Mesa duo’s success extends beyond mat

By Jeff Simon, For the Tribune

February 12, 2006

Sometime in the next few weeks, stop by the Fry’s store on the corner of Greenfield Road and Main Street in Mesa and congratulate Joe Taylor.

And don’t just congratulate him for winning a state wrestling championship Saturday. Pat him on the back for a job well done in life, too.

Life isn’t always fair, and like Mesa High School assistant coach David DiDomenico says, Taylor has had a lot of reasons to fail.

“He’s had all kinds of reasons not to do this, but those reasons are why he has done it,’’ DiDomenico said.

You get the same statement from DiDomenico about senior Ceasar Meraz, who advanced to the 5A Division I finals as well before losing his 135-pound match to Highland’s Russell Johnson.

Taylor gave the Jackrabbits their first state title Saturday night at 103 pounds when the senior beat Highland’s Blake Edwards. In the last year, Taylor has gone from a wrestler who didn’t even qualify for state as a junior to a state champion sporting a 41-3 record.

But Taylor has overcome more than that.

Taylor has been on his own for most of his high school days, while Meraz has done the same during his senior year at Mesa (his family moved back to California). For a while, Taylor lived with his brother, then with his sister and now with his friend’s family. He doesn’t see his family very often. None of them has ever seen him wrestle a high school match. His mother was supposed to be at Glendale Arena Saturday, but she is sick in the hospital.

“She’s the only one that really wanted to come,’’ Taylor said.

Taylor is a 17-year-old who has had to make adult decisions for several years.

They’ve been good decisions. He’s provided for himself since the ninth grade when he worked at a Goodwill store. He moved on to Fry’s, where he has been a courtesy clerk (bagger) since he was a sophomore.

That year he rode his bike to work. Now he has a car. In order to drive it, he has to pay for gas and insurance, so he does. His 30-hour work week gives him the income to pay for what he needs.

But it doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything else that kids do, except school and wrestling.

“Even after meets he sometimes goes to work,’’ DiDomenico said.

Taylor is scheduled to graduate from Mesa this spring. So is Meraz, who says he wants to be a good influence on his immediate family, especially his younger brother, who he said has had his problems with the law.

“My family is not too perfect,’’ Meraz said. “I try to do the best I can.’’ .