Carrying On The Memory
January 26, 2022 | Women's Basketball, Joel Coleman
Annual pink game gives Myah Taylor another chance to honor her late grandmother.
STARKVILLE – Myah Taylor knew something wasn't right.
Taylor, now a senior guard for Mississippi State, was just 12 years old at the time. As a seventh grader at Olive Branch Middle School, Taylor had just played in and won her district championship basketball game. She was sitting in the vehicle on her way home when she noticed things were off.
"It just felt weird," Taylor recalled. "The energy just felt weird. It was my mom, my dad and my aunt. We're on the way home, but my aunt lives in Horn Lake. So I'm like, 'Why is she riding with me all the way home?'"
The answer to, 'Why?' was heartbreaking. It was life-altering. And it's why on Thursday, when Taylor hits the floor for the Bulldogs' 5:30 p.m. game against Missouri, she'll be covered in pink from head to toe.
The Realization
Taylor's grandmother, Ozell Oliver, passed away from complications due to breast cancer on January 30, 2012.
Taylor of course knew of the diagnosis long before the day she learned of her grandmother's passing. But the thought of losing her? Well, that wasn't something Taylor really considered.
"I did start to notice changes to her physical appearance, but I was too young," Taylor said. "I asked my mom like, 'What's wrong with grandma?' Things like that. I didn't fully understand then. Those moments stick in my head now. I just didn't fully grasp what was going on."
Oliver was Taylor's biggest fan. Whether Taylor was playing softball or basketball or whatever, it didn't matter. Oliver was almost always there cheering on Taylor.
"She was my mom's little Myah who could do no wrong and was the apple of her eye," said Myah Taylor's mother and Oliver's daughter, Cynthia Taylor. "Also, Myah was my mom's first granddaughter. Myah was the first granddaughter on both sides of the family. So Myah was the apple of my mom's eye, could do no wrong, and she wouldn't let you fuss at Myah. Not her Myah!"
The complete love and adoration between Oliver and Myah certainly went both ways.
"She was such a loving person," Myah Taylor said of her grandmother. "She's meant so much to me and my family. She was so strong. She was always smiling."
Missing Oliver's smiling face was actually Myah's first clue that January 30, 2012, wasn't a typical day. Myah was warming up before her game. Her grandmother was supposed to be there.
"I'm looking in the stands and I'm like, 'I don't see grandma,'" Myah said. "I was like, 'OK, well maybe she's up there somewhere.'"
Only she wasn't.
"She'd passed that morning," Cynthia said. "My husband and I, we all knew that day. My sister was there at the game, so I don't think Myah thought too much of it because sometimes my mom didn't feel well. But Myah didn't know anything all day. I couldn't bear to tell her. So we waited until after. Oh, it broke her heart."
The Reminders
It doesn't take much to stir up memories of Oliver for either Myah or Cynthia. Oliver's strong personality is often one of the first things that comes to mind.
"She was very fierce," Myah said smiling. "She didn't play."
Cynthia sees a lot of her mother in Myah.
"Myah's one of those girls that likes her scarves and her necklaces and things like that," Cynthia said. "My mom was one of those. She didn't go out if her hair wasn't in the perfect place. You never saw her without her makeup on. I think Myah gets some of that from my mom. Now I think my mom's personality was a little bit more spicy than Myah's. She was super protective of her baby."
It's perhaps fitting. Oliver always stood guard over Myah, then when Myah decided she wanted a permanent tribute to her grandmother, Cynthia showed some of her mom's feistiness.
Myah wanted a tattoo. That created a bit of a problem though because Cynthia wasn't a big fan of the idea, at least not initially. Myah was old enough to disregard her mother's wishes, but that just isn't her style. She wanted her mom on board.
"I had to beg my mom to get it," Myah said.
First though, Cynthia had some rules.
"I said, 'Myah, don't get some big old thing on your arm. You've got to remember how you'll look in your wedding dress and you don't want some big old thing going up your arm,'" Cynthia said. "I told her it has to be small, and it has to be something you can cover up. It has to be something that if you want someone to see it, you have to kind of show it to them to know it's there. I had a lot of rules behind that tattoo. I said, 'Nothing on your neck. Nothing on your face or behind your ears. None of that.'"
Myah easily fulfilled all those requests.
"When [my mom] saw what I wanted, she was like, 'OK, I'll let you get it,'" Myah said. "She loved it once she saw it."
The finished product is indeed small and is on Myah's wrist.
"It's the date she passed and it's a breast cancer sign into a heart," Myah describes it.
For Thursday's pink game for breast cancer awareness, Myah's tribute will be a good bit more noticeable.
The Remembering
So, what exactly does Myah have in store for Thursday night?
"I'm getting my hair done," Myah said. "It's going to be a pink breast cancer sign in my hair. I have some special shoes. It's going to be a special day. I love the pink game."
There'll be pink Mississippi State jerseys, too, for Myah and her Bulldog teammates.
And while Myah's pink pays tribute to Oliver, she also wants to show support to everyone impacted by breast cancer.
"Being a survivor and going through it, they're not only fighting for themselves, but their families as well," Myah said. "I know my grandma fought hard until the last second she could."
Just how prevalent is breast cancer? Cynthia can put it into perspective and it's not just because of her own mom.
"I have friends from high school and it's five of us," Cynthia said. "Three of us have lost our moms to breast cancer. Out of the five of us, two of us have had breast cancer. Those numbers are really, really high."
To combat the horrible disease, Myah will be on the floor at The Humphrey Coliseum on Thursday playing a small part as she brings attention to breast cancer – for everyone still here, and in honor of those like her grandmother who are no longer with us.
"It just warms my heart to see how passionate [Myah] is about this and how the love [for her grandmother] continues to carry on through her and the things she's trying to accomplish on and off the court," Cynthia said. "[My mom] just loved her Myah and this continues that connection and that bond. She's with Jesus now, but it still shows the connection. My heart is just full."
