Taylor Hooton Foundation

Taylor Hooton was your typical teenage boy growing up in the suburbs of Dallas. He loved spending time with his friends, loved participating in church activities, loved having fun, loved cruising in his black Dodge truck with his girlfriend, and loved listening to music. But what Taylor really loved, what made him tick, was baseball.Taylor came from a baseball family that spent free time driving him and his teammates from game to game during the summer months. He became a promising high school pitcher who dreamed of stardom in the major leagues. But his coach told him that to reach that goal, he needed more size, strength and mobility even though he was already 5’11″ tall and weighed 180 pounds. Without the knowledge of his family or coaches, Taylor began abusing anabolic steroids, in hopes that someday he would become a professional baseball player.

However, that all ended when Taylor committed suicide as a result of his anabolic steroid abuse. Taylor had just turned 17.

Not long after his death, father Don Hooton founded the Taylor Hooton Foundation (THF) in memory of his son to help educate and protect other young people from the dangers of these drugs.

The Taylor Hooton Foundation is the only entity, public or private, in North America dedicated to educating young people, parents and coaches about the dangers of Appearance and Performance Enhancing Drugs (APEDs).

Since 2004, Don and his staff have spoken to hundreds of thousands of athletes and others about the anabolic steroids and their consequences. It is unfortunate that Taylor Hooton did not have the opportunity to be exposed to this information. The fact is, prior to the founding of THF no steroid educational program even existed.

If such a program had existed, maybe Taylor Hooton would still be alive today.