Denny Taylor, a longtime Greeley resident, powerlifting and bodybuilding champion and weight training coach, died last weekend after a prolonged illness. He was 85.
This week, Taylor’s life is being remembered by some of the countless former athletes who were coached and mentored by Taylor over more than 20 years as members of Team Taylor. Team Taylor is the name of the weight training and conditioning program Taylor set up in the garage of his former home on 46th Avenue.
There, Taylor helped both male and female athletes reach their physical goals — to be stronger, better and more effective. He tailored the workouts to specific sports while working with athletes from high school, to the college level at the University of Northern Colorado and Colorado State to the professional ranks. One of the professionals was former UNC punter Dirk Johnson, who spent eight years in the NFL with New Orleans, Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona and Tampa Bay.
Athletes from all over northern Colorado came to the garage. Taylor didn’t advertise. The athletes found him largely through word of mouth, according to Tony Mustari, the Eaton High School wrestling coach and a former Team Taylor athlete.
“It spread like wildfire,” said Mustari, a three-time Colorado state wrestling champion at Greeley Central and later a wrestler at UNC. “People wanted to train at Coach’s. It was the place to be.”
Taylor was a champion powerlifter and bodybuilder into his late 70s or early 80s. He ran a gym in Joliet, Illinois, before relocating to Greeley in the early 1990s.
His personal-best results in powerlifting were 661.4 pounds in the squat, 600 pounds in the deadlift and 424 pounds on the bench press.
Former Greeley resident, powerlifter, body builder and weight training coach Denny Taylor stands in a doorway in an undated photo. Taylor died July 26 at age 85 after a prolonged illness. He was remembered fondly by a few of the former he athletes he trained over more than 20 years at his home gym on 46th Avenue. “If a guy was having issues at home or at school, he would find a way to sit down and talk with you,” said Tony Mustari, a former Greeley Central and UNC wrestler who worked with Taylor. “He made you feel comfortable and welcome. He made the gym a fun place to be.” (Justin Gonzales).“Even at my best, I’m nowhere close to lifting 661 on the squat or 600 pounds on the deadlift,” said Justin Gonzales, a state champion wrestler turned mixed martial arts fighter who was a Team Taylor member.
As much as the tips and pointers Taylor gave to his athletes for their sports, there are deeper reasons his life is being remembered.
“I don’t think I would be the athlete and the man I am today without him,” added Gonzales, who visited Taylor hours before his death July 26. “He could push you, and he communicated that he was proud of his athletes. He was a mentor. He would show up at tournaments and duals through my MMA career, the ones he could make it to. He was there.”
Mustari, Gonzales and Shane Mendoza, a former University High athlete and former Team Taylor member, are discussing organizing a celebration of Taylor’s life possibly for late August.
Taylor’s survivors include a son and two daughters in Illinois.
Mendoza, 35, trained with Taylor for about 20 years and later served as a caretaker as Taylor’s health declined. Taylor was battling cancer and dementia at the time of his death.
Mendoza said Taylor didn’t want a formal funeral, but he’s received questions about a ceremony to remember Taylor.
“He helped so many with life struggles, and he was one of the people you went to when things weren’t going the best,” Mendoza said. “He went above and beyond, and he was there for so many people.”
Gonzales, a two-time state champion at Northridge and former UNC wrestler, now 34, said he hopes to soon return to MMA fighting.
Taylor’s legacy lies in the way he interacted with the athletes, how he talked with them, made time for them, motivated them and taught them to be men.
Taylor had rules for athletes on Team Taylor. No drug or alcohol use was allowed. Trouble in school was not tolerated, and the athletes had to maintain at least a C average, he said in a 2012 Greeley Tribune YouTube video.
Gonzales recalled walking into Taylor’s gym for the first time when he was 12 or 13 years old. He said Taylor was an intimidating man. Taylor wore a flat-top hairstyle, and he asked Gonzales if the youngster wanted to be a champion and if he was willing to do whatever necessary to reach the goal.
Gonzales said he replied “yes” to both questions. Taylor’s reply was, “We’re going to see,” Gonzales recalled.
Gonzales’s father, John, told Taylor to turn Justin into Mustari.
A look at the gym in Denny Taylor's home on 46th Avenue where he trained athletes from the high school ranks to the professional level over more than 20 years. Taylor died July 26 at age 85 after a prolonged illness. (Justin Gonzales)Gonzales said the hot house pizza at Roma’s was Taylor’s favorite. The men met there with other Team Taylor members following Gonzales’s fights, win or lose. Gonzales said Taylor also had a “weird obsession” with ketchup.
“He would put it on almost everything,” Gonzales said in a text message.
In Taylor’s later days he was fond of ice cream, and the men bought Blizzards from Dairy Queen and tried the new flavors.
Taylor also cherished the German Shepherds he owned through the years.
Gonzales said he had a hard time processing Taylor’s death after he received word from Mendoza.
“I knew it was coming, but it’s not something you can prepare for,” Gonzales said. “Someone who had such a big impact on my life, and so many other people, to be gone. I broke down. Someone like that was out of my life until we meet again.”
Gonzales and Mustari recalled one of Taylor’s mottos: strength and honor. Gonzales had the words tattooed on his calf a few years ago because of Taylor.
Mustari, 38, started training with Taylor when he was about 14 or 15 and continued into Mustari’s college years. Later, some of Mustari’s Eaton athletes also had a chance to train with Taylor. Mustari said he consulted with Taylor as he began coaching, and Taylor always had a positive approach to handling different situations.
“If a guy was having issues at home or at school, he would find a way to sit down and talk with you,” Mustari said. “He made you feel comfortable and welcome. He made the gym a fun place to be.”
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