Ralph Ortega and Sean Taylor's Death

With all the questions still surrounding the death of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor on November 27, his former high school football coach Ralph Ortega has had nothing but praise for the slain NFL star.

Ortega, a former NFL linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons and Miami Dolphins, coached Taylor at the elite Gulliver Preparatory in Miami. Ralph's son, Buck Ortega, played football with Taylor at Gulliver and was later his roommate at the University of Miami.

In an interview in The Miami Herald on November 26, Ralph Ortega said, "the one thing I can say is that Sean has a great heart. That, I have no doubt about.'' He described the last time he saw Taylor, at a preseason game in Washington. According to Ortega, Taylor stopped to talk to young fans after the game, even asking a little girl how she was doing in school. With all of his experience in the NFL, Ortega claimed in the article that, "I've never seen a pro athlete better with kids." All of Taylor's teammates just continued to leave with security guards in tow, not stopping to sign autographs or visit with their fans.

While some have pegged Taylor as a thug, killed after years of choosing to associate himself with West Perrine, a poor, often violent part of Miami, police think that Taylor might just be a victim of a random robbery. Taylor's father is the police chief for Florida City and has maintained that "God and Jesus have a bigger plan for Sean," according to family friend Mark Sinnreich in an article by Elizabeth Merrill on espn.com.

Ortega for one, doesn't buy the idea that Taylor led a criminal's life, stating in the Merrill article that, "Sean didn't grow up stealing bicycles or running around with some gang. He was an extremely clean-cut, well-mannered kid. And that's what I remember. If there's another truth, fine. But I'd like to hear it from somebody who was really there."