The middle of the day for Taylor Rank is the middle of the night for those of us in the United States.
Rank is a world traveler now, an international CrossFit athlete and coach. A former running back in the Southeastern Conference, Rank needed competition back in his life after he graduated from the University of South Carolina.
He found it in Korea. Then Hong Kong. Now, he calls Dubai, United Arab Emirates, home.
He became a name in Clark County long before all this, though. Ten years ago, Taylor Rank was The Columbian’s All-Region football player of the year after leading the Evergreen Plainsmen to the Class 4A state championship.
Just like his friends who were interviewed separately for this anniversary project, he said the semifinal game against Gonzaga Prep was his favorite game.
“That was the coldest I had ever been in my life, before I moved to Korea,” he said. “The whole week, the build-up to that game. The bus ride. I pretty much remember the entire game. Definitely a special memory with all those guys.”
A week later, with the passing game struggling, Rank took over and ran over Skyline in a 28-14 victory.
Against Gonzaga Prep: “We knew we could lose that game.”
Against Skyline: “When we made it to the state championship game, we never felt we weren’t going to win that game.”
Rank ended up carrying the ball 28 times for 211 yards and three touchdowns.
Rank grew up in Georgia before moving to Vancouver when he was a sophomore. He returned to the South to play college football at South Carolina, where he earned his degree in economics and political science.
From there, he was a strength and conditioning coach at Washington State before a call from a cousin changed his life. His cousin, in the Army and living in Korea, invited Rank to come for a visit, where Rank was introduced to CrossFit.
“I was fortunate to find it. It gave me an opportunity to have fun and make some money on occasion,” he said.
Rank and a business partner opened a gym in Korea. Later, he found other business opportunities in Hong Kong, and now he is in Dubai. He is sponsored by RokFit. He competes and coaches. He said the sport has reawakened his need for competition.
He played on one of the biggest stages in college football and now travels the world in a new sport. Still, no matter where the road has taken him, he thinks fondly of his days in Vancouver.
While he met good friends in college, he said playing high school football at Evergreen was the last time that football was purely fun. To make it better, the Plainsmen went 14-0 his senior year.
“That’s probably the most outstanding memory from my past,” Rank said. “It’s something I can share with a lot of people.”
Rank is on the other side of the world but remains a big part of the 2004 Plainsmen.
“I still feel very, very close to them.”
