One Generous Charger Invests in Future Star, for the Beauty of It : Football: Byrd, team’s community services department help a mother and her 3-year-old son.

They point to the apartment on the other side of Bates Street and that’s where there was a murder. There has been a shooting, there has been death and there are drugs.

They will not deliver pizzas here. Until recently, taxicabs refused to answer the call.

Home sweet home. On closer inspection they show the apartment that these people live in, and they indicate that it has been cleaned. Surely they are mistaken--it is a wreck.

“You live some place and it’s the only place you know,” said Debbie Way, “and pretty soon you can’t distinguish a pit from a palace.”

Debbie Way, however, knows beauty. It’s a bundle of energy sitting on her lap, and while every mother knows there is no more beautiful child in this world than her own, take a look at 3-year-old Taylor.

“This is a real dilapidated area and people don’t have much of a chance to succeed in life, especially kids,” said Dick Lewis, a former police officer who now works in community affairs on behalf of the Chargers. “But everybody knows Taylor and what’s happening with Taylor and the beauty pageant. He’s sort of become a shining light for a lot of people down here.”

On Lewis’ urging this past March, Debbie entered her son in a beauty pageant. Charger cornerback Gill Byrd paid the $45 entry fee and team photographer Sam Stone provided the pageant with the pictures it required.

No surprise. The judges took a look at Taylor and not only selected him most photogenic, but crowned him king and awarded him a $100 savings bond.

“I was smiling from ear to ear, which I don’t do very often,” Debbie said. “I was proud of my son.”

Although Taylor’s victory also earned him entry into the grand national beauty pageant to be conducted in Palm Springs in August, Debbie had no intention of going.

“Too much money,” she said. “It’s fun, but it’s all just based on beauty. I’m not sure I’d go out of my way to say, ‘Oh, look at how beautiful my kid is.’ Big deal. But this is Dick Lewis’ idea and Gill Byrd’s idea, and they say he’s going to be a star.”

Lewis and Byrd took care of the required $50 early registration fee for the grand nationals, and will now work along with Debbie to raise the $800 to $1,000 it will take to pay for the five-day stay in Palm Springs.

“We want to make sure they get there,” Byrd said. “We’re going to go out in the community and help her raise money. We’re going to the fire department and the police station. We want everybody to feel a part of it.

“Whatever doesn’t come in, my family and I will make up the difference. They will be going; it’s not a matter of maybe. For a pro athlete, $800 or a $1,000 isn’t going to make or break you, but there’s more to this than just getting a little boy to the contest. We all win just by being involved.”

Gary’s Tuxedo Shop provided Taylor with a tuxedo for his victory in March at no cost, and the Bates Street Resource Center has become the clearinghouse for all those who want to assist mother and son in their journey to Palm Springs.

“It’s a challenge for me and a lot of footwork to raise the money,” she said. “But they have encouraged me and the way I feel about it now, is if you don’t try, you’ve lost.

“First place is a $5,000 college scholarship bond. I mean I think Taylor is capable of doing anything he wants, but wouldn’t it be just great to get a bond like that? You don’t win money for yourself in these things, but I have a chance to win a better future for my son.”

There are several opportunities to win scholarships in the Palm Springs-hosted pageant, but Debbie will enter Taylor only in the main event because each additional category requires an added entry fee.

“They say the chaperon or parents must be dressed nicely, but I don’t have any decent clothes,” Debbie said. “I’m sure the Resource Center will help. . . . You know, we really couldn’t do these things without such support. I don’t follow football, but it’s like the Chargers, they care.”

Taylor, meanwhile, has become sort of a celebrity on Bates Street. He just celebrated a birthday, and while he has eyes only for his action figures, there are others who have been impressed with his trophies.

“This whole thing means a new lease on life for these people; it’s a reason to get up in the morning,” Lewis said. “This is a very proud lady who has had her ups and downs. I’ve watched her for the last two years and in the past six months I have seen a tremendous change for the better.

“Here she is, looking way down the road for her son and bringing a trophy back to Bates Street. People don’t expect people to be successful when they are living in such degradable conditions, but everybody is somebody, and you bet these people can be successful.”

Check out the picture again--no way there’s a cuter 3-year-old out there.

“We’re in it to win it,” Byrd said. “It’s the competitive football player in me, I guess, but I want the very best for Taylor. There’s a college scholarship involved, and it’s chance to get him in a position to have a better future.”