Agent Helps Throw Birthday Bash for Lawrence Taylor
The Lawrence Taylor 56th private birthday celebration Wednesday night at Catch’s Rooftop will include former teammates from the Super Bowl XXI and XX Giants and “other very relevant individuals,” according to longtime friend, agent and representative Mark Lepselter.
For Lepselter, MAXX Sports & Entertainment president, it was an idea he and LT friend and attorney Arthur Aidala hatched several months ago to recognize No. 56 turning 56 last Wednesday.
“I don’t think there’s any professional athlete in recent memory more synonymous with a jersey number than Lawrence Taylor with the number 56,” Lepselter told The Rumble. “Good, bad or indifferent, he’s led a remarkable life. He is the most compelling individual that I’ve ever been around. This was something I wanted to be a part of for him to be celebrated by those people closest to him. That was important to me.”
Lepselter first met Taylor 25 years ago, right before LT opened a restaurant that bore his initials in East Rutherford. Lepselter was the restaurant manager.
“He and I have just always shared a very unique relationship,” Lepselter said.
They lost touch from 1992-97, before Lepselter worked out the deal with Oliver Stone’s people for LT to appear in “Any Given Sunday.”
“I was able to get him the audition with Oliver down at the TriBeCa Film Center in October of ’98, and he moved to Miami and never left after he filmed the movie down there,” Lepselter said. “That was a pivotal moment for both of us.”
Their story has been one of turbulence, triumph and near-tragedy, and above all else, loyalty.
“My life and times with Lawrence Taylor have been some of the most rewarding aspects of my life over the last 25 years,” Lepselter said. “There’s been some tough times, man, but we always stuck together.
“It’s been a remarkable journey.”
Lepselter is expecting a few hundred people to honor LT at the perfect spot — not too far away from West 56th Street.
“Great venue, great vibe in the heart of the Meatpacking District,” Lepselter said.