Extra Effort: Tony Taylor II measures up at Leesville Road

If you measure a man by how far he can throw, Tony Taylor's number is fifty eight feet, three inches.

"That's a good one," Taylor said after letting off a practice throw. The Leesville Road High School senior is the North Carolina indoor shot put state champ and holds his school's record.

"I just love coming out and practicing and getting better," Taylor said as he cleaned off the shot and prepared for his next launch. "Ehhhhh!" Tony yelled as he released another throw that displaced dirt like a meteor upon impact.

"That's it, that's the throw we are looking for," Tony's dad said as he picked up the shot. No matter how far Tony throws, he will always be number two in his family. Tony Taylor the first is Tony Taylor the second's self taught coach.

"I never threw," Taylor said. "My thing was youtubing everything and getting it from that."

Taylor is a former Army corporal and Gulf War Veteran. Together the Taylors attack Tony's training with militaristic discipline.

"It's basically a checklist going at super speed," Taylor II described.

"I can't push my training onto him," Taylor said. "But I can give him a portion of it."

"Tony's dad is always here and always willing to help," Leesville Road throws coach Todd Cobin said. "He's always willing to help other kids and encourage them. He's always the first one to help us out at a meet. I've never seen someone roll a discus in so far away. That's because he's been spending the last six to seven years rolling them in."

Wherever the Taylors go, mom isn't far away either.

"My role in all this is I am the biggest cheerleader," Wanda Taylor laughed from a lawn chair nearby. "I am the ultimate cheerleader."

Taylor II has ambitious goals for the outdoor track and field season.

"I want to win conference championships, regionals, county, state and compete on the national level," Taylor II said.

His talent and work ethic earned him a scholarship to throw for Campbell University next year.

"They recognized what I've been doing," Taylor II said. "They want to take what I know right now and take it to a higher level."

The throws can always go farther, but the Taylor's believe a true measure of a man is his good works.

"He may be at a competition, he may be at a meet, but he offers advice on how they can get better even though they are competing against him," Wanda Taylor said. "He does that for his team, for his competitors and I really find that to be the making of a great human being."

"He has a super positive attitude and amazing character," Leesville Road head track and field coach Eric Gamble said. "He brings a lot of energy to the team and helps build up all the athletes around him."

Taylor II's accomplishments in track, the classroom and community earned him the WRAL Tom Suiter Extra Effort Award.

"We started at the bottom," Taylor said. "It goes to show you that if you put in the work anything is possible."