’t you just love that guy? I tell you it has been a very exciting day. You guys, not one person left here. You’re still here yelling and screaming.’
Taylor’s support comes with a bit of controversy, not that Trump seemed to mind on Saturday.
The pass rusher extraordinaire has battled personal problems away from the football field, both during and after his career, which ended in 1993. In one 1995 incident, the retired Taylor choked long-time Giants reporter Ernie Palladino after a verbal altercation.
In addition to numerous drug-related arrests, the former University of North Carolina star declared bankruptcy in 1998 and has had at least two stints in drug rehab. He was also arrested following a 2009 hit-and-run crash in the Miami area, although no one was injured.
Republican presidential candidate former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks Saturday
Lawrence Taylor (left) and Ottis Anderson (right) appear at Mar-a-Lago in 2021
One of the most feared pass rushers in NFL history, Taylor is now a registered sex offender
He was arrested the following year and later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of sexual misconduct and sex with an underage prostitute. He received a sentence of six-years’ probation, but was ultimately arrested in 2022 for failing to report an address change.
Taylor has stayed in the public eye following retirement, appearing on ABC’s ‘Dancing With the Stars’ in 2009 and starring alongside Al Pacino in ‘Any Given Sunday’ in 1999.
An avid golfer, Taylor has been hosted at several of Trump’s country clubs and was pictured on the company’s Facebook page alongside Anderson at Mar-a-Lago in 2021.
Trump’s ‘Fabulous World of Golf’ – a Golf Channel show that ran for two seasons – included one episode with Taylor and San Francisco 49ers legend Jerry Rice.