James Michael Taylor

James Michael Taylor, (Mike) of Louisville passed way on September 8, 2026. He was 82. 

From here on out, he will be called Dad. The son of a ballplayer, Dad was an exceptional player in his own right, and made sure he imparted all his knowledge to his two sons, Tim and Jamie. He was an original member of the first ever Beechmont Little League. Years later, as a pitcher, he had the remarkable feat of pitching two no hitters in slow pitch softball within weeks of each other. Dad worked late in the nights at his job at what was the Courier Journal & Lithographing Company, and would then go pitch hours of batting practice behind TJ High School and old Durrett High to his boys. He worked on our game endlessly. He was excellent as a hitting instructor, and taught his boys the craft of being good middle infielders. As a Little Leaguer, he battled for the league batting title only to barely miss out and come in second place to the future husband of my high school English teacher. He always spoke of how close he came to that title. Years before the movie “The Sandlot” Dad had grabbed a ball out of his Dad’s closet to play on the asphalt playground at Beechmont Elementary that had two important signatures on it. Pepaw Taylor, his Dad, had been a semi-pro ball player and was on the field at Parkway Field when he got Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig to sign a ball for him that would be eventually destroyed on an asphalt playground. Took Dad 30 years to tell Pepaw what happened to it. As a kid, he was a mainstay at Parkway to watch the Colonels play. One day, in the last days of the Negro Leagues, a game was scheduled involving the Indianapolis Clowns. Dad went to buy a ticket, but instead of the usual 50 cents, the ticket was a dollar. Dad, having grown up poor dejectedly walked away. As he passed the clubhouse, a player hollered out to him, “hey little man, you coming to the game?” To which Dad told him he didn’t have the money. The player told Dad to stay right there and went back in the clubhouse. He came back and asked if Dad would be their batboy. Dad jumped all over that, the only white face in either dugout. Recently, when I asked him his remembrance of that game, he said “that man was my friend..” That game meant the world to him. He was a huge fan of the Dodgers. He introduced us to Brooklyn legend PeeWee Reese in the early 70’s which led us to wear Dodger blue.

From 1974 until 2018, we attended every single Louisville home football game with only one exception and that was in 2009 when my daughter needed to go trick or treating more than I needed to watch Louisville play Arkansas State. From Kansas, to Louisiana, all the way through the Carolina’s to New York, Michigan, all across the Midwest we witnessed Louisville football. From 1982 until the mid 2000’s Freedom Hall and season tickets kept our Winter’s busy watching Crum and Pitino’s teams. Dad went to volleyball, field hockey, baseball, softball, all to watch the Cardinals play.

Dad would take my brother and I and all the neighborhood kids to a local field and kick field goals on Saturdays. In the 70’s the neighborhood kids were taken with us on hikes to Iroquois Park. Dad had a childlike sense to his love of the circus and ice shows. A fire engine siren would immediately make him want to track it down with us in tow to see the fire. As a kid he spent Sundays fishing Salt River with his Dad and a cane pole at West Point. He loved his family. Every family get together for Holidays were ones he looked forward to. He was very charitable and had a big spot in his heart for kids with special needs. He was a good Dad.

His biggest love in life however was for my Mom, the former Linda Sue Stillwell. They were married June 9, 1967. They loved going out to eat, to the movies, Derby Dinner Playhouse, ballgames, and trips to Gatlinburg and Florida. Our Mom had some serious health issues early in her life and he was by her side for all of them. Later, when cancer caused the removal of her eye, he made sure she went to Arkansas to get a prosthesis with one of her sons. The night Mom and son left on a plane, Dad had a massive heart attack. Mom was scheduled to be down south for a week, but such was his love for her, Mom and son were not told of his condition until the morning of his surgery. Dad was afraid if told sooner, Mom would have cut her trip short without getting her new eye. Such was his love for her, he went into a very risky surgery, his first time ever in the hospital without her being there because he knew how much that eye meant to her. He loved her with all his heart and never stopped even after the Lord called her home February 28, 2010.

Dad was a 1950’s version of a Rockwell painting mixed into Tom Sawyer. He loved Beechmont and Highland Park. He had adventures that made his sons try to copy them years later much to his chagrin at times. Mischief. Stuff done for shock value. His stories became Legend in our neighborhood and Tim and Jamie had to copy them. Once, at a Louisville football game to get in an area with former players, he told security he had been a kicker back in the 60’s. They let him in. He told folks at Derby time he was a jockey with a Derby mount. He posted a huge sign at UofL in 1980 on the brink of a National Championship on a billboard that his sons thought would get them all arrested. He once attempted CPR on a hamster that had been dead for hours. He was a character. He never missed an event for his grandkids, and was excellent at that too. Never missed an opportunity to show them his love. Nicole, Lilly, Katie, and Paige, if y’all could have met him sooner, the adventures would have been just too many to contemplate. He was loved. And he loved with all he could give. A ball cap, a Highland Park fish sandwich, and a ballgame playing out in front of him on the television was just Dad. 

The fondest memory I have however, one of the most special I have, is of him sitting beside me at a little place called Pine Knob Missionary Baptist church in Caneyville, Kentucky on the very front pew-the seat he called his....up until the end, he could still tell you about that little place and where he sat. We love you Pop...

He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 42 years, Linda Sue Stillwell Taylor; parents, William and Elizabeth Taylor; siblings, Mary Lynn, Carol, Bob, David, Steve and Billy; sister-in-law, Pat; brother-in-laws, Grandall and Bruce and aunts, Florence Embs and Carrie Lee Bird.

Mike leaves behind to cherish his memories, his sons, Tim (Donna) Taylor and Jamie (Angie) Taylor; grandchildren, Nicole (Vanessa), Lillian (Cameron), Kathryn and Paige; great-grandson, Henry; sister-in-laws, Joann Taylor, Sandra (Ted) Kyser, and Gloria Dowell; numerous nieces, nephews and friends.

A memorial gathering for Mike will be on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, from 4pm-8pm with military honors being at 6pm.

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