YORKTOWN — Ryan Phillip Taylor may have lost his battle with addiction, but his mother is doing her part so no other mother has to feel her pain.
“Ryan was a complete joy. He was funny, he was the life of every single party, it’s been one of the worst losses that anybody could feel. He lived for every single day,” Mary Brown, Ryan’s mother, recalls.
Taylor, who was raised in Yorktown and graduated from Tabb High School, began to deal with depression and anxiety at the age of 15. After graduating from Tabb, he went on to Radford University, where he fell into a bad crowd and began abusing Xanax. After multiple stints in rehab facilities, Taylor ultimately lost his battle to addiction in January 2019.
In memory of her son, Brown established the Ryan Taylor Memorial Golf Tournament. Now in its sixth year, the tournament brings together family, friends, and strangers to the Taylor family to remember the man by doing what he loved.
“Skateboarding and golf were two things that he kept up with even when he started to have a lot of problems. Any day he could skateboard or golf, he was happy,” Brown said. “He was such an athletic kid, and to be able to keep his name alive through trying to help others, this is his legacy.”
On Sept. 5, the Ryan Taylor Memorial Golf Tournament will take place at Ford’s Colony Country Club. The tournament is an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start with a meal and reception to follow. Single players can register for $165 and foursomes are $650.
Funds raised from the tournament are donated in Taylor’s name to Faith Recovery, a faith-based recovery program in Williamsburg. Since starting the tournament in 2019, the Brown family has raised over $90,000 for the initiative.
“I know that Ryan would be so proud of what we are doing in his memory. When he was starting to get really sick, we did everything. He had been to rehab three times, we put him under lock and key, anything I could do to try and save this kid. He used to say when he would go through periods of sobriety, ‘Mom, I promise, I’m going to kick this and I’m going to help so many people with my story’. He is helping people with his story. I think he would be really proud,” Brown said.
Sponsorships and player registration for the tournament is still on going. For more information, visit here.