Six months out on parole from San Quentin State Prison, former Mount Tamalpais College student Aaron ‘Showtime’ Taylor earned the opportunity he had worked toward for 26 years: serving as guest PA announcer for a Golden State Warriors home game. The game, against the Houston Rockets on April 10, showcased Taylor’s unique talent as a play-by-play announcer, a skill he perfected during years of calling basketball games on the yard at San Quentin.
“I worked hard in 26 years to rehabilitate myself,” Taylor said in a postgame interview alongside Stephen Curry. “In the process of doing that, I just embraced the attitude that I could be more than what I was. Once I embraced the attitude that I could be more than what I was, then it was time for me to tell other people, you can be more than what you think you are.”
The Warriors discovered his talent during one of their annual visits to play San Quentin’s basketball team, the San Quentin Warriors, a game chronicled in 2017 by fellow Mount Tam student and San Quentin News journalist Rahsaan Thomas. As ‘the voice of San Quentin sports,’ Taylor’s work to take his skills to the NBA has attracted the notice of multiple media outlets, including a feature on The Kelly Clarkson Show. Read more about his journey to the big time.
