Roland Taylor


Roland Morris "Fatty" Taylor was an American professional basketball player. A 6’0" guard born in Washington, D.C. and an alum of La Salle University, Taylor joined the American Basketball Association in 1969. After one year playing for the Washington Capitals, he moved on to the Virginia Squires, with whom he spent the prime of his career, tallying 3,495 points, 1,737 assists, and 1,715 rebounds in five seasons. Taylor became known as one of the few outstanding defensive players in a league known primarily for a "run-and-gun" style. On the Squires Taylor played with former or later NBA stars including Adrian Smith, "Jumbo" Jim Eakins and Julius "Doctor J" Erving. For one-and-a-half seasons Taylor was a teammate of George Gervin, and Taylor has been credited with coining Gervin's nickname "The Iceman". Taylor spent one season in the NBA as a member of the Denver Nuggets, and he retired in 1977 with combined ABA/NBA totals of 5,098 points, 2,563 assists, and 2,524 rebounds.

Cancer and death

In 2000, Taylor was diagnosed with male breast cancer after his doctor's fill-in found that one of his nipples was inverted. One day after being diagnosed, Taylor went into surgery and ended up having a mastectomy. In 2011, he was found to have many blood clots in his chest and that the cancer had recurred in his lungs and bones, which Taylor had treatment for soon after. In July 2015, he found that cancer had spread into his pelvis and he had many complications afterward.
Fatty Taylor died from the complications on December 7, 2017 at the age of 71.